president's message
How do you help people lead with wisdom, vision and in- tegrity in this increasingly complex and turbulent world?  is is a question that has occupied many of us in our respective schools, colleges and organizations around the world these past few years and at our 51st Conference in San Francisco, where we were inspired to con- sider the future for our schools and for our- selves as leaders.  anks to all of you who attended what was an excellent conference. Please join me in also thanking our won- derful keynote speakers, presenters, panel- ists, workshop leaders, our loyal vendors and generous sponsors.
On behalf of us all, a big thank you to Yolanda and Derek in the AAIE o ce, Melinda and her team from the French American School and the many friends and volunteers who came together to make the 51st Conference, “Future Leaders = Future Schools” such a success. As always, we will review all the feedback from the confer- ence and use this to evolve and grow the quality of our conference and service to you all for our 52nd Conference in February 5th through the 7th 2018 at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square, New York City. Please mark you calendars now for this one!
People have said why do we need AAIE to- day? For me the answer is clear.  ere is no question that our world will continue to get ever more interconnected, interdependent,
 ourish in rich conversations around “ e Why?” “ e What” and “ e How” of what we all have given our professional and, at times, personal lives to. We would not be in this business of international education if it did not make our hearts sing. I believe we all really do want to build a better, more inclusive human society than the one we see here today. I do not believe, though, that we are doing enough. Look around us at the problems faced by our society today, the pollution of extremism, hate and fear, that manifest themselves all too often in many parts of our world today.
I believe we need to do more to build this healthy, inclusive and sustainable global so- ciety. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called his vision of this the “Beloved Community”. I  rmly believe that education, and, in par- ticular, the open-minded, empathic, curi- ous, messy and diverse “brand” that we call international education is the only way to do this locally and globally on a human scale in our schools. Dr. King also said, “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” I can give you an example of this from my own school in Atlanta. In November of 2014 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of  e Berlin Wall with a candle light vigil with many families from the former East and West Germany around our own piece of  e Berlin Wall on our campus. Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Dr. King was in attendance.  ere is plaque now placed there with a phrase that I think would resonate with his dad and with pretty much every Mission of every International School, College, University and Organization inside the circus tent that AAIE. “Together we cultivate a spir- ited sense of hope in human potential.” We need this now more than ever.  is is why we need AAIE.
Kevin
Kevin Glass
AAIE President, 2017-2019
AAIE President Kevin Glass is head- master of Atlanta International School. [email protected]
blended and
faced by our human society today, will not fade away with time—they will also become ever more complex, interconnected and in- terdependent.  ere simply is not putting the Genie of Globalization back into that bottle.  is is the world we live in now and it will become ever more complex for the students in our schools and colleges today.
 us the need for organizations, such as AAIE, has never been greater in my view. A safe space, a circus tent, for all of us engaged in this dynamic, inspiring and, let us be honest with ourselves, often messy and am- biguous  eld of international education. We have built, through AAIE and several other key organizations, this extended family of international educators. We really do need these groups, organizations and systems that overlap and are able to allow ambigu- ity, emotional and cognitive discomforts to
Linda has been ac-
tive with AAIE for
a while, but served
most recently as our
President for these
past two years, and as the President Elect for two years prior to that. On behalf of us all, I would like to extend our thanks to you Linda for helping steer our organiza- tion these past four years through times of change, an Executive Director Search, leadership and o ce transition and, of course, our 50th Anniversary Year!  ank you Linda.
 anks also to Paul Poore, the Executive Director (ED) from AASSA. Paul has served as the Regional Association represen- tative on our AAIE Board for the past  ve years. Paul stepped away in San Francisco this past February. On behalf of all associat- ed with AAIE, many thanks Paul for all you have done for the organization, for Yolanda and our Board. We hold, by Policy, a seat on the Board for the Executive Director from one of the Regional Associations. As we announced in February, Kathy Stetson, the ED from CEESA has taken Paul’s place on the AAIE Board. Please also join me in, once again, giving Kathy a warm welcome to the AAIE Board.
Please also join me in thanking all of our AAIE Board and Advisory Board members for their continued dedication and service and also, of course Dr. Keith Miller and our friends and colleagues with the US State Department O ce of Overseas Schools.
I hope many of you can engage with and share widely the work of AAIE through our Summer Institutes, the Leadership Institute, with HeadNet and, of course at the 52nd Annual Conference in NYC February 5 – 7, 2018.
Kind regards,
complex.  e wicked problems
I would like to thank all of you, the mem- bers, associates and friends of AAIE for joining together with us in this great work. Please continue to help us reach out to oth- ers who would like to join with us in this endeavor.  e circus tent is big and needs to get much bigger if we are to have the impact we all desire.
I would also like to take a moment thank Dr. Linda Duevel for her service to AAIE.
intered www.aaie.org
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