Updates & Announcements
General Assembly in Salt Lake City: New Directions in GA Programming
Next year’s General Assembly (GA) in Salt Lake City will feature an entirely new schedule of programming for attendees.
For the past three years UU University, the highly successful lay leadership education program, has been offered prior to the start of each General Assembly. In 2009 this programming will be available to all GA registrants within the GA schedule.
This year’s innovative GA program redesign will feature longer workshop slots, allowing for subjects to be treated in greater depth. The UU University program has a strong reputation for excellence and for relevance to congregational life. Bringing UU University and GA programming together will provide all GA attendees with opportunities for more in-depth learning and leadership development. Everyone at GA will be able to participate in the kind of training and education that made UU University such a success.
Nine hours of GA programming in Salt Lake City will be dedicated to this new direction, Thursday from 1 until 6 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. until noon. Six programmed tracks will be offered. Each track is being developed and led by some of the top leaders in our Association.
GA Registrants will be asked to sign up in advance and commit themselves to one track for the full time, in order to maximize the educational experience. Presenters will be asked to include worship in all tracks and to tailor program content to address the needs of diverse congregation sizes. Congregations are encouraged to send several members to GA 2009 to gain in-depth learning that can be brought back to the congregation.
The General Assembly Planning Committee and UU University directors are very excited about this new direction for GA programming. People of all ages, all levels of experience with Unitarian Universalism, and all congregational sizes should be able to find something to speak to them within each track.
Incorporating UU University into the GA program responds to requests from GA participants for program tracking, makes in-depth programming more affordable for those who found pre-GA offerings too costly in terms of time and money, increases program scope by offering more options than the pre-GA UU University's single track did, and provides in-depth opportunities for leadership development. In addition, ministers and other professionals whose professional days conflicted with UU University will be able to participate as will youth, who had no provision for early arrival, all of which enhances opportunities for multi-generational shared ministry.
Registration and housing reservations for General Assembly 2009 will open on March 2, 2009.
For more information contact uuuniversity @ uua.org.
Last updated on Monday, January 5, 2009.
