Cressey Thanked for Board Service

William Cressey, Founding Board Member of the Forum, served as a Vice President and the Chief Academic Officer at Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) since 1996 until his recent retirement from CIEE. Prior to joining Council staff, Bill was Professor of Spanish Linguistics at Georgetown University, where he also served as Chairman of the Spanish Department and Director of the Office of International Programs. He has written numerous articles and books dealing with the Spanish language and has given numerous presentations and conducted workshops on study abroad and international education. Bill has a Doctorate in Spanish linguistics from the University of Illinois. Bill currently serves as a special consultant to the Forum's Quality Improvement Program (QUIP) for Education Abroad.

Mary Dwyer, Chair of the Forum Board of Directors, recently announced:

"It is with mixed emotions that I communicate that Bill Cressey has resigned from the Forum Board. The good news is that Bill has agreed to act as a consultant for the Forum to help develop our Quality Improvement Program (QUIP). I can think of no one better suited to the task and I know that our members and the field at large will gain tremendously from Bill's outstanding contributions in this area. We are extremely fortunate that Bill is willing to take on this responsibility.

"As a result of Bill being compensated by the Forum, however, he has resigned his Board position. This is classic Bill to know how Board governance works and to act appropriately in the best interests of the organization.

"Bill was a founding member of the Forum. He was with us from the beginning, and I always greatly valued Bill's input, wisdom, sense of humor and insights. He took on particularly complex, difficult governance matters such as the term limits issue and our financial status and managed these issues with great dignity and integrity choosing always to do the right thing. Bill is a wonderful colleague and I will miss his contributions to the Board immensely. At the same time, I'm relieved that someone of Bill's stature and skill will be advancing our QUIP initiative.

"Please join me in thanking Bill for his many years of substantive, outstanding service, his generosity of spirit and his good humor. Also, please join me in thanking Bill for his willingness to take on this consulting assignment on our behalf. I look forward to having future opportunities of working with Bill in his new capacity as consultant to the Forum."

We invite you to wish Bill well in his future endeavors by leaving a comment.

Changing Language Programs?

How will a proposed plan to reform language education at colleges and universities impact education abroad programs? A panel of language professors is proposing that language programs put more emphasis on the understanding of other cultures and less emphasis on the study of literature. Read the article, Dramatic Plan for Language Programs, at Inside Higher Ed, then post your reactions here.