Announcements
Appointment of the Americas Primary Years Programme manager
Mr. Michael Clifton has been appointed as the Primary Years Programme manager for the IB Americas region. For the past four years Michael has worked as the PYP manager in the IB New York office, supporting the former North America region.
Michael brings to his new role a depth of international teaching experience. For eight years, he taught French and English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States, Turkey and South Korea. Michael also served on several educational committees and led professional development courses for ESL teachers at international schools.
He received his bachelor's degree in French language and literature and his master's degree in education from the University of Florida.
The main focus of Michaels’s work as the Primary Years Programme manager for the Americas will be to oversee the authorization and evaluation of PYP schools and to be involved with the training and ongoing support of PYP volunteers throughout the region.
New IB educators network division in the Americas
The IB has created a new division to support educators throughout the region who assist with the delivery of an IB education to schools and students. The IB educators network (IBEN) will manage relationships, evaluate performance, and provide coaching.
Linda Winch has been hired to manage IBEN for the Americas region. Linda brings both an international perspective and an educational background to the IB; she worked as a teacher for 18 years in Japan, Hong Kong, the Bahamas and the United States, serving as head of middle and upper school, head of department, IB MYP coordinator, IB Diploma coordinator, teacher of MYP humanities and Diploma history teacher.
Joining Linda in the IBEN division will be three IBEN specialists; Gabriela Benvenuti, Susana Fernandez and Cecilia Oubel from our IB Buenos Aires office. Susana has taken on the role of the Diploma Programme specialist, Cecilia as the Middle Years Programme specialist and Gabriela as the Primary Years Programme specialist. The specialists will serve as advisors and programme experts within the department.
To learn more about IBEN, please visit www.ibo.org/iba/iben. If you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact the division at iba.iben@ibo.org
IB World Student Conference
The Northwest Association of IB World Schools, in partnership with Oregon State University, is hosting an IB World Student Conference on the OSU campus in Corvallis, Oregon, USA from 9-13 August 2010.
The theme of the conference is “Creating a better and more peaceful world,” drawing on the inspiration from the IB community theme of “Sharing our Humanity.” This global initiative has identified 6 global topics toward which it hopes to generate action:
- The fight against poverty
- Peace-keeping, conflict prevention, and combating terrorism
- Education for all
- The fight against infectious disease
- The digital divide
- Natural disaster prevention and mitigation
The purpose of the IB World Student Conference in 2010 will be to explore these 6 global topics and to design action plans that address these problems which IB students can implement worldwide as CAS projects.
Registration is open through 1 July 2010. To learn more, please visit the conference website: http://oregonstate.edu/conferences/ibwsc/
