From the AFACCT Coordinator

Welcome to Communitas, a publication of the Association of Faculties for the Advancement of Community College Teaching (AFACCT). On behalf of the AFACCT Board of Directors, let me offer my new year’s greetings to all veteran and newly-appointed faculty members of Maryland’s community colleges. Since the end of last year’s conference, held at Anne Arundel Community College (on January 11-12, 2018), the AFACCT Board has been planning this year’s conference hosted by Cecil College, North East, Maryland. The theme is Learning for Life and Critical Thinking in the Era of Web 3.0. The conference promises to be provocative, informative, and entertaining, with 63 presentations scheduled, and including three statewide organizational meetings held during the conference, along with six poster sessions, three on each day. For those unfamiliar with AFACCT, allow me give you an overview. Begun in the mid- 1980s, AFACCT was the brainchild of a joint committee of senior faculty members and academic deans from several Maryland community colleges. It grew out of a need to provide advancement opportunities for faculty members by sharing both institutional and intellectual resources and organizing a series of conferences located at geographically accessible (and convenient) locations around the state. AFACCT’s main mission is to provide a forum for community college faculty to meet and share their expertise and experience in a yearly conference held in early January at one of Maryland’s community colleges. Although a faculty-managed organization, we are supported by the chief academic officers (CAOs) of our respective colleges. Each community college is represented by at least one faculty member on its board of directors, and each representative is listed on the AFACCT website (http://www.afacct.csmd.edu/). If you have any questions about AFACCT please feel free to contact your AFACCT representative on your college campus; or, you may contact me at gmateja@ccbcmd.edu.