AHEAD NR conducted its first annual business meeting and conference in May of 2007. Sponsored by the College of Technology in Great Falls, the meeting hosted about 25 attendees from various postsecondary institutions in Montana as well as other entities such as Vocational Rehabilitation.

The keynote speaker was Richard Harris, nationally acclaimed speaker on disability issues. With 32 years of experience in this field, Richard addressed various disability issues with humor and humility. He also spoke in the afternoon about the many challenges that face DSS providers who often have a multitude of responsibilities on campus.

Mary Morrison from Missoula’s Rural Institute and Cindy Yarberry from UM-Helena presented on the challenges of remote interpreting and how the UM-Helena campus set up remote interpreting services for the college’s deaf students during the spring of 2007. This connection was the first between MUS campuses and provided access to the students in a cost-effective manner. The schools hoped that future endeavors between themselves would be possible.

Jim English, psychologist, addressed learning disabilities and other cognitive disorders and spoke about testing these students and how to interpret test results.

New executive officers were elected at the business part of the meeting, and the members thanked Jill Davis for her hard work as president in the chapter’s inaugural year.