Happy New Year! I am so pleased with our membership numbers and level of activity this year. The fall conference in Cincinnati provided us with many great programs and opportunities to network.  

It is difficult to properly express my gratitude to the people who helped with the Cincinnati conference. Many graduate students worked hard to make the NCACES conference a great one.  Several students from the University of Cincinnati worked hard to provide additional services to conference goers.  Christina Rosen and Geri Goodman procured items to build the welcome packets for the conference.  Kay and Mark worked hard to provide the children’s choir, the Peacemakers for lunch as well as coffee during the conference.  Other Ohio graduate students also stepped up to the plate.  Louisa Foss and Jake Protivnak represented North Central ACES as graduate student liaisons by hosting a graduate student breakfast and social.  These graduate students are already active in NCACES and will make great additions to the profession!

 I want to thank Tarrell Portman and Stephen Craig for making our Awards Reception at Great American Ballpark so special.  The time and hard work they put into the selection process was obvious and appreciated. Geof Yager, Jayne Treinen-Yager and Peg Olson once again handled the registration and membership renewals with ease.  In fact, Geof was able to predict the conference registration numbers within two people! I want to thank Susan Norris Huss and Mei Tang for their leadership as well.  Susan works relentlessly to fine tune our financial policies and sends out countless checks to keep NCACES going.  Mei works diligently to provide us with minutes from our business meetings.

Additionally, I would like to thank Grace Mims for her work on the conference program.  She and her committee reviewed over 200 proposals and put together a wonderful offering of programs.  I know she will be a fine President of NCACES!

 I feel honored to serve as President of NCACES and also realize that the members also play an important role in our organization.  If I can be of assistance to you, please contact me.  I look forward to seeing you in Kansas City in April!   

Dr. Kimberly Vess, LMHC