Advocate Online

On the Road
with Mark Smith

This past summer, I attended the Nebraska State Education Association Higher Ed Academy’s first biennial conference (Choice, Change and Challenge) in Lincoln. Conference participants included faculty, academic staff and education support professionals from Nebraska community and state colleges, and the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association welcomed attendees, and Roger Davis, president of the higher ed academy chaired the meeting, and introduced Friday’s keynote speaker, Doug Christensen, Nebraska State Commissioner of Education. Christensen discussed the challenges and opportunities of Nebraska’s P-16 initiative, which set the stage for a panel discussion on the topic that afternoon.

Nebraska’s P-16 commission was established by the legislature in 1998 to ensure cooperation and communication between business and the various levels and sectors of education. The commission links education with economic competitiveness, and works closely with the University of Nebraska.

On Saturday, Kathy Sproles of NEA’s National Council for Higher Education spoke on national higher education issues, and thanked Christensen for including faculty in the P-16 commission’s decision-making process. She pointed out that nationally higher education faculty and staff are being left out of important policy discussions. Sproles encouraged participants to get involved in state policy discussions in order to influence the political process.

Other conference sessions touched on campus diversity, assessment policy, organizing, distance education and intellectual property.

— Mark Smith coordinates NEA higher ed activities