We are delighted to announce that Dr. Andy Curtis has been elected to a three-year term on the TIRF Board of Trustees.
Dr. Andy Curtis received both his MA in Applied Linguistics and English Language Education and his PhD in International Education from the University of York in England. He is currently with a faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at Anaheim University, based in California, USA. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the 50th President of the TESOL International Association. In 2016, Dr. Curtis received one of the Association’s 50-at-50 Awards, when he was voted one of the Fifty Most Influential Figures in the Field, over the last 50 years.
Dr. Curtis has published more than 100 articles, book chapters, and books. He is the editor of a new nine-book TESOL Press series ELT in Context (2015-2017), and also the editor for a new five-book series, Applied Linguistics for the Language Classroom (ALLC), published in 2017 by Palgrave Macmillan. The ALLC series includes his book on Language Teaching Methods and Methodologies. Recently, Dr. Curtis has been identified as a ‘pioneer’ in the new field of Peace Linguistics.
When asked about his interest in serving as a Trustee for TIRF, Dr Curtis had this to say:
“Dr. Liying Cheng (my spouse) and I have been TIRF donors for more than ten years, and I have worked with many of the current members of the TIRF Board of Trustees in other roles, including serving on the Board of Directors of the TESOL International Association. Having donated to the Foundation financially for more than a decade, I am now in a position to donate my time, as well as whatever knowledge, skills, and experience may be of use in the work of the TIRF Board. Also, as a recent President of the TESOL International Association, my hope is that I will be able to call on that experience, to inform my work as a TIRF Trustee”
We asked Andy what he believes he will gain from being a member of the TIRF Board of Trustees. He responded, “The opportunity to work with a diverse group of language education professionals, representing a wide range of different languages, cultures, and perspectives, on language teaching, learning, and research.”
Of course, joining the Board of Trustees means that the candidate is willing to take on the challenges of volunteer service. We asked Andy, “What are your current concerns regarding TIRF?”
He replied, “Until quite recently, the Foundation has relied on donors and donations for all of its funding. I am pleased to learn that the Foundation has recently embarked on other ways of generating funds, such as paid consulting projects. I am looking forward to helping the Foundation develop new sources of revenue, in order to sustain and expand its important programmatic endeavors.”
