Dear SACES Members and Friends

I hope your semester has gotten off to a good start after, optimistically, having a relaxing, fun-filled summer. Beginning the semester always ends up being a busier time than we typically expect, but also tends to be filled with excited students commencing or returning to our programs, and new activities and opportunities being offered on the horizons. The latter is no exception to this year with SACES.

As I write, the 2009 Association for Counselor Education and Supervision conference planning committee are busy finalizing the details for this upcoming ACES conference this October in San Diego, California. I invite you to visit the ACES website to see the conference highlights – it will be a very active conference with many opportunities! For example, you will find a new pre-conference offering, which is the ACES INFORM – an assortment of invited presentations being offered on methodological aspects of research (see more information on the ACES INFORM later in this newsletter). The ACES INFORM is a response to the 2007 research initiative by ACES in their strategic plan. Along with the ACES INFORM, the Emerging Leaders training, which will also occur on Wednesday October 13, 2009 – of which eight of our SACES students have been recognized as fellows and will be attending this training! We look forward to each of these students becoming involved in SACES in the near future! In addition, during the conference, the Social Justice Summit will also be offered again this year (as it was in Columbus in 2007). Some of our SACES members have been very active in helping with the planning of the Social Justice Summit this year.

In addition, SACES State Presidents should keep in mind that there is a breakfast in their honor on Thursday, October 14, 2009 from 8:00-9:00. And finally, don’t forget about our SACES business meeting on Friday – bright and early from 7:30-9:15. We hope that you will be able to come so that you can hear the new business, see which friends and colleagues have received awards or grants, and to vote on next years nominated individuals who will be your SACES representatives. These, of course, are only a few of the many activities and offerings that ACES will have in San Diego this year – so I do encourage you to check the conference highlights out on the website.

Another recent adoption by ACES was the Research Mentorship guidelines. These are guidelines for educators, supervisors, and students in regards to ethically and appropriately mentoring others in the area of research – as well as how to be an effective and ethical mentee. These guidelines will soon be posted on the ACES website, as well as will be passed out or briefly discussed at the ACES conference. At SACES we are hoping to take these Research Mentorship guidelines and implement them among our membership in a way that hopefully will connect individuals to assist more with research and writing.

SACES also has many new activities and offerings on the forefront, and hopefully more to come! For example, SACES has just initiated small grant awards to the SACES interest networks. The goal of these awards is to support interest networks in carrying out innovative ideas, including research projects, development of programs, and activities that are specifically related to the goals and missions of their SACES interest network. Each of the interest networks have been apprised of these awards just recently – so if you are a member of one of these interest networks and have an idea, I encourage you to contact your interest network chair (this information can be found on the SACES website).

In addition, please check out the SACES website – you will find that last spring and over the summer many additional links have been provided. These include things such as the Discussion Boards – which are open for discussion by any member and includes boards such as a suggestion box (I would love to hear some of your opinions and suggestions for SACES!), a board for each interest network and committee, and a board for each state SACES. There are also links for programs, universities, and agencies to post jobs – as well as individuals to search those jobs by SACES state, and a new photo gallery of SACES events and members! Please take a moment to check it out!

As this year gets started, and we become more involved in our daily activities and routines, I do invite you to get involved in SACES or your state organizations. Please feel free to contact me, or any of the SACES Executive Committee, the interest network chairs, or other SACES committees in general to get involved! I look forward to working with each of you throughout this year! Please stop by and say hello to me, Gerard Lawson, SACES Past-President, or Danica Hays, SACES President-Elect, in San Diego!

Kelly Wester