This Issue...

 

· Letter from PEPNet Director

· News from Regional Centers

· Photos of PEPNet Conference

· Feature  Article:

               "Effective" for Whom?

               By Jane Jarrow ...

 

 

PEPNet Perspectives

Postsecondary Education Programs Network

PEPNet Director's Corner

Marcia Kolvitz

Postsecondary Education Consortium:

Spring/Summer 2006

... continued on page 2

Summertime

and the living is easy...

 

 

Well, maybe it used to be that way, but I hear many people comment about how busy summers tend to be lately. We used to relax, switch to "summer hours," and spend time in our offices catching up on the things that we put aside during the school year. Maybe there's still time to update the staff handbook or put together faculty materials for the fall semester, but it's likely that the busy days of the spring semester haven't really stopped.

 

Many schools report an increasing number of summer students - some  are students who are continuing their enrollment while others are students who are picking up a few classes to transfer to another institution. Add on new student orientation programs and staggered staff vacations, and the weeks just fly by. What ever happened to those relaxed summer days?

 

I hope during the upcoming months that you'll have a chance to participate in some professional development activities that might help recharge your batteries and refresh your perspective. Various groups like to take advantage of the summer to host workshops and training. There are numerous national and regional conferences that might fit your needs, including the Hearing Loss Association of America (formerly SHHH) conference, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) conference, the Association on Higher Education and

 

 

 

 

Disability (AHEAD) conference, regional RID conferences, and many others.

Many of you may have an early start on this if you were able to join us in Louisville for the fifth PEPNet biennial conference. I think my head is still spinning from it!

 

I'm very pleased to report that we had over 400 people participate this year. Despite the tornado warning (which created yet another networking opportunity!), the location met our needs quite well. What do I remember as the high points? The content shared this year was very relevant. We had plenary session presenters who challenged us to reconsider what we "know" about working with individuals who are deaf or hard or hearing. They also made us laugh a bit, and sometimes we laughed at ourselves!

 

During every PEPNet conference, we always offer quite an array of concurrent sessions presented by people who have day-to-day contact with the student or consumer population. The complaint is usually how difficult it is to choose among the sessions. One of our goals was to arrange them so people could follow topical threads throughout the conference, if desired; these included speech-to-text services, academic issues, student development, transition, technology use, etc.

 

I always take a few minutes each day to  look at the group and watch the interactions. PEPNet conferences are a time for many colleagues to see each other again, but they're also an opportunity to forge new friendships.