Policy

Over the course of my career, my research and wanderings have taken me into three policy arenas:

• the education of English Language Learners (Click here for ELLs)
• the improvement of educational research (Click here for research policy)
• affirmative action in higher education (Click here for affirmative action)

I have also gotten involved, through personal initiative, with a number of boards and committees that have wisened me up to policy. It is strange how these things happen -- one thing leads to another, and even though I never thought of myself as restful enough to sit around tables, I have found myself doing a lot more of these things, and even had moments of self-discovery where I concluded that I was good at -- and even enjoyed -- such activities. If I can blame one person for getting me into this line of service, that would be G. Richard Tucker (now at Carnegie-Mellon University). Dick, during his tenure as President for the Center for Applied Linguistics, recruited me to his board. His commitment and enthusiasm for organizational development was impressive, and appealing. I found the CAL board experience interesting and rewarding, and then the next thing I knew, I was boarded up all over the place. (Click here for my list of board involvements.)