The National Association for the Education of Young Children was founded over 75 years ago, after being a national nursery school association for many years. The Utah affiliate of NAEYC was one of the first associations to be formed after this national reorganization.

The focus of the early years in the organization was primarily higher education. The leadership consisted of representatives from the different state colleges and universities. Membership came mostly from the students taking early childhood courses in those universities. One of the early presidents, Jean Larson, served for many years and spearheaded many of the events that we still do in UAEYC today.

In 1996, the association was re-incorporated in order to obtain 501-C3 tax status. Marilyn Macumber and Kresha Warnock were the co-presidents during this time. The by-laws that we follow today were drafted during that period of re-incorporation. The Association also began to form committees to oversee the various responsibilities of the Board. Membership began to include early childhood educators from around the state and the country.

Presidents since the re-incorporation are: Marilyn Macumber and Kresha Warnock (1996-97), Jennifer Saunders Bean (1997-98), Erin Trenbeath-Murray (1998-99), John Funk (1999-2000), Sally Schramm (2000-01), Natalie Gabel (2001-02), Teresa Oster (2002-03), Lori Maughan (2003-04), Carolyn Forbush (2004-05), Laura Traum (2005-06) and currently George Garff (2006-2009)

Some of the accomplishments of the board from the time of the re-incorporation to-date are: a statewide accreditation support group system and state funding to support that system, an annual statewide early childhood conference in collaboration with the Inter-Institutional Consortium, a positive influence at he legislative level on early childhood issues, many successful community awareness programs such as Stand for Children and the Children’s Fair, a quarterly newsletter that helps keep our membership informed of state events, an on-line membership renewal system, a part-time paid staff person, and a presence at national conferences through our UAEYC receptions.

In 2008-2009, UAEYC state board participated in the CCPDI Professional Development Conference at Salt Lake Community College in October 2008. In November board members and member scholarship recipients attended the NAEYC National Conference in Dallas, TX. On March 14th 2009 we co-hosted the Utah Early Childhood Conference with keynote speakers John Funk and Doug Goldsmith. In June 2009 four board members attended WSLN in California and we are in preparation of hosting WSLN 2010 here in Utah. This past year we have formed student groups at Salt Lake Community College and Utah State University. We have also been working on creating a new, more informative UAEYC website.