Welcome back! I hope that you all have had a productive and enjoyable summer. Likewise, I hope that you survived the earthquake and hurricane without injury or too much inconvenience. As I stated in the spring newsletter, we are pushing to increase our membership. I would like to charge each of you to not only attend the October conference but to bring a prospective member. Please see the conference registration form, which lists a $10 discount for brining a new person. With our membership drive in mind, I also ask that each of you forward the conference information to at least 3 people. Think of this request as one of those chain emails that guarantee that something great will happen if you forward it within 5 minutes. I guarantee that we will have a great conference if each of us decides to bring someone new!

As mentioned previously, the annual VACJE conference will be held at Virginia State University. We hope that this move will allow us to integrate our organization with the campuses we serve. It is also our hope that reducing some of our costs will allow us to keep membership dues and conference fees low. This year’s conference will feature Michael Wade, Henrico County Sheriff, and Maxine Sample, Director of the Dr. George H. Bennett Center for International Education at VSU. Sheriff Wade will discuss his collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia Union Universities to create a Corrections Academy. In addition, Dr. Sample will provide her insight on international education and how study abroad programs can benefit students and institutions.

I’m looking forward to the annual conference and hope that each of you will be able to attend. It is a time for great fun, learning, and networking. If you have any questions or concerns about the conference please feel free to email me.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call.

Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Ph.D. Virginia State University nparsons-pollard@vsu.edu 804-524-6923

Click here to Download 2011 Conference Registration Form