by Christopher Powers

As I write this, we are sitting in makeshift offices as construction crews are finishing up the TESOL office remodel. By the time you read this, though, I will have seen many of you at the TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, and we will be back in our new, improved, and modernized space.

I have written in this space about our strategic outcomes—expanding our Global Presence and Connectivity, increasing our Knowledge and Expertise, and raising our Voice to Advocate for English language students and teachers. But we cannot achieve those outcomes if we do not also commit to ensuring that our association is strong and secure, financially viable, and able to thrive over the long haul. We call this institutional sustainability, and it is the foundation for all of our strategic objectives.

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As many of us know too well, the teaching profession has recently faced economic challenges. We have faced a changing marketplace for English language teaching resources and dwindling support for professional development in public education. Our association has not been immune to these economic pressures. In order to continue to unite our profession, share the latest knowledge in English teaching research and practice, advocate for our values and principles, and continue to help TESOL educators achieve the best outcomes for each other and our students, we have made a strategic commitment to ensuring our association’s financial sustainability.

The good news is that we are tackling this challenge head on. In September 2018, the board passed a new strategic budget—tied specifically to our strategic outcomes. We have also reduced our overhead costs significantly by renegotiating our lease. By reducing unnecessary space, such as a large reception desk and a conference room designed for a board and staff much larger than ours, we cut our space by a third and our rent in half. At the same time, to be a nimble 21st-century organization able to meet the needs of a worldwide membership, we also wanted to modernize the office. The best part was that the landlord, through our lease renegotiation, agreed to pay for our office renovation and improvements that included a more modern, open space; upgraded IT and audiovisual systems; a smaller office for me; and a family-friendly mothers’ room/privacy suite.

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Our goal in making these changes was to modernize and economize, and to bring our staff closer together—all so that we can better serve you, our members. We still have a bit of work to do. We need to put art on the walls, and we want the art to reflect everything we do—from our members and affiliates to our convention and professional learning programs, from our publications and journals to our advocacy and policy initiatives—all to remind us why we are here and for whom we are working. We also plan to add a multilingual welcome wall at the office entrance, reminding everyone who enters of our mission to advance “the expertise of professionals who teach English to speakers of other languages in multilingual contexts worldwide.”

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We are proud of the space we have built, as it reflects the association we strive to be. The pictures here don’t quite do it justice, so we invite you to stop by to visit and see for yourselves. We are at 1925 Ballenger Avenue, Alexandria, Virginia, USA. We look forward to seeing and serving you!

Christopher Powers
TESOL Executive Director
Email: cpowers@tesol.org
Twitter: @TESOL_Powers

 

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