A number of us NNECERAPPA emeritus members attended the ERAPPA annual meeting including Don Briselden, Don Crandlemire, and me. Those of you that weren’t able to attend the 2009 ERAPPA Annual Meeting missed a really good one. More than 550 people representing 144 institutions and 163 business partner companies convened in Portland, Maine, for the meeting. The meeting, held October 4-7, was organized around the theme, "Imagine," which encouraged conference speakers and business partners to find imaginative ways of helping institutions. For the first time the annual meeting included the EFP course and exam and Supervisors Tool Kit programs. A number of the sessions were approved American Institute of Architects (AIA) continuing education eligible courses providing AIA certified Learning Units (LU’s) for licensed Architects, Engineers, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers attending. ERAPPA also made arrangements with the Practicing Institute of Engineering (PIE) to certify selected programs at the annual meeting to qualify for Professional Development Hours (PDH’s) for attending professional engineers whose licensing jurisdictions require them. Certificates of attendance were given out for all attendees requesting them who have provided the prerequisite information form handed out at the beginning of a certified session.
In addition to the educational sessions, there were some very interesting tours and excursions including a whale watch, tours of USM and UNE, a land and sea tour, a trip to shop at LL Bean, tour of the Portland Museum of Art, a tour of the Longfellow House, a taste of Maine cooking school/shopping trip, a walk and run and the annual golf tournament. On Monday night there was a lobster bake on House Island which sold out. A ferry was chartered to transport the participants to and from the island. Participants were given a tour of House Island including the Civil War Fort followed by the lobster bake meal. During the meal one of the Carnival Cruise ships sailed out of Portland Harbor all lit up. Just prior to leaving the island there was a fireworks display that lasted about 20 minutes. The weather was perfect this year for all the activities which were enjoyed by all participants.
If you haven’t already I encourage you to go to the http://www.erappa.org/content/blogcategory/93/1011/ website to see a write-up of the 2009 annual meeting as well as a link to the many great photos of the meeting taken by Meg Cheesman.
I hope you have enjoyable holidays and a safe and enjoyable fall and winter. The boat is sitting in my back yard, but I am still playing golf although the golf course is closing this coming Sunday, so it looks like my golf season is quickly coming to an end. Barb and I plan on heading south to warmer climates for February and March. We will be checking our e-mails while we are away, so you can reach me if you need to.
Dave