Debbie West is from the Affiliate of TESOL France. For the past four years she has had the privilege and challenge of being on the ALC. This past year she had the opportunity to serve as the ANPC Chair, where the focus of the council has been to look at establishing more opportunities for networking among and for affiliates.

Although she is sad that her term is coming to an end, she is grateful to have had this learning experience to work with others to provide services and opportunities for teachers and leaders.

Debbie West

Ulrich Schrader has been an active member of Mexico TESOL for over 25 years and a member of TESOL for 30 years. He has an MA in TESOL and an MA in German Literature. He has promoted the Central American and Caribbean Basin (CA&CB) TESOL Affiliates Regional Group since 2008. He was recognized as one of TESOL’s “50 at 50” in 2016. He is currently the Incoming Chair of the ANPC.

Ulrich Schrader

Ana María Rocca is a public translator of English. She holds an MA degree in Social Sciences. She is a teacher and a researcher at Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has served on the Argentina TESOL(ARTESOL) Board as Vice President and President. At present, she is on the ARTESOL Advisory Council. She is also the liaison between ARTESOL and TESOL International Association. She has served on the TESOL ALC and now the ANPC since 2014.

Ana María Rocca

Naziha Ali is Director of Training & Development at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, School of Education in Lahore, Pakistan. She has an EdD in TESOL from the University of Exeter, UK and specialises in Continuing Professional Development.

Naziha Ali

Sarah Elia is a past president of New York State TESOL and a lecturer at the Haggerty English Language Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She also teaches at Chongqing University of Education and tutors English at Beijing University Health Science Center. She has written for publications including The New York Times, the American Historical Association Blog, and History News.

Sarah Elia

Dr. Deborah Healey is the TESOL Board Liaison to the ANPC this year. She is also the 2018-2019 President-Elect of the Board of Directors of TESOL International Association. As TESOL Board Liaison, Deborah Healey has been a conduit for information between the TESOL Board and the ANPC. She participates in online discussions and meetings at the conference. Her primary focus is on ensuring a good fit between TESOL’s strategic plan and ANPC goals and activities.

Dr. Deborah Healey

Bessie Karras-Lazaris is the Director of Academic Programs at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) for the Intensive English Program and International Programs and Partnerships. She also teaches in CSUN’s MATESL program. She has taught in universities and community colleges in various states and in language institutes abroad. She holds graduate degrees in English and Linguistics. She has been an active member of TESOL and CATESOL for over 20 years and has served as Chair of the LA Regional CATESOL Conference.

Bessie Karras-Lazaris

Valerie Novick serves as the Senior Membership Manager at TESOL International Association. Valerie has a BA in International Studies from Miami University and an MS in Organizational Development and Knowledge Management from George Mason University. In her role as Staff Partner to the Affiliate Network Professional Council, Valerie facilitates the work of the council by serving as an informed resource person to the members and supports the planning and execution of all the group’s activities.

Valerie Novick

George Vlasios Kormpas is a Senior Academic Specialist of the Executive Education and Directs the Teaching, Learning and Development Center at Al Yamamah University (YU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also teaches English courses at INTERLINK at YU. He has taught in EFL and ESL programs in different countries and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Technology Enhanced Learning from Lancaster University, UK.

George Vlasios Kormpas

The Affiliate Network Year-Round Events Committee (Debbie West and Ulrich Schrader) is currently planning on having a monthly ANPC event (except for March). The objective of this committee is to provide more, and more frequent, ANPC events such as webinars throughout the year for affiliates to have a forum to share their experiences and be able to interact and collaborate with other affiliates. Our first event is in October.

The ANPC Communications Committee (Sarah Elia, Bessie Karras-Lazaris, Ulrich Schrader, and Valerie Novick) focuses on sharing information about and between TESOL affiliates across the globe. One way in particular is through the Affiliate News. To ensure that the publication covers topics that are of interest to affiliate members around the globe, the committee collaborated with fellow ANPC members on a survey to better gauge what the readership is interested in and used the results to prepare a newsletter to engage and promote our affiliates. We hope that by reading the interesting articles in the Affiliate News, you will not only learn about what affiliate groups are doing around the world, but you will also be motivated to contribute your own article promoting your affiliate group.

The ANPC Convention Planning Committee (Georgios Vlasios Kormpas, Naziha Ali, and Ana María Rocca) has worked hard to bring a very good selection of affiliate events at the 2019 TESOL Convention in Atlanta. These include the Affiliate Leadership workshops, the Communication workshops, the Colloquium and Best of Affiliate Sessions that exhibit notable sessions from annual conferences of different affiliates. The committee aspires the ANPC to develop a cycle of events throughout the year that will reflect the long-lasting relationship of TESOL and its affiliates.

Members of the ANPC at the 2018 TESOL Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Pictures from left to right: Deborah Healey, Ana María Rocca, Debbie West, Naziha Ali, Georgios Vlasios Kormpas , Bessie Karras-Lazaris, Ulrich Schrader (not pictured: Sarah Elia and Valerie Novick)