Dr. Hsun-Fang Kao, Dean of College of Education, is elected as one of the members of the Executive Board of International Society for Teacher Education (ISTE) recently. Dr. Kao indicated that being in this position she has to work as hard as possible and take the full responsibility to serve. “I think I can learn a lot of new concepts and methods from this position,” Dr. Kao said. “Apart from improving my own ability, these new ideas can also be introduced into College of Education and Center for Teacher Education of TKU to train our future teachers.”

Since its establishment in 1981, ISTE has been dedicating to the improvement of teacher education, and its members come from more than 50 countries. Dr. Kao explained that ISTE concerns about the issues of teacher education in all stages, including early childhood education, primary education, secondary education, and higher education. It also cares about the problems of the poor students, bad education circumstances, and unfair education system of certain countries. “Educational problems are beyond national boundaries. It is necessary for everyone to show his or her consideration to these problems,” Dr. Kao said. She continued, “To assist the minority countries, ISTE also offers foundation to help scholars of the Third World participating in its annual seminar.”

Dr. Kao pointed out that she is elected by anonymous voting from about 200 ISTE’s members. The duty of the members of ISTE’s Executive Board includes assisting the affairs of the annual seminar, doing financial management, marketing its policies, broadening the Society, and revising its regulation. “The results of the election is a recognition of my ability. In addition, I think it is the best way to put TKU’s policy of internationalization into practice because internationalization does not only mean presenting papers in international academic occasions, but also participating in international organization,” expressed by Dr. Kao. ( ~Shu-chun Yen )