From the Chair s1

From The Chair

May 2007

Greetings ALM colleagues. My apologies that the newsletter has been dormant. We hope the new format, using the re-designed website will overcome our current problems. Thanks for your patience and faith in the organization despite the lack of hardcopy communication. I hope that everyone has been checking the ALM website and keeping up with the conference information and electronic journal publication.

The 12th International Conference on Adults Learning Mathematics met in Melbourne, Australia from July 3 through July 7, 2005. For the first time, the conference was jointly sponsored. ALM partnered with the Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL) and the Australasian Bridging Mathematics Network (BMN) to stage a conference aptly titled “Connecting Voices: Practitioners, Researchers & Learners in Adult Mathematics Numeracy.” It was our largest conference to date, 200 attendees, and permitted those of us from Europe and the Americas to explore the challenges faced and solutions crafted by colleagues whom we might never have met otherwise. We also came to appreciate the professional commitment our Australasian friends possess that entices them to travel great distances to European and American venues to attend conferences. In poignant farewells with new-found friends, I came to fully realize the sacrifices made by emigrants who made the one-way journeys to Australia and America many years ago.

Besides journeying farther afield, 2005 was special for ALM in another way. The first issue of our electronic journal “hit the stands” that spring. Thanks are due to the editorial team Gail Fitzsimons, Juergen Maasz, and Mieke van Groenestijn for a job well done. Two more editions were published in 2006 and a special issue that focuses on gender is due for publication in 2007. Be sure to visit the ALM website to access issues of the journal. While you are there, check over the details of the upcoming ALM-14 conference to be held in Limerick, Republic of Ireland from June 26 to 29, 2007. John O’Donoghue and his team have promised a true Irish experience. This conference celebrates the tenth anniversary of our first visit to Limerick when ALM was a relatively new organization.

ALM-14 marks the second year in a row that the annual conference will be held on the Emerald Isle. Last year ALM-13 met in Belfast, Northern Ireland in July. Valerie Seabright arranged for accommodation at Queen’s University in the heart of the city where the campus provided a lovely Victorian venue. We did manage to schedule ALM- 13 during the aberrant heat wave that swept across Europe. Nevertheless, the student accommodations were quite comfortable and the campus pub provided a site for refreshing beverages and the traditional evening songfests that have marked past conferences.

In 2005, those of you who are on the members e-mail list received a detailed explanation of the composition of the trustee board and the impending turnover anticipated in the next two years. ALM rules require that officers serve for no more than five, and trustees than seven, consecutive years. As a result, in 2005 Diana Coben, and Juergen Maasz stepped down from the trustee board and in 2006 Mieke van Groenestijn and Lisbeth Lindberg stood down. As long serving Trustees of the organization they have all been welcomed to continue to contribute as honorary Trustees. This July other positions will be vacated. Please consider volunteering to serve as an officer or trustee in the 2007-2008 term. As with any organization, new leaders bring fresh ideas and innovations. The nomination forms are enclosed in this mailing.

My thanks are due to all the trustees who served during the 2004-2006 terms. In July 2006 at ALM 13 I was re-elected as chair for this year, the other offices have changed. Valerie Seabright was elected Secretary, Ann McDonnell is now the treasurer, and Noel Colleran is the membership secretary. Joining the trustee ranks for 2006-2007 for the first time were Lars Gustafsson, Graham Griffiths, Sue East, Sarah Richards, Ruth Moulton and Gail FitzSimons with Jens Langpaap returning for a second year and David Kaye continued as a Trustee.. Chris Klinger, Marj Horne and Tracy Part were also invited to serve as advisory trustees for 2006/07.

Information about ALM-14 has been posted and I encourage you to visit the ALM website for details of fees and accommodation.

See you in Limerick!

Kathy Safford, ALM chair 2006-2007 [email protected]