FROM THE PRESIDENT

THE FUTURE OF AEE
There is a confluence of events causing me to think more deeply about AEE’s future than usual.

Event #1
I am on a break from the action at an Inquiry institute in Chicago.  Inquiry is, at its core, experiential.  It is a process derived from Dewey, which taps into a student’s innate curiosity.  By asking questions, students are inevitably drawn into the content because they want to find the answers.  They are then required to do something with the new information, new thoughts, and new learning.  In other words, they make their learning visible in some way.

The institute is an example of people practicing experiential education who do not identify themselves as experiential educators.  I am, of course, pointing out the connection.  I wonder how many others are out there teaching, facilitating, guiding, and training using experiential philosophy and methods but are not receiving the support and benefits from the AEE learning community.

Event #2
The AEE Board of Directors recently finished a multi-year process that led to rearticulating the Ends of the Association.  Wayne Gretzky, a highly successful professional hockey player, said that he never skated to the puck but skated to where the puck would be.  That is the idea of the ends.  The Board gathers information from the membership and does research to become as educated as possible about the values of our members and (in our case) the educational landscape that affects experiential education. We then try to look out a few years into the future and try to place our organization (the puck) where it should be.  The staff then tries to “skate” to that point by creating a plan using their expertise, connecting with members and with resources. 

The new Ends shine a light on the professional learning community that AEE offers, on collaboration with other communities, on research, policy development, and offering authoritative resources for the many fields of experiential education.  You can find the new ends on the AEE website at: http://www.aee.org/about/visionMissionEnds 

Event #3
As you likely know, Pat Hammond was our CEO for the past few years.  Her retirement was a bittersweet moment for us: Pat offered a calm and steady hand at the helm of AEE.  She left AEE in a good place – and has remained involved with AEE, and even made a cameo appearance in Vancouver at the Annual International Conference! (Thank you, Pat!)
Her departure made way for our new CEO, Paul Limoges, who has brought an exciting new perspective to AEE. Paul is Québécois and has dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. He comes with a lifetime of familiarity with experiential education in his work with Up With People, as the Global Education Manager at Heifer International, and as a board member with the National Society for Experiential Education. Clearly, he is well poised to lead the organization to another level.

And Now…
I sense that there is a wave out there gaining strength in the education world that is favorable for those who share our philosophy and who use experiential methodologies.  AEE is ready to ride that wave – we are healthy, we have a strong staff, robust leadership, and we are positioned with new Ends to proactively move forward. These are exciting times and I, for one, am thrilled to be a part of it with all of you.