2021 Nominations and Elections Committee Election

Biography:

I have been a member of JALT since 2003, and in this time I have served in various positions, at the local Chapter and SIG level, and also at the national level. From 2010 to 2014 I served as the Director of Treasury and from 2019 to 2020 I served as NEC Chair. I am based in the Kansai area, and I am currently employed by Kwansei Gakuin University. My main research interests are multilingualism and project-based learning and teaching.

Purpose to run:

During my previous work for the JALT Nominations and Elections Committee, I worked on a very important task for our organization, that of organizing and caring out fair and transparent elections, mainly for the Board of Directors, but also Chapter and SIG Representative Liaisons. Even though many JALT members may feel that elections are not necessarily something that concerns them directly, they are crucial for JALT to be able to maintain its NPO status, and continue to provide exciting professional development opportunities for language educators in Japan.

If elected to the NEC again, I intend to continue working with the other committee members to organize JALT elections. I also hope to continue working on the NEC guidelines, so as to improve workflow and efficiency for the committee.

Biography:

I have been living and teaching in Japan since 2011 and been a member of JALT for a good period of that time. I am currently in my seventh year at Fukui University of Technology, where I am a senior lecturer. My decision to volunteer for the Nominations and Elections Committee stems from my passion for elections, government, and law. Before beginning my language teaching career, I was educated as a political scientist and earned both my B.A. and M.A. in Political Science.

I have worn many different hats as a JALT member. Currently, I am the Treasurer for Fukui Chapter, CUE SIG’s Publication Chair, and the Reading Committee Chair for JALT’s International Conference.

Purpose to run:

Don’t vote for me! Honestly, I do not want to win! The winner becomes the Chair Designate and will have to run the NEC committee in the future. I do not want that responsibility and workload! I just want to be one of the runners-up so I can sit on the committee to help ensure elections are done not only fairly, but done so in accordance with JALT’s constitution and By-laws. So please vote for someone else…unless you hate me or want to play a joke on me, then go for it.

Biography:

Hello. My name is Jean Taylor and I have been working as a teacher in Shizuoka for the past 30 years, mainly at the high school level. I started attending JALT conferences six years ago and enjoyed them immensely, finally becoming a member in 2019. I am in charge of membership for the Shizuoka chapter and help out with the Teaching Young Learners SIG.

Purpose to run:

I am running for this post as I am interested in being more involved in JALT and doing what I can to help out.