I was very pleased at the number of members who came up to me in Nottingham to say what an excellent conference it was. We exceeded our planned numbers, and had delegates from 185 different institutions, including 69 overseas delegates. The venue was excellent, and the local organisation by Rachel Greatrix and her team first class. We had an interesting and varied programme, including some provocative and controversial elements. Not everyone agreed with Frank Furedi's views on the impact of bureaucracy on higher education, and the contribution of administrators to this, but he provided a thought-provoking start to the Conference. Of course there were a few niggles - there always will be with a Conference of the size of ours - but the general feedback was that this was one of the more memorable AUA conferences. But please let us know if there are any improvements you want in future years.
One of the bittersweet aspects of Conference for me was that we formally said goodbye to four long-serving Executive Committee members, Sue Holmes, Alison Johns, Sue Robinson, and John Ryan. Sue Holmes joined Executive Committee in 1999, and was my predecessor as Chair between 2004 and 2006. Alison had been on Executive Committee since 1995, has chaired Professional Development Committee and the International Committee, and was Chair 2000-2002. Sue Robinson had been an active member of Membership and Communications committee since 1997, and became its Chair and joined Executive Committee in 2003. John had been a member of Executive Committee for 13 years from 1994, has been Chair of both Professional Development Committee and Conferences Committee, and was Chair of the Association between 2002 and 2004. We will greatly miss their contributions to Executive Committee, but I've no doubt that each will continue to help the Association.
Bruce Nelson
Chair
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