President’s Note

Feeling Our Present While Working Toward Better Futures

I acknowledge the strain of all the events both globally and close to home and have felt these with you. I hope you take good care of yourself both personally and in the workplace. We need to support each other through these times, and I have been working very hard to advocate for our field within governments and for funding OTESSA. I hope to have more positive news to share in the coming year.

We have set a deadline closer to the conference dates this year; however, should you miss the deadline, please do not hesitate to submit late and we will do our best to include you. We have been growing faster than our capacity administratively, but we appear to have solid ground under our feet now. As we are gaining ground with funding, indexing, growth, and partnerships, we encourage you to reach out to let us know what you need from OTESSA to support you, your work, your professional learning, and to help enact change in your institution or in your province or state. We also want you to consider OTESSA an extension of your voice and to work with us to create events, position papers, briefs, research and funding strategies, and other initiatives that fill the gaps we all see in our sectors. I hope you all have a wonderful spring and look forward to seeing you at one of our events!

Photo Credit: Colin Madland

Photo Description: The Arrowleaf Balsamroot, also known as the Okanagan Sunflower, blooms on south-facing slopes throughout the Okanagan in the early spring.