News from the Conference

The CASEA executive for 2004-2005 is:

• David MacKinnon (Acadia), President
• Claire Lapointe (Laval), Vice-President and Program Chair
• Robert Macmillan (StFX), Secretary-Treasurer
• Coral Mitchell (Brock), Past President

The executive will be assisted by the following committee chairs:

• Derek Allison (UWO), T. B. Greenfield Dissertation Award
• Janice Wallace (U of A), Master’s Award
• Larry Sackney (U of S), Distinguished Service Award
• Matt Meyer (SFX), CJE representative
• Tim Goddard (U of C), Membership Recruitment
• Hanne Mawhinney (Maryland), New Scholar Fund representative
• Carolyn Shields (UBC), CCEAM representative (until December 31, 2004)
• Tim Goddard (U of C), CCEAM representative (beginning January 1, 2005)

At the end of 2003, membership in CASEA stood at 113 members, which was a decrease of 5 members from the 2002 total. However, by the time of the conference in May 2004, active membership stood at 143 members. This remarkable increase is the result of a recruitment drive spearheaded by Dr. Tim Goddard and staffed by a team of 10 recruiters across Canada. Their efforts have clearly been effective, and we are grateful for their efforts on behalf ot CASEA. For their success in attracting the most new members, Dr. Sheila Carr-Stewart (U of S) and Dr. Rosemary Foster (U of A) won the prize of a drink at the annual banquet, courtesy of the outgoing President.

CASEA’s annual conference was a resounding success, with 67 paper or symposium presentations in 32 sessions, as well as several round table presentations. Congratulations for an outstanding program are extended to the Program Chair, David MacKinnon (Acadia), Program Co-Chair, Claire Lapointe (Laval), the 30 CASEA members who served as proposal reviewers, and all the presenters.

One of the highlights of the program is the Annual CASEA Seminar, which showcases the work of senior scholars who have made extensive contributions to Canadian scholarship in educational administration. The seminar theme for 2004 was School Improvement, with Lorna Earl, Head of the International Centre of Education Change at OISE/UT, serving as the invited scholar.

Another highlight was an invited presentation by two representatives from the British Educational Leadership, Management, and Administration Society, Megan Crawford from Warwick and Linda Ellison from Nottingham.

Members of CASEA and CASWE continued an annual tradition of sponsoring a joint book launch and wine-and-cheese reception with which to honour the scholarly productivity of our members. CASEA is extremely proud of the academic productivity demonstrated by the large number of publications presented each year.

Several awards were presented at CASEA 2004. The recipient of the T. B. Greenfield Dissertation Award was Dr. Paul Newton (U of S) for his dissertation entitled Knowledge management in school boards. Dr. Newton’s work was supervised by Larry Sackney (U of S). The Dissertation Award Committee was chaired by Derek Allison (UWO), supported by Margaret Haughey (U of A) and Bob Macmillan (UWO). Dr. Newton presented an overview of his research at the annual T. B. Greenfield Dissertation Presentation immediately following the AGM. Dr. Allison presented the award to Dr. Newton at the annual banquet on Monday evening, May 31.

Also announced at the AGM was the recipient of the Master’s Award, Mr. Ron Dann (UVic). He won the award for his work entitled Value conflict of the elementary school principal: A case study. His advisor was Linda Coupal (UVic). The committee awarded an Honourable Mention to Lani Maxwell (UVic) for her thesis entitled Teachers speak: Impact of restructuring on the daily lives of elementary teachers. Ms Maxwell’s advisors were Vern Storey and Anne Marshall. The Master’s Award Committee was chaired by Carol Harris (UVic) and included Janice Wallace (U of A), Clay LaFleur (OISE/UT), and Claire Lapointe (Laval).

This year, the CASEA Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dr. Michael Manley-Casimir (Brock), who has been instrumental in advancing the interests and development of CASEA in many ways over the years. The Distinguished Service Award Committee was chaired by Larry Sackney (U of S) and included Derek Allison (UWO) and Charles Webber (U of C). Dr. Sackney presented the award at the Annual CASEA Banquet on Monday evening, May 31.

Presidential Address

David MacKinnon
May 31, 2004
University of Manitoba

I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve a two-year term as your president. It is an honour to serve an association with which I have had a long, if non-traditional, relationship. I say “non-traditional” because those who know me know that my work and interests don’t fall within the boundaries of what might be considered the academic tradition of educational administration. But over the years in which I have been involved in this association, that tradition has altered. The discourse of educational administration has expanded and diversified, and in so doing it has created space within our association for many who might previously have located themselves elsewhere.

It is that diversity that I want to celebrate and nurture over the next two years. I want to encourage debates about where we are going as an association, about what a future educational administration might look like, and whether our association’s name even fully captures who we are now, or what we want to become. Lest that create anxiety in the hearts of some, I want to assure you that I am not talking about disregarding or disrespecting our traditions as a discipline. But I am talking about the expansion of space, space that has been and is being created within our association for other voices, for alternative discourses.

I have toyed with the idea of inviting a scholar within our discipline, or perhaps from a cognate discipline, to each year deliver a position paper during our annual gathering on a topic that has been relatively silent in our conversations, and how that topic links with schooling, administration, leadership, and policy. Occasionally I sit in on conversations in other societies that I don’t hear here. Surely there is nothing of importance in education that is not of importance to educational administration. Perhaps the idea of a position paper is not a good one. But I would like to hear from members on this idea, and perhaps a better suggestion might emerge.

I want to close by saying how delighted I am that Claire Lapointe has agreed to be Vice-President. One of the very first conversations we had when she joined me as program co-chair was about ways to increase the presence of our francophone colleagues in CASEA. This is happening, and I know it will continue under Claire’s leadership. It is also a comfort to know that the program is in good hands. As has become our practice, Claire will select someone to serve with her as program co-chair, and will announce that to the membership at an appropriate time.

In addition, I was elated to learn that Bob MacMillan will continue as Secretary-Treasurer. As everyone in this room who knows Bob knows, he is rock-solid, astute, and reliable. I have a hard time imagining someone better in that position. And his stability will serve as a reassuring counterpoint to my addlepation.

And lastly, I cannot say enough about Coral Mitchell. She has been a wonderful source of knowledge, encouragement, and support for me. I know I will continue to draw on and probably lean on her regularly.

You have a right to expect certain things from your executive. But this association works because of the dedication of its membership. I learned that early on as Vice-President and program co-chair. I know that will continue to be the case.

Have a great year. You’ll be hearing from me throughout the year, and I look forward to seeing all of you in London in 2005. And remember, if you choose to respond to any of my messages, don’t hit “reply!” Enjoy the rest of the evening.