MESSAGE FROM DR. LYNN THOMAS, CSSE PRESIDENT

Dear colleagues,

Welcome back! I hope you have all enjoyed some time off to relax and recharge this summer, and are looking forward to the new school year with renewed energy to invest in your teaching and research. It is a great pleasure for me to reach out to you, fellow CSSE members, in my first message as president of CSSE. I hope to connect with many of you over the next two years in expanding the visibility of research in education in Canada.

Many of us associate CSSE with the annual conference and you will have received the call for proposals for the 2019 conference in Vancouver on August 15, with a deadline of October 1st for submissions. We hope that you will take an active role in encouraging graduate students and colleagues to become members and submit proposals. Be sure to mention CSSE and the value of ongoing membership at your next faculty meeting. A brown bag lunch session to share information and strategies for preparing good research proposals can be very helpful for newcomers to CSSE and now is the perfect time to organise one. If you would like some ideas on how to do this, please feel free to get in touch with me. Graduate students need to hear that networking is a very important benefit of attending the conference as deans and senior faculty are often present.

I would also like to point out that CSSE is much more than the annual conference. As well as an opportunity to connect with colleagues through the various associations, CSSE can work with members to promote and highlight events and publications through the website, newsletter, and on its social media sites. If you have suggestions for additional services or supports that would benefit members, we would really like to hear from you!

Planning for the 2019 conference in Vancouver is well underway. At this time we are looking for suggestions for the CSSE plenary speaker. Each association has been requested to poll their members for suggestions but you are also welcome to send suggestions directly to us. Those of you who were present in Regina this year will remember the wonderful presentation given by Marie Battiste, and we are hoping for an equally dynamic speaker for Vancouver next year.

In this newsletter you will find information about the conference and other events and publications of interest to CSSE members. I hope you will take the time from your busy schedules to read it and consider responding to any of the items. We look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes for an excellent new school year,

Lynn Thomas
President, CSSE
Sherbrooke, QC, which is located on the traditional territory of the Abenaki people