Annual Meeting Highlights 2008

Dear Colleague:

“Sustaining the Mission in Challenging Times” is the focus for our 123rd Annual Meeting and Conference to be held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston on December 3-5, 2008. The theme will allow many of our speakers and presenters to examine the choices facing the education community at all levels.

Some commissions will hold pre-conference sessions on Wednesday, December 3. These pre-conference sessions are part of the Annual Meeting format so attendance requires that you register for the Annual Meeting.

The plenary address will be delivered by Gregory Mortenson, humanitarian and author of Three Cups of Tea who will receive one of two Eliot Awards for 2008. Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, Pennies for Peace.
 
Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University and of NEASC will be our banquet speaker on Thursday evening, December 4 at 6:30 p.m.

The selection of the second 2008 Eliot Award recipient is currently underway and that person will address the luncheon on Friday, December 5th. Previous Eliot Award winners have included Senators Jeffords and Dodd, authors Jonathan Kozol and David Berliner, and professor Linda Darling-Hammond.
 
The Annual Business Meeting of the Association will be held on Friday morning, December 5 at 8:00 a.m. A continental breakfast will be available to attendees of this meeting. The Annual Business Meeting is where the membership is informed of and takes action on issues pertinent to the welfare of the Association. If your school or college is a member institution, please be sure to properly identify two voting delegates and return the delegate credentials to the NEASC office. If your school or college is not an NEASC member, you are invited to attend the Annual Meeting as a non-voting member. 
 
Throughout the days of the conference, there are stimulating sessions germane to all of NEASC’s six commissions and to all members of the region’s education community.

 We encourage you to attend and participate in this Annual Meeting and Conference. We are a unique organization in that we embrace all sectors of public and private education from the pre-school level through higher education. Attendance at last year’s meeting was the highest ever. With this year’s program and speakers, we should surpass last year’s attendance.  Please join your colleagues from throughout New England. We look forward to seeing you at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel on December 3-5, 2008.

Sincerely,

Jacob Ludes, III

P.S.  Please make your hotel reservations directly with the Fairmont Copley Plaza, the Westin Hotel at Copley Place or the Sheraton Boston. The NEASC hotel accommodations webpage links directly to each hotel’s on-line registration page.