The Illinois Association of Cooperative Education and Internships met during the MCEIA meeting in Milwaukee and again in December at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois.

Initiatives for this year center on reestablishing our website and planning the annual spring conference.

* The website is now up and running at www.ilceia.org. Thanks to Bob Penkala for shaing information compiled by the Michigan Council for Cooperative Education. We hope to further build the website as time will allow.

* The spring conference is scheduled for Friday, March 18 at Illinois State University. Both educators and employers invloved with experiential education are invited to paricipate. The conference theme is: "Preparing Students for Success: Best Practices for Diversity Initiatives and Today's Millennial Students."

* The change in URL is prompting a possible change in association name to Illinois Cooperative Education and Internship Association (ILLCEIA). This name will parallel MCEIA and CEIA, if approved by membership at the conference.

Jim Opon, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Helen Oloroso, Northwestern University have agreed to co-chair the MCEIA congference to be held near O'Hare airport in 2006. Both have a great deal of experience in conference planning and our state is thrilled with their willingness to lead.

Our current state membership in MCEIA is relatively low so we are interested in receiving a membership stipend from MCEIA, if possible, to increase the level of participation.