Note: The following information was e-mailed to the commission list serve on 2-26-04.

First the good news.

We received 13 conference proposals aimed at small colleges/universities to evaluate. Not only was this a gratifying number (we are a BUSY group!), but the quality and range of topics were wonderful--thanks.

Now the bad news.

The Small Colleges and Universities Commission can officially sponsor 5 sessions.

Most who evaluated the proposals wrote thoughtful comments about each one and recommended including many of them AND provided great reasons for doing so (even though all 13 cannot be officially sponsored, they can all be included in the program). Recommendations for the 5 commission-sponsored sessions as well as comments on each proposal were forwarded to the program chair. I'm hoping that those reviewer comments will result in lots of the sessions being offered in Cincinnati--here's what our instructions were: "Your comments could be the deciding factor for some of the sessions. Take advantage of this
opportunity to be heard." We took advantage...and now we're hoping to be heard. :-)

I also requested that our small colleges/universities commission meeting be scheduled *early* in the conference to give us an opportunity to connect. I can only imagine how difficult it is to put together a multi-day, multi-event conference schedule--let's hope the request can be honored.

Hope to see you in Cincinnati. With so many colleges in the area, we should have many opportunities to visit with and learn from each and return to our campuses refreshed and reinvigorated. As usual, we'll meet for dinner at least once during the conference--details at the conference.

Need reasons to come to Cincinnati? Want to be sure the conference is "worth it?" These evaluations were written by small college members who attended the 2003 conference in Dallas--

"Excellent discussion"
"Useful. Encouraging. Important. I really appreciate meeting with this group"
"Very helpful. Thank you for giving us a voice"
"It was so good to get together with other small college folks"
"This was very beneficial. I will be new to the small college atmosphere and the sharing was so helpful"
"Wish we had 2 more hours to talk"
"This is a very valuable group. Great forum for small institutions to share ideas"
"I can't believe how generous people are about sharing handbooks, ideas, technology, etc. etc. etc. Amazing"
"This conference has recharged my weak battery--thanks"

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And a few "Did you knows?"

Did you know that while the overall membership in NACADA declined slightly from 2002 to 2003, memberships from those working at private four-year colleges INCREASED by 16.5% ? And membership on the Small College and Universities Commission INCREASED by 17%? We're a small group--654 strong and 10% of the membership; but what a group we are! Hope you'll join us in Cincinnati.

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Maura Reynolds
Chair, NACADA Small Colleges and Universities Commission

mreynolds@hope.edu