The first Family & Consumer Sciences Professional Development Conference in five years was held in Nashville on Aug. 1-3, 2023, at the Hilton Nashville Airport. The theme of the conference was Creating Connections, Sharing Solutions. The conference was attended by 155 FCS agents, specialists, faculty, and state employees, and sixteen special guests. UT President Randy Boyd welcomed the crowd via a video greeting at the opening lunch. Janet Fox, assistant dean and professor, gave an overview of the conference and also provided a welcome from Extension administration. The conference was packed with activity from start to finish.

Attendees had plenty to do over the three days. There were seven required general sessions to attend and 32 different breakout sessions. One of the general sessions was led by the Strategic Planning Committee, which included Ken Jones, director of program and staff development for the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Jones and the committee held a workshop inviting everyone’s input regarding the priorities and implementation order of the strategic plan. Another general session was given by the FCS marketing committee, and they debuted the new FCS graphic and marketing toolkit. The marketing committee also held a fashion show with garments displaying the new graphic. Wednesday’s lunch and general session featured a greeting from UT Extension Dean Ashley Stokes and a talk by special guest Clarence H. Carter, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services. Later that afternoon, Danielle Dreilinger, author of The Secret History of Home Economics, gave a general session presentation on her book and various aspects of family and consumer science history. Thursday started off with a general session from the regional program leaders who discussed Living My Best Life. They handed out a book entitled Burnout and gave pointers regarding life, work, satisfaction, and happiness. The final general session featured Jen Slaw who presented Work-Life Balance – The Juggling Act and who taught everyone to juggle – literally.

The 32 breakout sessions were well attended, and breakout topics included Authoring Your Story; Chair Yoga; Mediterranean Eating Pattern; Easy Freezy Meals: Prep Now, Eat Later; Working with State Agencies to Improve Physical Activity Policy/System/Environment Changes; and The FCS Collective. Other events included a pop-up store created by the marketing committee and featuring the pieces that had been in the fashion show. Meanwhile, the social committee put together several events to facilitate networking and fun. There was a networking and social hour on Tuesday. And on Wednesday evening, there was trivia and a silent disco.

All in all, the FCS Professional Development Conference was a success, and everyone is already looking forward to the next one in August 2025.