Earlier this month, TIRF held its fall Board meeting in Virginia and Washington, DC. As TIRF’s programs and operations are continuing to expand, so, too, does the demands the Foundation’s Board of Trustees faces.
Evidenced in the variety of issues TIRF’s Board members covered during its meeting, it is clear that the Foundation’s presence is growing around the world. TIRF continues to make gains in its publications efforts via the TIRF-Routledge “Global Research on Teaching and Learning English” series and its Language Education in Review (LEiR) series with Laureate International Universities. The seventh volume in the TIRF-Routledge series has just recently entered into production and the second paper in the LEiR series is expected to be released early next year.
In addition to this publication efforts, the Foundation continues to explore opportunities to offer professional services to individuals and organizations in the field of language education around the world. Successful examples of TIRF-rendered services include the completion of the first Masters Research Grants (MRG) competition (noted elsewhere in the September 2019 edition of TIRF Today), as well as the TIRF-DWMJ (Duoweimingju) speaker series that commenced in July and will continue this fall (click here to learn more about the speaker series). The Foundation’s Trustees are continuing to evaluate other mission-oriented opportunities it can engage in over the next year and beyond.
As is customary at all TIRF Board meetings, committee chairs and TIRF officers gave updates to the Board. Such reports were provided by Kathi Bailey (President), Jun Liu (Vice President), Donna Christian (Secretary-Treasurer), Ryan Damerow (Chief Operating Officer), MaryAnn Christison (Research Advisory Committee Chair), Jodi Crandall (Alatis Prize Committee Chair), and Andy Curtis (Publications Committee Chair). The work of these individuals and their committee members is invaluable in helping the Foundation meet its goals and providing leadership and direction for the Foundation.
During the Board meeting, two Trustees were recognized for different reasons. Board member Ana Sylvia Ramirez Toriello, CEO at El Instituto Guatemalteco Americano (IGA), received a plaque in recognition of IGA’s exemplary support of TIRF for many years. (In March, TIRF presented plaques to a set of its key partners during its gala fundraiser, as part of its 20th anniversary celebration in Atlanta, Georgia, but Ana Sylvia was unable to attend). In addition, G. Richard Tucker, Paul Mellon University Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, was presented with a TIRF-themed hat. Such hats were given to supporters earlier this year during TIRF’s 20th anniversary celebration in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Tucker was not able to attend the anniversary events in Atlanta, thus the celebration continued on the east coast of the US!
TIRF Board members will next meet in Denver, Colorado during the 2020 TESOL Convention. Please note that TIRF does not pay for its Trustees’ travel expenses to attend Board meetings. The generosity of the Foundation’s all-volunteer Board allows TIRF to direct donor funding to its programs and operations.
