Welcome back! Each year it amazes me how quickly time flies from one fall opening to the next. Luckily we have the energy of the students to invigorate us. Sometimes I feel unprepared for the semester to begin and from time to time, feel unexcited for our students to return. I wish for one more week or day to get better prepared. Then I remember; the reason why I am here is because they are. They are our clients, customers or mentees and even with an additional two weeks, I still may not be prepared. So instead of worrying about how unprepared I am, I plan to (as Gerri Taylor said to me) “put on my seatbelt” and enjoy the ride and the year!
And what year it has been! As I look back over the course of my presidency, I am amazed at the work we have accomplished. In the fall of 2009, we were all busy preparing for the H1N1 epidemic, providing vaccines, awareness campaigns, care to those who were sick, and working with our institution’s administration, faculty and staff. We did this in addition to all of the other responsibilities and tasks we do each day. I witnessed so many people working together from different schools offering resources, protocols and suggests for implementation. It made me better appreciate the field that I am in and the colleagues that I have.
Leaving H1N1 behind us, some of us continue to face financial challenges at our institutions or at the state level. We are trying to keep up with demand and need from our students with fewer resources and for some of us, with less support. During these difficult times, I encourage you to continue to collaborate and strategize together on how we can be more effective and efficient at our work.
All of us continue to evolve our services to our population in a changing world that continues to advance through technology. Who could have imagined that one day our students might take classes across the country or across the world at our institutions? How will this technology change what we do in college health? How do we keep up with the needs of our ever changing population?
At our Annual Meeting this fall, our featured speaker Daryl Lapp, JD, will be addressing our at-risk student population. He will be discussing how our work with them may not only affect us directly in college health, but also our institutions and other administrators. Our keynote speaker, Mary Carskadon, PhD, will be addressing the sleep needs of our students and how it can affect their academic success and health. Our Program Planning Committee, with Dr. Margaret Higham and Julie Basol at the helm, has been busy planning a miraculous meeting for us in Providence, the Art of College Health, October 27-29. We will have three Pre-Meeting Workshops this year, introducing one in the area of health education. The Workshops are included in the price of our registration fee. We also have over 40 great concurrent sessions. Click on 'Annual Meeting e-Brochure and Registration' to catch all the details. We hope to see you in Providence!
Joleen M. Nevers, MAEd, CHES NECHA 2009-2010 President Coordinator, Health Education
University of Connecticut
860.486.0772
