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Letter from the CIES President
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to have
this opportunity to write to you about a number of topics. First, I
wanted to report that we had a very successful annual conference in
Baltimore. We should take pleasure in the fact that the comparative and
international education field is very much alive and well. In terms of
sheer numbers, this was the largest conference in our history, with 1253
registered participants from 50 countries. Moreover, of these 1253
participants, fully 523, or 42%, were students indicating the
substantial draw the field has for new scholars. In financial terms,
the conference was also a success. While I do not yet have figures on
our net revenue, I believe it will be in line with the previous two
conferences. The Board of Directors will be considering what might be
done with conference revenues to help us better fulfill the mission and
purposes of the Society. Based on the considerable feedback I’ve had
from many of you, I think I can also say the conference was a
substantive success. Thanks to all of you, there were a multitude of
excellent paper and panel presentations. The theme of the conference,
“Engaging Our Differences,” surfaced in many of them and provided us
with food for thought. The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) also played a
very active role in this year’s conference and, by all reports, the New
Scholars’ Workshop was excellent. Of course, there were glitches. The
weather at the beginning and end of the conference caused delays. We
had to cancel our opening ceremony plans, but improvised a “town hall
meeting,” focusing on new scholars (see write-up in this newsletter).
The success of the
annual meeting was due to more people than I can thank here.
Nonetheless, I would like to thank some of them: Flavia Ramos, Carol
Anne Spreen, and Jim Williams who did myriad tasks in their role of
co-Program Chairs, as did the rest of the planning committee; Gailda
Davis and Jim Williams who, along with help from Caroline Dolive and
Issam Khoury managed the submissions process; Anita Sanyal and Xuan Weng
who helped convert submissions into the raw materials of a program; Kim
Carusone and Flavia Ramos who produced the finished program (and Flavia
I might add designed the program cover); Tony di Giacomo who was in
charge of advertising; Jordan Humphrey and David Post who were in charge
of the book exhibit and the compilation of abstracts; Carol Anne Spreen
and her group of volunteers who arranged the visits to Baltimore
schools; Carolyn Brown and Julie Zdanoski who arranged the music for the
banquet; Lisa Swayhoover and Jack Levy who with the help of many
volunteers attended to the onsite needs of the conference; Jill Perry
and Margie Lope who helped put together the opening group that,
unfortunately, could not come; and last but not least, Stephanie Gorin
who helped with all aspects of conference planning. This was truly a
team effort, jointly sponsored jointly by American University, George
Washington University, and the University of Maryland.
This year I will be
forming at least two ad hoc committees. One will be a Conference
Planning Committee. Having experienced firsthand the demands of
planning the annual conference, I join the ranks of a number of CIES
members who have said that conference planning represents a significant
barrier to members running for vice-president and that the Society has
grown to the point in size and conference revenues where we can and
should professionalize this task. The Conference Planning Committee
will consider this issue and make recommendations to the Board of
Directors. If any of you have comments about this issue please email
them to me and I will share them with the Committee.
The other ad hoc
committee will be a CER Review Committee. The current editorship of the
Comparative Education Review is reaching the 5-year mark. The CIES
Constitution allows for one 5-year reappointment. The CER Review
Committee will consider the need for any changes or improvements in the
arrangements we currently have with the CER. The Committee will be
contacting CIES members via our listserv for suggestions and comments.
You should all be aware
that at the CIES meeting the Board of Directors made the decision to
renew Florida International University as the home of the CIES
Secretariat for another 3-year term. Kingsley Banya will be joining the
team as Secretary while Hilary Landorf will continue on in her role as
Treasurer and Fernanda Pineda will continue as assistant to the CIES
Secretary and Treasurer.
I also wanted to bring
to your attention the fact that the American Educational Research
Association has become more active internationally. This is reflected
in the theme of this past AERA annual conference, “The World of
Educational Quality,” which was, in part, to draw attention to education
outside the U.S. This is also reflected in a more active “International
Studies” SIG. Some CIES members are already involved in that SIG and it
may be good for more of our members to get involved as one way of
facilitating better coordination and harmonization between AERA and
CIES.
Finally, I want to
remind you that this year the World Congress of Comparative Education
Societies has its bi-annual conference in Sarajevo from September 3-7,
2007. This is a great opportunity to see your colleagues from
comparative and international education associations from around the
world.
I look forward to
seeing you later this year in Sarajevo – or next year in the Big Apple!
All the best,
Steve Klees
CIES President
sklees@umd.edu
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