It is my honor to address you as this year’s chair of the Teacher Education Interest Section (TEIS). I am a professor in the online MEd Program in Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum with a TESOL focus at the University of Missouri. I have worked as a preservice and inservice teacher educator in the United Arab Emirates, Chile, and now the United States.

1 April marked the start of new terms for the IS leadership positions, so I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the other TEIS leaders who are working for you this year. They are:

Outgoing Chair: Jenelle Reeves, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chair-Elect: Angela Bell, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Chair-Elect Elect: Laura Baecher, Hunter College, City University of New York

Interest Section Leadership Council member, Leslie Kirchner-Morris, recognizes Jenelle Reeves for her service as chair of the TEIS at the 2014 TEIS business meeting

TESOL International Association Initiatives

The TEIS business meeting at the TESOL 2014 International Convention & English Language Expo in Portland was well attended. We discussed several initiatives at the association level in which TEIS needs to have a voice. First, a Governance Review Task Force (GRTF) was established in 2012 to explore whether the association is functioning effectively and meeting the needs of its members. The GRTF has now released an analysis of some possible changes to be made within the association, some of which relate to the role and responsibilities of the interest sections. Member feedback has been solicited, and we will be hearing more from the GRTF in the coming months.

Second, the TESOL International Association’s Research Agenda Task Force has produced a first draft. This task force will be seeking comments and suggestions on the content of this draft document through 30 June 2014. Please review this document and post your feedback on our TEIS listserv or send it directly to Dudley Reynolds (dreynolds@cmu.edu) or Sarah Sahr (ssahr@tesol.org). As members of TEIS, we want to make sure that teacher education issues are included within this agenda.

Third, the association is exploring the idea of developing standards for short-term certificate programs. TESOL is in the process of forming an advisory committee for this project. Several members of TEIS are also on the Standards Committee, so we will be following this initiative closely and staying alert to opportunities to provide input from the TEIS.

TESOL 2015: Toronto, Canada

As you know, one of the primary responsibilities of the interest sections is to vet proposals for the upcoming conference. We look forward to receiving a large number of proposals from TEIS members this year. Once proposals have been submitted, they are anonymously reviewed by three reviewers. The review process will take place between 10 June and 15 July 2014.

TEIS Listserv

The TEIS maintains a listserv for discussion on teacher education research and practice. If you would like to join our listserv, please log on at http://www.tesol.org, go to "My Account," click on "Update Interest Sections" (on the menu to the left), and check the box for "E-list next to Teacher Education in the chart. While we are always open to member postings at any time, we will begin to have more regular monthly discussions starting 1 June.

Please do get in touch with me if you have any suggestions for the TEIS. I can be reached at gonikki@hotmail.com.