ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIR
PANORAMA

What does it take to plan an outstanding conference? First, you need a great site - say somewhere scenic in the heart of the Rockies with outstanding views and perfect early fall weather. Second, you need a solid theme - perhaps something like "Cooperation & Collaboration: Building a Seamless Educational System." And of course, you need participants to attend your conference - say a good mix of seasoned professionals and some new faces from both universities and community colleges representing all the states in your region. Also, it doe not hurt to have a great pre-conference workshop and a thought-provoking keynote speaker. A strong program is an essential component of a successful conference - although some have been known to say that time to network and talk to colleagues is just as important as the program. Maybe that is why a great evening out - with time to converse - is usually included in these events.

So, if what it takes to plan a conference is generally known - why is it some are outstanding and some merely good? I have a feeling that the secret is in the planners. And this year RMAIR was indeed fortunate to have Cel Johnson (Montana State-Bozeman) and Jean Horst (Montana State-Billings) put together the annual fall meeting. And so to Cel & Jean - thank you, thank you, thank you!! It was a fantastic three days. Bozeman was wonderful and the weather could not have been better! The conference began on Wednesday afternoon with a workshop (Strategies for the Practice of Effective Institutional Research) given by Jacki Stirn. This is part of the continuing AIR "Train the Trainer" program of bringing the best of the Forum & Institute workshops to the regional meetings. After the traditional registration and welcome reception, conference goers were able to explore downtown Bozeman and dine in one of the many and varied eateries.

Thursday began with a scrumptious breakfast and a thought-provoking keynote address by Dr. Margaret Kaus, Associate Director, Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. She highlighted issues that most institutions will soon be (if they are not already) dealing with, such as accreditation of college-level courses taught on-site by high school faculty to high school students. Another important topic was the evaluation & accreditation of on-line courses. With many institutions still struggling with assessment and accountability issues in their campus and outreach programs, developing methods and tools to assess the "virtual university " will be a real challenge.

This year's program was exceptionally strong and covered a wide rage of topics. It was wonderful to have so many new faces among the presenters, as well as some familiar ones. Fred Lillibridge's paper, "Do Students Do What They Say They Intend to Do?" was voted the Best Paper for the conference and will be forwarded to AIR for presentation at the Forum in Seattle. There were lots of announcements of activities and changes during the annual business meeting - look for details on those in the President's column and other articles in this newsletter.

No report on the conference would be complete without mentioning the dinner and tour of the Museum of the Rockies and Planetarium Show on Thursday evening. The museum has gained national prominence under the direction of Jack Horner - perhaps best known by millions as the "model" for the main archeologist character in Crichton's "Jurassic Park" and many appearances in television documentaries on dinosaurs. One of the current exhibits was on "meat-eaters" and was just as good as we hoped it would be. It was aimed at dino-lovers of all ages and had plenty of interactive pieces for children. (Although I did notice that many of these were thoroughly 'researched' by the RMAIRians in attendance. All in the line of duty, I guess.) But this museum is not just about dinosaurs and had more outstanding exhibits than we could cover in one evening. A great place to revisit with your family when you drag them to Montana next summer to vacation in Big Sky country. A standing ovation to Cel & Jean for planning and putting on a superb fall meeting for RMAIR!!