Happy New Year/Bonne année ACEAS/CASEA members. In this first newsletter of the new year, I would like to provide the following updates:

• 2009 CASEA/ACEAS CONFERENCE UPDATE: We received many excellent proposal and conversation session submissions in November. Merci/thank you to everyone who reviewed and assessed these proposals for potential inclusion in the 2009 CASEA/ACEAS conference program to be held during the CSSE/SCEE congress, May 23-26 at Carleton in Ottawa. Thanks as well to Bonnie Stelmach and Matthew Meyer for organizing the review of proposals. They are in the process of timetabling the 2009 program and Matthew Meyer will travel to Ottawa at the end of January to work with other association program chairs to assemble the overall program for the 2009 CSSE/SCEE. Official notification of the status of proposals will be made in mid-February. This is later than usual for CASEA/ACEAS, and we wanted you to know this directive has come from CSSE/SCEE. Note from Tim Howard, the Executive Director: Concerning notifying the submitters, there is information in the call for presentations indicating that notices would not be sent out until February; actually it gives a tentative date of 20 Feb. It is important to keep a common front on this matter.  Accommodation in Ottawa: Make your reservations EARLY. There are numerous events going on in Ottawa at the same time as CASEA/ACEAS 2009, including the Ottawa Marathon.
• CASEA/ACEAS 2009 BANQUET: Our banquet will be held Monday May 25, 2009 at the very picturesque LAGO Bar and Grill located at the end of the Rideau Canal adjacent to Carleton (www.lagobargrill.com). David Burgessis coordinating the event. Cost is $55 per person. Make cheques payable to Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration, and send to our treasurer at: CASEA/ACEAS Banquet, c/o Dr. Dawn Wallin, 62 St. Andrew Rd., Winnipeg, MB R2M 3H6
• CASEA/ACEAS 2009 AWARDS: Deadline for nominations for all awards is February 1, 2009. Information can be found on the website (www.casea.org): Send nominations to: Paul Newton (Margaret Haughey Masters Award), Dawn Wallin (T. B. Greenfield Ph.D. Award), or Ken Brien (Distinguished Service Award).
• CASEA/ACEAS 2009 SPECIAL EVENTS: There will be a CASEA/ACEAS “Kick Off” Breakfast (no charge) on Saturday May 23, 2009 at 7:30 am. Location: TBA. Lunch will be provided (no charge) at the CASEA/ACEAS AGM. There will be a CASEA/ACEAS Book Launch Monday May 25, 2009 (refreshments provided at no charge). If you have a book you would like featured in the book launch, please contact David Young or Matthew Meyer. Graduate students, please take note there will be a Graduate Student Seminar as part of the 2009 program. Contact Brenton Faubert or Matthew Meyer for information. As well, this year’s program features an Educational Administration Seminar where the topic will be What constitutes research and evidence in the field of Educational Administration?Contact me, Rosemary Foster, or Matthew Meyer for more information. Once again, colleagues from BELMAS will make a presentation on the state of the art of educational administration in Britain. Further details about these special events will be provided in the next newsletter.
• 2009 CASEA/ACEAS CONFERENCE CONVERSATION SESSIONS: Conversation session submissions were peer-reviewed this year, and all were found by the majority of reviewers to be worthy of inclusion in the program. In the spirit of generating good conversation, discussion, and debate, we will, in some cases, be grouping two conversation sessions with similar themes, in the same time slot.
• CHAIRS FOR CASEA/ACEAS 2009 SESSIONS: We decided to forego discussants this conference, and to maintain a designated chair for each paper and roundtable session. Please contact Bonnie Stelmach if you want to chair a session.
• Contact information for Executive Members and Committee Chairs is attached to the end of this newsletter.On veut vous voir à Ottawa! See you all in Ottawa in May!

Rosemary Foster

COMITE DES CHERCHEURS FRANCOPHONES: Nouvelles de Claire Lapointe
 Tel que décidé à l’Assemblée générale annuelle de 2008, un comité est en voie d’être formé afin d’encourager la participation des chercheurs francophones à l’ACÉAS. Le prochain bulletin de nouvelles présentera les membres de ce comité pancanadien./ As decided at the last AGM, a committee for the participation of French-speaking scholars is coming together. Members of the committee will be announced soon. Voici par ailleurs quelques informations récentes sur ce qui se passe en administration de l’éducation au Canada français/Here are some major news relating to educational administration in Québec :

• Le Ministère de l’éducation, des loisirs et du sport du Québec a adopté en mai dernier un profil des compétences qui devront être visées par les programmes de formation des directions d’établissements scolaires de la province. Ce profil est disponible en français et en anglais à l’adresse web suivante / Last May, the Québec Ministry of Education adopted a professional competencies profile for school principals. University principalship training programs will have to aim at developing these competencies. http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/publications/index.asp?page=fiche&id=640