Dear Colleagues:

This year we meet in Atlanta. Our theme is Deeds and Dreams: The Civic Mission of Schools. Both city and the conference theme have a special significance for global and social educators around the world. Atlanta is the birthplace of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the most distinguished and courageous leader in the African-American civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Laureate.

The conference theme reminds us about Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech delivered in 1963 to an audience of two hundred and fifty people at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. This is one of history’s most memorable speeches. Dr. King struggled for racial equality, and social and political rights and, in the process, suffered all kinds of personal hardships.

Today, luckily, America has an African-American President in the White House because Dr. King did the groundwork and showed us the way to equal opportunity and justice for all citizens regardless of the color of one’s skin or ethnicity.

IA is committed to promote Dr. King’s vision of equality through our individual and collective efforts. Thus, we are excited to be in Atlanta to live Dr. King’s dream and to renew our mission.

It is our good fortune that this year we expect to meet presenters who will be traveling from places as distant as South Africa, the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Israel, and Singapore. IA warmly welcomes these guests and hope they will enjoy their participation in the conference.

I wish to thank my colleagues for their efforts in putting the program together. Our program chair, Dr. Yali Zhao, worked tirelessly to plan and organize the roundtable sessions. For the last nine months, she has been busy. Dr. Toni Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker is our liaison for the Global Scholar Award who led the search process for selecting this year’s scholar—Merry Merrifield of Ohio State University. Dr. Gloria Alter deserves my thanks for her generosity and wisdom. Lastly, on behalf of IA members, I wish to extend my warmest gratitude to Eleanor Goldstein of EGEG Family Foundation, for her generous support for the Jan L. Tucker Memorial Lecture and Invited luncheon.

I hope all of you will take the time to participate in the IA activities and making the conference a success. Have a safe trip!

Best wishes,

Iftikhar Ahmad