TESOL 2014 in Portland, Oregon, was inspiring, educational, and friendly. It helped that we had the entire conference center to ourselves this year for the first time since attending TESOL. This letter is a new endeavor for both of us, Debbie and Ruth, as we each will be writing sections of it as Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) co-chairs. Hopefully it will flow well.

From Debbie East:  Before going further, we want to thank Miguel Fernandez, the outgoing chair of HEIS. Miguel provided us great leadership last year, and we grew in size in large part due to his leadership. Thank you, Miguel.

We met new and perspective HEIS members at the booth that Kevin Martin and Abby Franchitti set up for us in Portland. We had some candy to give away, and next year we should have some freebies (not sure what kind yet). Thank you to all who worked at the booth this year. We had an excellent turnout at both the business meeting, with 31 members attending, and the dinner, where we had about 12 people join us. We hope next year we will have many more people come to both the meeting and the dinner afterward. Because this year’s business meeting began at 5 pm, next year’s dinner will begin at approximately 6:45 pm. It is late, but we hope you’ll join us.

Abby Franchitti and Leo Schmitt are co-chair–elects, and we want to welcome them into their new roles. Both have been active members of TESOL for many, many years. I hope to learn much from them.

As we begin to gear up for 2015, which takes place in Toronto, Canada, next year, keep in mind that we will need many reviewers to figure out which proposals should be accepted. Details as to when and where are below. If you have never reviewed before, please sign up to be a reviewer and watch the training video so that you can be considered. If you have not watched the training by the time the proposals are set for review, you will be unable to review for us. Also, in years past, we have had to enter the reviewers’ names into the system, so we knew who to thank in the newsletter. TESOL staff now does that, so we are thanking you now for your help.

We will be sending out information gathered from the HEIS survey in the next few months. While we only had 72 respondents, the information provided there is important to know. If you have anything additional to ask or say, the community listserv is the vehicle with which to contact everyone.

From Ruth Weinstein: I recently returned from TESOL 2014 in Portland to my workplace at Showa Boston, where we had a TESOL poster session yesterday. Everyone who went to the convention shared information on meaningful sessions they attended. Bob Grady, a change-of-career colleague and recent graduate of the Boston University MATSOL program, said, “I was impressed with the session on the ‘Burgeoning Market for English for Special Purposes’ programs, specifically about tourism in Albania.” Grady also stated that the vendors had a wide range of offerings, plus “one of the highlights was the affiliates reception, which gave me an opportunity to network and meet colleagues.”

Showa attendees are very excited about next year in Toronto, and are already checking their passports. Debbie Fitzpatrick, an experienced Showa faculty member and graduate of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, said “My first TESOL blew my mind and I’ve been coming ever since.”

So get your calendar out:

• The deadline to submit proposals for TESOL 2015 is Monday, 2 June 2014.
• The dates to read proposals are usually mid-July, and the training is online.
• TESOL 2015 is 25–28 March in Toronto, Canada.
• Theme: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges.

From Debbie and Ruth: As we noted earlier, we are co-chairs of HEIS. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas, or comments, please feel free to contact us.

We look forward to working together with you this next year. Have a great summer and keep us posted on what is going on with you in your communities.

Sincerely,

Debbie East and Ruth Weinstein
Co-Chairs of the Higher Education Interest Section

Please feel free to access our 27 March 2014 HEIS Business Meeting Minutes here.

Debbie East an adjunct lecturer for the Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Department at Indiana State University. She also teaches online and face-to-face courses in the teacher education department at Indiana University Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC), Columbus, Indiana. She has taught English to non-native speakers for over 15 years and is an adjunct lecturer at Ivy Tech Community College, having previously served as ESOL Program Coordinator at Ivy Tech. Prior to teaching at Ivy Tech Community College and IUPUC she taught at Indiana University-Bloomington in the Literacy, Culture, and Language Education Department in both face-to-face and online courses. Debbie is also a former ESL teacher in monolingual, ESL, and bilingual programs. She has substituted in elementary and middle schools, and has provided professional development for preschool, elementary, secondary, and adult education teachers across the country.

Ruth Ann Weinstein is an instructor at Showa/Boston, the Study abroad program for Showa Womans Institute, Tokyo, Japan. She is interested in Community Service Learning for the English Language learner as well as children's literature.