Vol. 12(3) Fall 05

From the Editor

I extend my sincere greetings to all Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education (JIAEE) subscribers and to all Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE) members. The fall season is upon us. I am hopeful this issue finds you excelling in your profession and content with your contributions to our Association.

This JIAEE issue brings many questions about our collective contributions to the greater good of the AIAEE. What have we done to advance our Association? Have we been involved actively in promoting scholarship within the AIAEE? Have we contributed time, talent, and energies into the planning of our next conference? It is easy to hold the view that a geographical distance prohibits participation in the conference planning process. But, that view is incorrect since the vast majority of our next conference is being planned electronically. In other words, if you have a valid e-mail account, then you certainly can participate as a peer reviewer of research papers, poster abstracts, and/or carousel abstracts. The same line of thinking applies to the scholarship process in the JIAEE; however the editorial board suggests strongly that I seek out peer reviewers who have published scholarly materials in the recent past.

I encourage you to read the inaugural contribution to our Seminal Article Series, an annual scholarly event designed to encourage debate within the Association. The seminal article may provide guidance in developing a future theme-focused JIAEE issue. Our inaugural seminal article contributor, Dr. James E. Christiansen, poses several questions to the AIAEE, which should be discussed/debated by the entire Association. In particular, we should discuss our organizational structure; is it fulfilling the original mission and purpose? Does our mission/purpose need an update? How much specificity in our research is needed to identify our Association as a highly specialized group? Do we want to be known as an Association of members with highly specialized interests in agricultural and extension education? The time is now to have open, honest discussions about these issues.

I will be the first to agree that our mission, purpose, objectives, and even our constitution and bylaws, need an update to be more reflective of current times since they are more than 20 years old. However, you should not wait for someone else to start the conversation. You can start it with a posting to the AIAEE Listserv. If you have questions about posting a topic for discussion on the listserv, do not hesitate to contact Dr. James Lindner (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at your convenience.

Thank you to all contributors (pp. 95-96), reviewers (pp. 97-98), and board members (pp. 2-3) who made JIAEE Volume 12 live up to its scholarly standards. This issue contains one seminal article, six feature articles, and one tools of the profession article, made possible through your scholarship and the untiring service of our peer reviewers. Enjoy your fall issue and continue doing what you can to promote greater understanding of agricultural and extension education worldwide.

Sincerely,

Gary J. Wingenbach, Editor

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education