Dear colleagues,

Happy New Year to all of you! May the Year of the Dragon and 2012 bring you much happiness, prosperity, and growth. As I reflect on 2011, certainly one of the highlights of my year (besides New Orleans) was a visit in the fall to Princeton University. There I joined teachers from the Mid-Atlantic ITA programs for an all-day meeting. ITA teachers and administrators from Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Drexel, Johns Hopkins, The University of Delaware, and Ohio State met to discuss relevant trends in research and testing in ITA training. We also shared our favorite teaching tips. Thanks to Miki Mendelsohn, Bobbie Thompson, Susan Greene, and Ellen Anagbo for organizing and hosting the MAITA conference.

Mini-conferences like these not only provide professional development for us but also give us a wonderful sense of community. Being an ITA trainer can be lonely sometimes, especially if we feel we are all alone in developing materials, determining ITA effectiveness, or dealing with the needs of our university and its departments. By organizing regional meetings like these we can share our valuable resources and build a stronger community.

I am really looking forward to the 2012 TESOL International Conference in Philadelphia this 28 March through 31 March. We have some great sessions planned, including “Schmoozing 101 for ITAs,” “Validating the Use of iBT Speaking Scores for ITA Screening,” “Impacting Undergraduates’ Perceptions of ITAs Through Collaborative Projects,” and a workshop on “The ACTFL OPI and Its Applications for ITA Testing/Training.” The Academic Session will be “Navigating ITA Outcomes: Assessment, Accreditation, and Program Review” and this year the InterSection will be with SPLIS and CALL. How exciting!

Please save the evening of 29 March for the ITA Business Meeting and the ITA Social! The business meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:15 and then we will go out to dinner together for our social gathering in Philly. Anne Politz and Barbara Hoekje are working on the details now.

I would like to end by giving a special thanks to all of you who have volunteered so much of your time and energy to make this interest section so strong and vibrant. I extend my congratulations to all our newly elected officers. We are in good hands!

Thank you for all the important work you do!