Several of our retired NCTA members gathered for a “reunion” with the rest of us in San Diego this past September. The group was asked to submit some information on what life has been like since retirement. Julian Szucko started off with the old joke where the wife asks her retired husband what he's doing today. His response is "Nothing." She then says, "But isn't that what you did yesterday?" To which he answers, "I didn't finish."

Actually, Julian and all of the other retirees have kept themselves VERY busy with their communities, their hobbies, their families, and, of course, traveling like all other retired Americans! Read on to discover how these long-time members of NCTA are spending their time.

Diane Adelstein retired in 2007 after 21+ years as the psychometrist at the University of Maryland in College Park. She enjoys retirement by catching up with friends and family, reading, finding new hobbies, and not getting up on Saturday mornings! Diane’s biggest focus, however, has been on international travel. She “wants to see the far off corners of our world” while she is still able. Most recently, she got back from two weeks of snorkeling in Belize; she stayed 39 miles off the coast on a small private island that is actually part of the coral reef. Diane wanted the membership to know that she had great fun in San Diego reconnecting with longtime friends and colleagues.

Carol Baker retired in the Spring of 2008 after a 38-year career at the University of Pittsburgh directing the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching. She and partner Iain have worked with the “Semester at Sea” Program on two summer voyages to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean and four Enrichment Voyages, which are shorter and designed for students and adults. Carol states it is a wonderfully educational way to see the world. According to Carol, “skiing in the winters and kayaking in the summer near Pittsburgh are a lot more fun than house repair and gardening, but we are enjoying it all. It was great to see so many NCTA friends in San Diego last September. I miss you but not the testing office!”

Pam Bedford retired from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in July 2005 and has packed a lot into the six years she has been retired. She and her husband bought a beautiful new home and moved her mom in to live with them. Pam says she keeps busy working a little but at FUN things such as ushering at the university home football and basketball games and serving in sales for a local travel agency. She volunteers for various jobs at the Center for the Performing Arts giving her a chance to see a lot of friends and people she knows from her work at the University of Illinois. Pam and her husband have traveled to Bermuda every year for the past 20 years and would love to see more of the world. According to Pam, “Life is good, and I try to enjoy each day!”

Marilyn Goulden retired from the University of Arizona in Tucson in September 2007. As a retiree, she spends most of her time “hanging out at movie theaters.” According to Marilyn, a good week is three or four movies. She belongs to a memoir writing group with six ladies and often serves as the back-up driver for two teenage grandchildren's after school events. Ed, her husband, is delighted to have her home experimenting in the kitchen. She and Ed also work on their historical neighborhood home tour every year.

Reginald Green retired from the University of Northern Iowa in January 2009. According to Reg, he is not retired; he just does “different things in life for no pay!” Currently he performs committee work for the City of Cedar Falls and volunteers at a couple of different churches. Reg’s one complaint is that since his wife and friends are still working, he has “no one to play with.” However, he and his wife have traveled to Ireland and Scotland in the last three years and participated in a cultural and religious goodwill trip to Turkey this past summer. Reg says that the other travel highlight opportunity this year was to reunite with his NCTA friends in San Diego.

Reg is most excited about the nonprofit educational company he started last year. Hidden Heritage works to eliminate institutional racism through displays, presentations, and panels at public locations. In April the company is sponsoring "Cartoon Review: Images of Racial Minorities in Animated Film." Other programs include examining the historical development of race, the story behind places named for people of color, and re-segregation in America.

Harriet Strasberg retired at the end of March 2007 as Test Center Director at the University of Minnesota. Harriet points out that she was lucky to find a great replacement in Criss Gilbert!
Harriet has been an avid tournament Scrabble player for years and since retirement has had more time to devote to that. Also a lifetime bridge player, she and her husband have gotten into duplicate bridge in the last two years.

Harriet identified two causes she and husband Pete have been committed to for several years. One is the Philippine Scholar program, wherein she and Pete sponsor kids in school. They are currently helping their 22 year old Filipino nursing graduate come to the US and also sponsoring his sister in nursing school. Their other cause is the Peace Maker Foundation aimed at eliminating bullying in schools by teaching kids alternative methods of dealing with conflict.

According to Harriet, “I love retirement. I don't miss work or testing one iota and would say that I miss the people I've worked with, but I have been able to stay in contact with so many of them that the only thing I miss is having a high volume copy machine at my disposal!”

Julian Szucko retired from the University of Illinois at Chicago on January 1, 2009. Julian claims, “That was the day my life became my own. No more hour-plus commutes on congested highways, no more meetings, and no more reports that no one would read!” Since then, Julian has done some consulting, read extensively, and tried to catch up on the house and yard maintenance. Julian and his wife have visited a few of the places they have always wanted to see, including Australia and New Zealand, and would like to travel more. He says what has surprised him most about retirement is that even with all his free time; he never has enough time to do everything he wants. “That must be one of the natural laws. At least that's what I try to convince my wife when she asks why the "honey-do" list isn't getting any shorter!”

Louis Woodruff retired from Bucks County (PA) Community College in June of 2011. He remains on the faculty at Bucks, teaching classes in Psychology, and at Mercer County (NJ) Community College, teaching classes in Music. In his “spare time,” Lou conducts a sixty piece symphonic band that rehearses weekly; presenting a half dozen performances annually. Lou also works as a music director for regional musical theater productions, conducting the pit orchestra in one or two productions each year. However, the music project Lou is most proud of this year was arranging and rehearsing the music for his youngest daughter’s wedding last October.

Lou and his wife Tina have three grandchildren who live close to their Washington Crossing home. He reports they all agree that “Grandpop is weird in a really fun way!” Lou is still involved in testing, serving as a Senior Advisor to the NCTA Board and consulting with several testing companies.

From CBT to DBT: The Next Paradigm Shift for the Testing Industry

The Professional Development Committee is pleased to offer NCTA members another in its series of webinars.

Technology is rapidly expanding our options for wireless communication and mobile internet access. These capabilities are altering not only how we live and work, but also how we relate to each other. We are already seeing the integration of these devices into learning environments and their extension into high and low stakes testing is inevitable.

“From CBT to DBT” will review the current progress toward high stakes Device-Based Testing (DBT). The future use of hand-held computers and wireless communication devices for testing will be projected. The likely operational and economic impact of the emergence of DBT on the testing industry will be considered along with the implications for college testing professionals. Potential opportunities for NCTA to leverage its value-add on behalf of college testing centers in this approaching DBT reality will be explored.

This webinar is an expansion of the “From CBT to DBT” presentation delivered at the fall NCTA Conference in San Diego by Lou Woodruff and Daniel Muzquiz.

PLEASE NOTE: This webinar is for NCTA Members only. For more information and registration guidelines, please log onto the NCTA website as a member and choose “Webinars” from the “Resources” drop down menu at the top.

The inaugural year of the NCTA Grants Program (2010-2011) was a huge success. The organization awarded just shy of $12,000 to assist 5 recipients in their pursuit of professional development and advancement of best practices in the field of testing. Here is how one of the recipients used its grant award.

Kentucky NCTA members, test center personnel from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), and test center personnel from both private and public 2 and 4 year institutions met in the spring of 2011 for the first ever “KATAC” Mini-Conference. KATAC (Kentucky Association of Test Administrators Chapter) was formed with grant funding from NCTA to bring together college testing professionals from Kentucky and the surrounding region. The event began at 8:00 am with a delicious breakfast and time to meet and greet. The planners of the mini-conference provided a full day of invited speakers, up-to-date information about CLEP, a review of security operations at Prometric, KCTCS system test updates, test proctor training, and best practices for data collection, expansion, and growth. Lunch was also served as part of the planned program.

The group of about 40 attendees enjoyed meeting in the KCTCS facilities in Versailles. The location on North Main Street is off the beaten track in the midst of the rolling hills with horse farms all around the site. It was quite picturesque to drive in the area surrounding the KCTCS facilities, seeing the aging slave walls and the race tracks that define the locale around Lexington.

The Mini-Conference was a big hit with attendees, and this group of test professionals from the Lexington/Louisville area enjoyed the great food and networking opportunities. Invited speakers included Dr. Pamela Kerouac, Senior Assessment Manager from the College Board; Roddy Meade, Director of Global Security Operations with Prometric; Pam Hatcher, Project Manager from the KCTCS Chancellor’s Office; and Vicki Black, NCTA Board Member from the University of Memphis. Event organizers included Cindy Sproehnle, Gateway Community and Technical College; Shara Freeman, UC Clermont College; Tammy Duddy, University of Louisville; Heidi Pettyjohn, University of Cincinnati; and a committee from the Kentucky Association of Testing Administrators Chapter.

FACTA has just published the inaugural edition of “The Examiner, Issue #1, January 2012.” Please follow this link to view the newsletter on line, http://www.factatesting.org/Newsletters.html

If your state or regional organization has similar news to share, please email information to Susie Morgan at morgansb@appstate.edu.