Dear HEISers and Convention Goers,

We hope you enjoy this preconvention newsletter. Many thanks to our editor, Maria Ammar, and all the contributors!

TESOL 2016 will be our 50th convention and a major landmark in the professionalization of our field. We hope that you will be able to join us in Baltimore this April for what promises to be a major event. We have a few tips to help make your conference smoother.

• Be sure to book ahead. Flights can get expensive if you wait until the last minute.

• Baltimore can be cool even in April if you are coming from warmer climes, though we are hoping for good weather.

• A few energy bars or other healthy snacks can really help you get through the long days.

• Have extra space in your luggage for great books at convention prices.

• Bring business cards and a pen. A charger or charger pack for your phone can be very handy, too.

• Plan your day in advance if possible. Popular talks can often get full, so if you get there early, you can get a good seat. The program will note if a presentation has a content area of higher education, so that can be a great indicator that it is relevant to Higher Ed.

• Check the addendum for last-minute cancellations and additions.

• Set aside some time for the exhibition hall. It can be a change of pace from sessions all day and gives you a chance to see the latest ELT products as well as meet different people.

The HEIS business meeting is a great place to meet other TESOL professionals passionate about higher education, share your thoughts on what we should be doing in the interest section, and get involved in TESOL. It will be on Wednesday, 6 April, from 5 pm to 6:30 pm in room 322 of the Baltimore Convention Center.

HEIS will be having a special event and serving refreshments on Wednesday, 6 April, from 6:45 pm to 8:15 pm in the Paca room at the Hilton Hotel. We hope you all can make it to celebrate 50 years of TESOL.

Our InterSection this year will be in collaboration with the Second Language Writing IS and the Intensive English Program IS. We will be talking about aligning writing standards from K–12, through IEPs, to freshman writing programs, and on to specific fields. It will be held on Friday, 8 April, from 1 pm to 2:45 pm in room 330 in the Convention Center.

Check out the Dine Around and the Hospitality Booth. They are great ways to get some good food and to meet other TESOLers.

We look forward to seeing many of you in Baltimore.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our past co-chairs, Debbie East and Ruth Weinstein, for all their hard work and to wish all the best to the incoming co-chairs, Yogesh Sinha and Katherine Earley.

All the best,

Leo Schmitt and Abby Franchitti

Co-chairs

TESOL Higher Education Interest Section

Leo Schmitt is a linguistics lecturer at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, in New York. He is also a doctoral candidate in the Linguistics Department at the City University of New York Graduate Center in New York.

Abby Franchitti is curriculum and assessment director at Kansas State University.