We lost a treasured member of NCFR on July 8 when Alexis Walker died after a long illness. Alexis was a former NCFR president (1994-1995), conference program chair (1991), and Journal of Marriage and Family editor (2002-2007). From the thousands of visits to her CaringBridge website and memorials in the recent issue of the NCFR Feminism & Family Studies Section’s newsletter, it is obvious that she touched the hearts and minds of countless mentees and colleagues. One of the most recent honors bestowed upon Dr. Walker was the Felix Berardo Scholarship Award for Mentoring.

Shortly after Alexis’ passing we learned that Jean Bauer had succumbed to cancer on July 23, 2012. Jean was an exceptional leader and mentor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. Jean led the efforts to develop “Dollar Works,” a nationally recognized curriculum on family resource management. She led a multi-state research project on Rural Low Income Families the results of which were published in 2011 in the book, Rural Families and Work: Context and Problems.

You can view additional information about these two outstanding women and link to formal obituaries on the “In Memoriam” page on the NCFR website. Dr. Walker, Dr. Bauer, and other recently deceased NCFR members will be remembered at the memorial service held in conjunction with the NCFR annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona. For a schedule of conference meetings please see http://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-2012/conference-schedule.

Online Seminars

At NCFR, we held our first webinar on September 6, 2012, and 162 of our members participated. Done in partnership with the Minnesota Council on Family Relations (MCFR), “An introduction to ethical thinking and practice for family professionals - a case study approach” was aimed at parent and family life educators and those in related settings. This webinar was an introduction to the ethical thinking and practice process and has been approved for 1.5 Certified Family Life Education (CFLE) Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits.

Thank you to the Minnesota Council on Family Relations for the use of their Ethical Thinking and Practices process and to Beth Gausman, MS, CFLE, Mary Maher, LSW, LPE, and Bill Allen, Ph.D. All three are MCFR and NCFR members and have been involved in offering Ethical Thinking and Practice workshops throughout Minnesota and will be the webinar presenters.

If you have topic ideas for future webinars please contact NCFR Director of Education Dawn Cassidy at dawncassidy@ncfr.org.

2012 Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona

Planning continues for NCFR’s 2012 annual conference. NCFR staff has sought reassurance from state and local officials regarding the safety and welfare of all conference participants in light of Arizona’s position on immigration. While some NCFR Arizona members have said there is no more reason for concern about personal safety than would be the case in any other major city, another member recommended carrying identification, such as a passport. At this time, registration for this year’s conference is slightly ahead of recent years.

Ethnic minorities comprise 40% of Arizona’s population. Maricopa County (Phoenix) has 1.1 million Latinos (30% of the population), and the Phoenix city manager, police chief, and four of eight police precinct commanders are Latino.

For background and additional information about NCFR’s response please visit http://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-2012/arizona-and-immigration. If you have special concerns please contact NCFR’s Director of Membership and Marketing, Charles Cheesebrough at charliecheesebrough@ncfr.org.

Staffing updates

In June of this year, after careful consideration of member needs, the position of Member Relations Manager was eliminated and replaced by the Online Community and Web Content Manager Position. Future member relations efforts will be aimed at anticipating and developing programs and services that will be of value to members by engaging in online social networking with members. You will see increased reporting on member, section, and affiliate activities and the field of family research and practice in general. Allison Wickler joined our staff in early September, bringing with her journalism skills developed in the online age.

In June we said goodbye to longtime NCFR staff members Lynda Bessey and Pat Knutson Grams, finance assistant. In August we welcomed Morgan Cole who has extensive experience in the use of NCFR’s financial program, Great Plains. Morgan is the mother of three-year old Greta and enjoys a variety of outdoor activities.

From our offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we wish you a superb fall and look forward to seeing you in Phoenix in November.