Teaching Family Science, the topic of this issue of Report’s Focus Section, is aimed at a third of NCFR’s members whose primary professional activity is university or college teaching. So numerous were the submissions that we nearly doubled the size of the issue.

Our hope is that you will pull out the Focus section and save it for future use and refer to it often along with our online Professional Resource Library (PRL). In the PRL, you will find hundreds of resources for teaching (as well as policy, research, theory, family therapy, etc.), including curricula, lesson plans, syllabi, textbook reviews, and best practices from your colleagues. NCFR.org is quickly becoming the website of choice for professional resources in family science.

A website is only as good as its keywords and “searchability,” whether for use by members looking for that great video in last week’s Zippy here in the Community Blog section or the plenary sessions from the NCFR 2011 conference, or by non-members who are trolling the internet for everything they can find on working with military families or parent education. Thanks to the leadership of Jason Samuels, NCFR’s Manager of Information Technology, and Google Grants for Non-profits, NCFR has expanded its visibility and discoverability through free online advertising. For program details visit Google Grants.  Google ads show up on the right side of the screen, adjacent to the middle column of site hits for a search. Our goal is to have more family professionals find NCFR.

We recently asked NCFR members to update their information in the NCFR database. This information is extremely helpful for program planning purposes so that we can continue to meet the diverse needs of NCFR members. To encourage you to take the time to update your member record we will be giving away a “door prize.” We do this because our experience has demonstrated a significantly higher rate of participation when there is a chance at a free gift. Your chances of winning are far better than those of the national lottery, but nonetheless, there will be only one winner. Good luck!

Members…the greatest resource

I want to take this opportunity to thank the leadership of several NCFR sections who have committed to expanding the work of their sections beyond the creation of the annual conference program. 

• Thomas Holman, Research and Theory Section Chair, has developed and implemented a new approach to annual conference planning, one that engages several members of the section in a planning committee approach.  
• Joanne Roberts, Chair of the Religion and Family Section, who has worked with her section to develop a multi-year strategic plan. 
• Tammy Henderson, Family Policy Chair, who is holding monthly conference planning meetings with the Family Policy Section executive committee and who also developed a Section Activities Calendar and a new description of officer duties. 

Each of these NCFR leaders presented these best practices at the April section chair training session in Minneapolis. We are indebted to you for your vision and your willingness to give so generously of your time to NCFR. 

You’ll also be hearing from the Inclusion and Diversity Committee (IDC) with a series of demographic and diversity questions on the first comprehensive NCFR member survey of its kind. Responses from this survey will assist the NCFR Board and its committee by providing direction for future inclusion and diversity work in NCFR.

The 2012 NCFR Annual Conference Program Planning Committee is in the final stages of program planning. Thanks to all of you for submitting proposals, 619 of them. Be sure to check the website for up-to-the-minute conference information.

Even while we look forward to 2012 in Phoenix, work is underway for the 75th anniversary meeting and conference in San Antonio in 2013. If you are interested is assisting with the anniversary activities planning, please contact Charlie Cheesebrough at charlescheesebrough@ncfr.org.

One final thank you is to the members who responded to our request for feedback on NCFR’s one-year-old website. You gave us the best and the worst, and now we will make changes to make the site better meet your needs. We couldn’t make it better without your honest and direct feedback.  Thanks much.