For
more than 35 years, Budd Hall has devoted his
professional career to mobilizing the international
adult education movement worldwide. He has devoted
his professional life to the creation and nurturing
of organizations, networks, and structures of
adult education in the international arena. Born
in the United States, Dr. Hall served as a Peace
Corps volunteer in Nigeria from 1965-1968, as
head of Research for the Institute of Adult Education
in Tanzania 1970-75 and then moved to Canada.
In Toronto, Dr. Hall served as secretary-general
of the International Council for Adult Education
and served as chair of the Adult Education Department
at the University of Toronto, and he currently
serves as Dean of the Faculty of Education at
the University of Victoria in British Columbia,
which reaches out across the world in so many
diverse ways. Over the years he has worked closely
with adult educators in more than forty countries
from every continent.
Dr. Hall has either founded or led a variety
of organizations and networks, including the
International Participatory Research Network,
The North American Alliance for Popular and Adult
Education, The Tanzanian Adult Education Association,
African Association for Adult Education, Canadian
Association for the Study of Adult Education,
Canadian Network for Democratic Learning, Latin
American Council for Adult Education, and the
International Task Force on Literacy. From 1997
through 2002, he served as chair of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization working group on University Based
Lifelong Learning.
Dr. Hall is a living archive for the international
adult education movement. His life works are
an inspiration for generations to come. His legacy
spans decades and has touched the human condition
worldwide. In both scholarly and practical endeavors
Dr. Hall has modeled respect and eagerness to
learn from multiple perspectives and epistemologies,
honoring and valuing the various forms of knowledge
and ways of knowing. As administrator, researcher,
professor, and grass-roots activist he has played
multiple roles in ensuring the vitality and solidarity
of continuing education as a field of both study
and practice in the global community.