The recent Federal Government announcement that Title II Accessibility compliance was being delayed for a year was quite a surprise.  I know so many of you had been working so hard this past year to ensure you would be ready by the original deadline – I actually heard more frustration than relief.

Why?  For those who work directly in the world of accessibility compliance, it has often been hard to get others on campus to buy into what is needed to comply.  The Federal deadline had finally gotten everyone on the same page – and the unexpected delay, may now be counter-productive to the progress made.   There can be no expectation that the new deadline for next year will be extended, so it remains “all hands on deck” in identifying deficiencies and framing a set of solutions most appropriate for your institution.  

At this year’s ITC National Annual Conference, Ian Coronado and I presented on the results of the 2025 national survey.  For any of you that have been members for any length of time, you know that the ITC has conducted an annual survey since 2004 – focused on Distance Learning, it surveyed consistent data points to build a longitudinal understanding of the challenges and successes of Distance Learning at America’s community colleges.  We missed a beat during the first year of the pandemic – we were all very distracted at that time – but have otherwise annually reported the seemingly continuous growth of Distance Learning.

Our membership has repeatedly expressed appreciation for the data – our survey results have been used extensively at many campuses to improve budgets, staffing and/or adoption of key practices to improve the quality and success of Distance Learning.  Our membership also pointed out that completing the annual survey was becoming a struggle – so many questions!!

For those of you that joined us in Austin, Texas for the ITC Annual National Conference – thank you!!!  It was a wonderful conference – and represented the ITC’ return to staging our annual conference on a community college campus.  A major “tip of the ITC hat” to our host, Matt Evins, the director of Academic Technology at Austin Community College. He, and his wonderful staff, made everything work and flow so well. The tech support was wonderful, the food and refreshments were wonderful, the Highland Campus (one of twelve campus locations) was gi-normous but worked well for our conference.  As you can imagine, most of the board members were immersed in selecting session applications, arranging for keynote speakers, coordinating the Grand Debate or the Awards Ceremony, hosting/participating in our “power panel session, recruiting exhibitors, creating awards and give-aways, planning receptions and facilitating sessions.   And the ITC board leaders were “everything, everywhere, all at once” for the entire conference.  All deserve a hale and hearty “Hizzah!!” for a fabulous job!

There were many highlights at the conference, but some of our best news concerned the introduction of our new ITC management team as well.  No surprise here – you’ve been interacting with our team:  Craig and Holly, as they helped with membership renewals and conference registrations over the past eight months – as well as fielding any questions or needs from our membership. But to make this sound official, we formally introduce:

As you know, I have been connecting with you every week for a long time now.  This adventure started in November 2015 – I’ve mused in the past that I have a knack to commit to projects that just keep going. I did the first ITC National Distance Learning Survey in 2004 – had Ian Coronado and I just reported out the 21^st survey results at the recent ITC conference (the results will be shared with all members – Ian has developed a wonderful infographic! And this weekly endeavor is like a Timex watch – it just keeps ticking!  

One of my absolute joys is seeing so many of you at the annual conference. And you have been so kind to indicate your commitment to reading the weekly tomes. I appreciate any feedback, and I feel that the weekly communication has pulled us closer together over the past 10+ years.   I’ve been told that especially career and job related topics seemingly are so well-timed and resonate just when you needed to know that you weren’t alone. I get it. I’m a recovering administrator and have dealt with an abundance of crazy over time. I’ve been lucky over the years and enjoyed the many administrators I worked with. But enrollment downturns and budget cuts are brutal.  As the need to consolidate vacant positions accelerates, remaining administrative positions transform into an amalgamation of responsibilities – and workload.  For me, it hit after the 2008 recession. My dream administrative job became overwhelming.  At ITC board meetings, I often updated what my job entailed – it kept changing and represented such an eclectic combination of responsibilities. The list would not fit on a business card, and I indicated my title had become the “dean of stuff”.