TACAC Annual Conference 

Launch...Explore...Discover

Make plans to join us at the Omni Houston Hotel April 1 - 3, 2012.  Call the Omni Houston Hotel at 888.444.OMNI or 713.871.8181 to reserve a room at the conference rate of $170 (single) or $190 (double).  Conference attendees, please complete the online TACAC 2012 Conference Registration form.  The registration fee is $195 for members and $230 for non-members.  Exhibitors and sponsors, please review information regarding this year's opportunities, and then complete the TACAC 2012 Conference Exhibitor & Sponsor Registration to reserve your table and/or select your sponsorship.  The basic table registration is $400 plus a $50 late fee after February 15, 2012.  Exhibitors must register individually using the online TACAC 2012 Conference Registration form.  The fee is $180 per person.

We are thrilled to have Michelle Rhee, CEO and Founder of StudentsFirst, as our featured speaker during Monday's conference luncheon.  Michelle began her career as a Teach For America corps member in Baltimore. Through her own trial and error in the classroom, she gained a tremendous respect for the hard work that teachers do every day. In 1997, Michelle founded and led The New Teacher Project, which recruits and trains teachers to work in urban schools. More recently, from 2007 to 2010, Michelle served as chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools. Under her stewardship, D.C. schools experienced increases in student achievement, a rise in graduation rates and an upswing — for the first time in decades — in enrollment.

The 4th annual TACAC Golf Outing will be held preceding the conference on Sunday, April 1 at the Clear Creek Golf Course.  Check-in starts at 7:00 am and the first tee time is 8:00 am.  The $75 fee includes one round of golf, cart, range balls before the tournament, and an open grill buffet lunch. There will be four chances to win a Hole-in-One contest for a grand prize of a trip to Vegas.  Also, there is a longest drive and closest to the hole contest.  You can register individually or as a team of four.  The registration deadline is March 23rd.  If you're not a golfer, you can still join us for lunch from 12:00 - 1:30 for $20.  Registration available soon!  A portion of fees raised go to the NACAC Imagine Fund.

ACCI participants from 2011, 2010, and 2009 are invited to join the ACCI faculty to review and renew their professional paths for a pre-conference session on Sunday, April 1 from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. ACCI was only the beginning – register now to explore career development paths and gain a deeper understanding the responsibilities we have to the profession of college admission and college counseling.  The fee is $50 to participate.  We look forward to seeing you!

All conference participants are invited to the Getting Involved in TACAC & Beyond Pre-Conference Session to be held from 2:45 - 4:00 pm on Sunday, April 1.  If you've ever wanted to get involved with a TACAC committee, event or within leadership, this is the session for you.  No fee to participate.  Registration is not required, but encouraged.

We will be electing a president-elect, treasurer-designate and NACAC delegates.  Please review the 2012-2013 TACAC Candidate Statements.

TACAC is joining forces with Humble, Texas, based Including Kids, Inc., (InKids) an organization that provides educational and therapeutic instruction using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for children with autism and other related developmental delays, endeavoring to facilitate their inclusion in the community and inspire them to become productive citizens.  Autism affects 1 in 110 children and 1 in 70 boys.  During Sunday and Monday of the conference, we invite you to participate by donating men's socks, rice and beans for a hands on service project, creating puppets for the children's use.  Our goal is to create at least 30 sensory items that can be donated to InKids.  We also invite you to purchase a greeting card designed by InKids.

Schedule at a Glance - Program Session Schedule (as of 2/16/12)

If you have questions about the conference, please contact one of the following people:

• Diana McAfee, Registration Chair
• Angelica Melendez, Conference Coordinator
• Donald Kamentz, Conference Chair
• Heath Einstein, Exhibitor & Sponsor Chair
• Amanda Kisselle, Volunteer Chair