Upon
completing his BA at Stanford,
Bill was assigned to active
duty in France during the
Korean War. This assignment
subsequently had a major
impact on his career since
international organizations
promoting human resources
development (HRD) would
assign him to Francophone
Africa. After three
years in the army Bill completed
his MA program at The Johns
Hopkins University School
of Advanced International
Studies (SAIS). After
completing the MA, he was
appointed Research Assistant
at the Rangoon/Hopkins Center
for Southeast Asian Studies
in Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar).
That two year assignment
confirmed his commitment
to a career in HRD.
After returning to
the US Bill joined USAID
and was promised an assignment
in Thailand; that assignment
actually became 5 months
in Tunisia and eighteen
months in Congo/K. His next
posting was to London where
he worked with British counterparts
to help coordinate development
efforts the US and UK HRD
efforts in less developed
countries (LDCs). After
two years in London he entered
the Ph.D. program at the
Stanford International Development
Education Center (SIDEC).
His training and job experience
had convinced him that new
methods and approaches were
needed to promote more successful
HRD efforts in the LDCs.
The Ford Foundation was
financially assisting with
the creation of development
education centers at three
universities (Harvard, Chicago
and Stanford) to train candidates
for this effort. By 1971
the Ph.D. was completed
and during the last two
years Bill also served as
an assistant to the Dean.
Bill`s academic career
followed with four years
as an Associate Professor
at Florida State University
(FSU) and thereafter Professor
at the University of Southern
California (USC). In addition
to the academic load there
were HRD projects undertaken
as consultancies, some of
which were USC projects
he had helped design. Other
projects/programs in which
he was involved were funded
by USAID, the World Bank,
Peace Corps, National Academy
of Sciences and others.
The major projects (multi-year)
were in Mali, Cameroon,
southern Africa. Bill has
been involved in HRD efforts
in 31 African countries
in addition to FSU projects
in the Caribbean Basin and
consultancies in Vietnam
and China.
Bill joined CIES in
the early 1970s and served
as treasurer from 1974 to
1979. He has also played
an active role in the Western
CIES attending almost all
their conferences and making
presentations. USC has hosted
W/CIES meeting about once
every four years. His publications
have included co-authored
books, 12 chapters in published
books, about 25 project
related reports and evaluations
(some of which were commissioned),
plus 5 reports based on
project grants and proposals,
and 29 refereed and invited
paper presentations.
If elected Bill would
emphasize the activities
and membership of our regional
units and promote the enhancement
of health, environment and
equity efforts. It
is apparent from CIES regional
meetings that they provide
a special attraction for
our students in terms of
participation and membership
as well as for career promotion
and development activities.
Bill sees a need for CIES
to outline a national recruitment
model which all regional
units could apply so as
to promote the further involvement,
participation, and membership
of students. He also will
engage CIES members to identify
comparable organizations
in other countries which
would be interested in cooperating
and collaborating with CIES
in activities of common
interest. Finally consideration
will be given to the relationships
between universities and
their communities including
the expanding minority and
immigrant populations especially
in urban areas. If elected
it would be a pleasure to
welcome you to the CIES
conference in Los Angeles! |
Steven J. Klees (University
of Maryland) did his graduate
work at Stanford University,
receiving an M.A. in economics,
an M.B.A., and a Ph.D.
in economics and public
sector administration.
At Stanford, he was awarded
a fellowship for graduate
study in the economics
of education from the
School of Education and
he received funding from
the College of Communications
for his dissertation work
examining the Mexican
Telesecundaria system.
Steven`s principal employment
has been as a university
professor. His first
job was at Cornell University,
followed by a stint as
a visiting professor at
Stanford University and
director of a research
project looking at global
educational technology
use.
He spent the next two
years as a visiting professor
teaching public sector
administration and policy
in Natal in Northeast
Brazil, In 1981,
Steve began work as a
faculty member at Florida
State University where
he taught for 18 years
and built, along with
his colleagues, a first-rate
program in comparative
and international education.
In 1999, Steve was offered
the opportunity to develop
such a program at the
University of Maryland
and since then he has
directed their international
education policy program.
While Steve`s principal
employment has been at
universities, he has regularly
done work for organizations
like UNESCO, UNICEF, the
World Bank, USAID, IIEP,
and a variety of country
Ministries and non-governmental
organizations concerned
with education in Latin
America, Africa, and Southeast
Asia. He has worked
on dozens of projects
dealing with a wide variety
of issues such as teacher
training in Nepal, girls
education in Guatemala,
alternative primary education
in Indonesia, street children
in Brazil, university
graduates in East Africa,
computer use in Kenyan
secondary school and Barbados
primary school, and nonformal
education in Mozambique.
Most recently, Steve was
the head of a team funded
by UNICEF to analyze barriers
and policy alternatives
for achieving EFA in Uganda.
He has also received two
Fulbright Awards to teach
at the Federal University
of Bahia in Brazil and
has taught at other universities
overseas including UNAM
in Mexico City and Palermo
University in Buenos Aires.
Steve`s long-term research
interests have been on
the political economy
of educational policy
and social change, particularly
on the nature of educational
and social inequalities
and what is needed to
overcome them. He
has published extensively
on a variety of related
topics, including the
situation of disadvantaged
children, the roles of
NGOs and social movements,
and the policies of international
institutions like the
World Bank. Steve
has been the recipient
of the CIES Outstanding
Scholarship Award.
Steve has been a member
of CIES since 1981.
He has served on the CIES
Board of Directors, on
the Editorial Board of
the Comparative Education
Review, and on numerous
CIES ad hoc committees
over the years.
Recently, he was a co-organizer
of the 2004 Northeast
Regional CIES conference.
Steve considers the Society
his main professional
affiliation. He
writes: I have spent most
of my professional life
working in the field of
comparative and international
education. A major
part of that has been
building two outstanding
graduate programs and
having the privilege of
working with so many superb
graduate students.
The Society has formed
the larger family for
this work and I am always
amazed at each year`s
CIES meeting how rich
our diverse group is,
what a wonderful group
of new scholars/practitioners
we get, and how our education
discourse crosses so many
borders.
I would consider it a
privilege to serve the
Society as President and
would hope to be able
to increase our ability
to communicate with each
other, learn more from
our diversity, and share
that more widely.
|
