Hello from cool southern Indiana and Boston!

First, thank you to the TESOL 2015 proposal reviewers. We are so grateful for those of you who served as reviewers for the TESOL 2015 annual convention to be held in Toronto, Canada. We had a good turnout of reviewers although we will never know who you are under the reviewing system. We are verifying and finalizing our portion of the review process so that the Convention Committee can proceed. Again, thank you for your work in this process.

Second, the time is fast approaching when elections of officers will occur. Please consider running for chair-elect (or co-chair-elect), assistant chair, and member at large. One of the highlights of every year is meeting members and learning how TESOL International Association works. Being an interest section leader also expands our experiences in leadership. The universities and colleges we have worked for look favorably on these kinds of commitments and experiences even if they won’t always pay for attendance at the conference. Most of all, it is one of the most rewarding experiences we’ve had in that we learn so much about our organization, we learn about our profession as teachers, and we get to make new friends along the way. 

Finally, a comment or two about the listserv. It has been quiet these last few months—virtually silent. This is unusual, and we are hopeful that as we enter the school year, for those of us in countries that start school in August, the interest section will be active on the listerv again. That said, this listserv is for our use. Whether we work in graduate programs, community colleges, or various higher education programs, our collective expertise can help, and the ideas and suggestions from different contexts help us all. Raise topics of interest to you. Don’t rely on someone else to possibly raise your issues, because we don’t know your exact needs. We are in our profession together—collaborating colleagues—and together we can figure things out and help our students succeed.

HEIS Member Survey

Right before the TESOL 2014 conference, a request for information via a survey was sent and 72 people responded. There were 10 questions with three of them open-ended. In this letter, we want to report on the first three (multiple-choice) questions. In subsequent newsletters, we will report on the other questions.

Question 1: What kind of program does your college, university, and/or business offer ESL/EFL students?

We have a wide variety of programs represented in our interest section, which helps us in meeting your needs as an IS. The kinds of programs served by HEIS are IEP (43%); EAP (39%); ESOL/ESL (30%); EFL (7%); Adult Education Programs (5%); and Other (7%). 

While this is important information to know, it is incomplete. For example, some universities and colleges offer multiple kinds of programs. Also, teacher education programs were not listed and quite a few members are teacher educators. This question did not allow for information of this sort. Expect another survey that will allow us to gather that information.

Question 2: How long has the program been program been in existence?

Sixty percent of all programs reported have been in existence 16 or more years, followed by 21% being in existence 5 years or fewer. Programs in existence 11–15 years (12%) and 6–10 years (8%) were at the end of the list  Older, more established programs (11 years old and up), compose 72% of our membership, while younger programs (0–10 years old) compose 29% 

Question 3: What is the enrollment in your program?

Eighty-two percent of the programs had 40 or more students enrolled: 56% (or 40 programs) with 100 or more students; 14 % (or 10 programs) with 40–65 students; and 12% with 65–100 students. With 18 percent of programs having an enrollment under 40 students: under 10 students (3 %); 11–25 students (9 %). After the two largest enrollment groups (100-plus and 40–65 students), the rest have a combined total of 22 programs. We’re not sure what that tells us or if it is important. Let us know if you think it is.

Thank you for being a member of the Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS). Let us know via the listserv or personally how we can support you better.

TESOL 2015 dates are: 25–28 March 2015 Toronto, Ontario, Canada, hosted by TESL Ontario. Keep these dates open and we hope to see you there!

With best wishes,
Debbie East
Ruth Weinstein
Co-Chairs of the Higher Education Interest Section

Ruth Ann Weinstein is an instructor at Showa/Boston, the Study abroad program for Showa Women’s Institute, Tokyo, Japan. She is interested in community service learning for the English language learner as well as children's literature.