President’s Message | October, 2007

Greetings Rehabilitation Colleagues,

This new academic year brings many challenges and offers opportunities for strengthening the role of rehabilitation education and reaching out to our partner organizations. NCRE is the only national organization dedicated solely to rehabilitation education and research and, as such, we play an important leadership role in the field of rehabilitation. Our membership is committed to making a difference individually and collectively in the preparation of qualified, well-trained rehabilitation professionals at all levels.

On behalf of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE), we invite you to continue your membership or to join your peers and become a part of the important efforts of the coming year. An association gains its strength from numbers and the participation of its members. It is more important than ever that all voices be heard as we are facing many important issues in policy and the future of rehabilitation as a profession. We are committed to open communication and discussions that become the foundation for proposed change and advocacy by your elected leaders. These discussions are becoming increasingly important, as evidenced by recent participation in the NCRE Membership List Serve.

We see our efforts at NCRE as an opportunity to improve the quality of rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities. We will continue to play a leadership role in these collaborative efforts through our annual conference convened with CSAVR and RSA in Washington, DC in October, 2007 and in our professional development conference in San Antonio in February, 2008. These conferences support professional discussion, formation of alliances, timely research dissemination, policy consideration, networking and creative problem-solving. In addition to the conferences, our professional journal Rehabilitation Education; the NCRE Newsletter; our website, on which more member-focused services are being developed; and our membership list serve are designed to provide current research, information, and a forum for intellectual discussion. In addition, we provide a certification maintenance program for CRC certification for our membership.

The field of rehabilitation has too long been fragmented by different professional associations and views. If we are to remain strong, we must seek commonalities that allow for these individual differences. NCRE must take a leadership role in defining the role of rehabilitation professionals and promoting the profession. That’s why we selected the theme of Advancing the Profession’s Identity: Turning Vision into Reality for our 2008 conference. It’s going to take all of us working together to achieve this vision. We hope that you will join us in this adventure.

The value of membership is large, while the cost remains small. NCRE relies on every person being committed to engaging in the support of its professional organization. We hope that you will join NCRE as an individual member (use the certified category if you are on the faculty of an educational institution that maintains institutional membership and the associate individual membership category if you are teaching/working in a program that is not a member or if you are a rehabilitation practitioner). Remember, only these categories of individual members can vote. We need your strength, knowledge, and commitment in order to advance the field of rehabilitation. NCRE Appreciates your Support!

Linda Holloway, President