AFSO Leaps into 2024
January 7, 2024
Dear AFSO friends,
As we welcome the new year, AFSO is very much on the move. Two recent articles have highlighted our work, in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in the Hartford Courant. (If you don't have access to the articles online, please download the files at the bottom of our Newsletter page.) As both articles point out, no one is doing what we are doing: teaching English and university content classes to women in Afghanistan ranging from high school graduates to grad-school candidates. No one else is offering the pathway we have now established, for students to raise their English, writing, and critical thinking skills to the point where they are prepared to face the challenge of obtaining admission to a respected university and program in their field outside Afghanistan. No one else, finally, is offering the close, emotionally supportive attention that our volunteer professors and teaching assistants are offering to the students in our live, remote seminars. It's heady stuff, and we find ourselves learning and developing new ways to build our connections and help our students every day.
Two big developments to report on here. The first is the establishment of a new Board of Directors with specific attention to the challenges ahead. Professors Rahman Azari and Saleh Keshawarz are in charge of curricular planning. Professor Judy Lewis and librarian Bobbie Smolow will be engaging with our growing list of partners worldwide. Professors Lucy Ferriss, Rahman Azari, and Judy Lewis will focus on fundraising. And new board member J. Donald Moon will serve as AFSO's treasurer. You can read about these great members on our Professors page. More board members are being added as I write, whom we'll announce in the next Newsletter. We have been lucky enough to be selected for The Greater Sum's winter 2024 "incubator," which will help us develop a strategic plan to raise more of the funds we need to serve our growing roster of students.
The second development is the establishment of a Student Advisory Board, which will keep us abreast of student needs and challenges as they evolve and will give us fresh ideas for curricular planning and communication. The students are organizing the Student Orientation this winter and will also make a presentation at the Faculty Orientation, where 18 new instructors will join us prior to teaching a wide array of courses this spring. Also watch for a new development on this website as the students plan the "Journals" section, highlighting student work. The SAB will work with Executive Director Amran Fatih.
I don't want to neglect a shout-out to people and groups that get little attention but are essential to our continuing service and growth. Kathy Lindblom is our cheerful, indefatigable volunteer bookkeeper. Sadia G., one of our students, has volunteered to help organize communications with students as we finalize registrations and get classes underway. And our Teaching Assistants, in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Singapore, are the invaluable link to our students. Huge thanks to all.
May your year begin and continue well, with peace and hope for all.
Lucy
President of the Board, AFSO
