NSEA-HEA Advocacy Conference in Kearney and More

Higher Education Advocacy Conference  in Kearney, Higher Education Gathering in Los Angeles, and NEA in Washington, DC

 

 This Friday, February 11,  I drove to Kearney for this year's Higher Education Advocacy Conference sponsored by the Nebraska State Educational Association and the Higher Education Academy held at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

The conference got off on a positive note Friday night when Al Koontz, NSEA Assistant Director of Communications Tools and Strategies, Kristi Capek, NSEA Graphic Artist/Web Master, and Mary Goebel-Lundholm, SCEA President, talked with a group of higher-education leaders from across the state about a variety of communications' topics, including newsletters and blogs.

As the collection of nearly a hundred photographs from the gathering indicate, the agenda drew an excellent number of people to UNK for this annual and  informative group of sessions on a variety of topics, from Greg Gascon's discussion about "Finding the Money--Analyzing Governing Board Audits, Budgets and Financial Data" to "Using Comparability Data to Bargain Your Next Contract."  

I served on the panel about comparability data, and can attest to the fact that despite the often dry-sounding titles, the sessions presented important information.  And I attended for a while each of the sessions to get photographs and can attest to the gathering's success.

Those interested in collective bargaining in Nebraska will find of special interest the fifteen-minute video I made of Mark McGuire's discussion of the history of the Commission of Industrial Relations and the Special Master in the state.

National Plan for Higher Education

On 21 January, I flew to Los Angeles for a one-day gathering of Higher Education leaders to discuss the present state of higher education in the United States and to lay foundations for a National Plan for Higher Education.  

 

You can read about this engaging meeting of over seventy people on the Huffington Post.  I posted photographs from the meeting which include some shots of an excursion to Manhattan Beach.

I enjoyed meeting concerned higher-education people from all over the country and look forward to hearing more from them.  In addition, when my plane took off from Kansas City, the thermometer registered 5 degrees F; when I got off the jet in Los Angeles, 75-degrees and sun welcomed me.  So getting to the beach Saturday evening pleased me a great deal.

 National Education Association Bargaining Seminar

And in early August of 2010, the National Education Association invited me to speak about union organization and contract negotiation at an annual meeting in Washington, DC. 

  
Sixteen states, from Idaho to Maine, sent four representatives each,  including four members of the NEA administration here in Nebraska,  so I got a chance to talk with folks from all over the country about a variety of matters concerning K-16 Education in the United States.

As the collected photographs underscore, quite a few people attended.  

And  I enjoyed my interactions with all the people and the chance to walk around Washington, DC, for the first time, so the photographs from this long walk remain special to me.

Since I first saw the Lincoln Memorial in The Day The Earth Stood Still and the Washington Monument in Earth Vs the Flying Saucers, I have wanted to visit these places.  The trip provided me this opportunity.