Dr. Frits Pannekoek has been elected president of UNESCO’s International Council of Distance Education (ICDE). The appointment was announced after a weekend meeting of the ICDE’s Permanent Secretariat in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Pannekoek will also chair the ICDE’s Executive Committee.
The ICDE is a global network of institutions, founded in 1938, That’s involved in distance, online, and other forms of flexible education. The ICDE’s involvement with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began in the 1960s, and focuses on distance learning projects around the world.
As Dr. Pannekoek told AU’s The Insider, ?It’s a great recognition of the contribution that Athabasca University has made internationally. Distance and open education is a passion of mine, and what an opportunity to share that passion on the world stage!?
?It’s about access,? Dr. Pannekoek added. ?Our job as educational leaders is to bring education to people wherever they live, whether That’s a small village in Mozambique or a large city in Europe or North America. we’ll consider ourselves successful only when everyone who wants an education can get an education.?
For more information on this exciting news, visit the AU Newsroom.
In other AU news, Jane Arscott, associate professor of human services and co-ordinator of the Human Services Program in AU’s Centre for Work and Community Studies, has won this year’s President’s Award for Research and Scholarly Excellence (PARSE).
Arscott is preparing her book, Primed and Ticking: The Royal Commission on the Status of Women, for publication. The PARSE, awarded annually, recognizes excellence in research scholarship by a full-time AU faculty or staff member. Specifically, it provides for the opportunity to complete a major research project that will result in a publishable manuscript, and Arscott’s book is already under contract with the University of Toronto Press.
With special thanks to Athabasca University’s The Insider.
