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2008 Hall
of Fame Members
John Jacques William Aitchison of South Africa has a career spanning various forms of adult and continuing education, including developing access courses for disadvantaged learners into higher education, staff development and professional development of adult educators. >>>
Colonel Hazel Elizabeth Benn was a pioneer of the voluntary education program within the United States Marine Corps. After the Marine Corps Institute ceased offering “general education” to Marine soldiers, Benn re-institutionalized adult and continuing education as a legitimate Corps function and professionalized the Marine Corps Education Services Branch, ... >>>
Gretchen T. Bersch, Ph.D., began her career in adult education in 1971 working for the University of Alaska (UA) system in Alaska villages. In 1990, she was commissioned to create and coordinate an adult education master's degree program for UA-Anchorage. >>>
Paulo Freire was a Brazilian philosopher, social activist, and author who influenced and inspired educators worldwide. Under the auspices of adult education, he dedicated his life to social reform to help dispossessed people find a voice. Few people have had the global impact that Freire has had on the field of adult and continuing education. >>>
Paula A. Harbecke, Ph.D., has served as a driving force in providing educational programs and services for the overseas U.S. Military community. After earning master’s degrees in accounting and in educational psychology and a doctorate in accounting, all from the University of Illinois, she became a faculty member successfully teaching servicemembers in the classroom; then, she rose in administration to become ... >>>
M. Frances "Fran" Kelly, Ph.D., served from 1976 to 1998 as the first director of U.S. Navy Education Plans and Policy with specific responsibility for its voluntary education program. She holds the record for having served the longest period of time as service chief for voluntary education within the Department of Defense. >>>
Maria Lourdes Almazan Khan has contributed years of service to adult and continuing education in Asia. She has an extensive record of working in the field of adult and continuing education in different capacities for a variety of Asian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). >>>
Dénes Koltai, Ph.D. is the dean of Faculty of Adult Education and Human Resources Development, at the University of Pécs, Hungary. He united Hungarian scholars from various disciplines to establish a scientific school for adult education which began as a new department within the Faculty of Humanities. >>>
Richard T. Liles, Ed.D., has a distinguished record of scholarship and practice in non-formal adult and continuing education. In particular, his contributions to the Cooperative Extension Service have been an integral part of North Carolina State University (NC State). During his 36-year career at NC State, Liles served with distinction in a variety of significant leadership roles. >>>
Markku Markkula is the director of the Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli of the Helsinki University of Technology TKK, one of the largest continuing education providers among universities in Europe. His areas of expertise include professional development, knowledge management, learning organization, lifelong learning, productivity and innovations, regional policy and national innovation systems. >>>
Mortimer “Mort” H. Neufville, Ph.D., has dedicated his professional life to reaching out and engaging learners on a global basis. He serves as executive vice president of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC). In this position he developed a Food System Leadership Institute to train future university, government and industry leaders in change. Funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, .... >>>
The late Julius K. Nyerere, the independence leader and founding president of the United Republic of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, once said the independence movement in Tanzania was the largest adult education campaign in the history of his nation. His people knew President Nyerere as an educator, “Mwalimu” in Kiswahili. He believed deeply in the power of adult learning. >>>
Michael Omolewa is a pioneer of adult education and the leading education historian in his native Africa. He is the ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As a distinguished scholar, civil servant and diplomat his contributions impact local and national educational activities in Africa and throughout the world. >>>
Adama Ouane, Ph.D., has served as director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany since 2000. Over the years, Ouane has put together an unusual blend of research, policy, practice and advocacy at the national and international level. Among his most notable achievements is the strengthening and transformation of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE) into a leading adult and lifelong learning resource center of UNESCO (ALADIN, Adult Learning Documentation and Information Network). >>>
Few individuals have had the degree of global impact in adult and continuing education as has Otto Peters, Ph.D. Entering the field in the 1960s, when continuing education was beginning to be affected by telecommunications technology, Peters provided both administrative and scholarly leadership during a time when distance education transformed from a “correspondence study” model to a media-based national strategy for workforce education in both developed and developing countries. >>>
Kim Shinil, Ph.D. has been well recognized as one of the leading advocates and architects of adult and lifelong education in Korea, East Asia and internationally. As a renowned scholar and policy maker in the field of education, Shinil has made extensive contributions to build a lifelong learning society in his nation, while also leading the charge in adult and continuing education. >>>
Laurentiu Soitu, Ph.D., is an outstanding leader in developing adult education, particularly during a dramatic transitions period in his country of Romania. He has created university and community programs to develop adult education both as an academic discipline and a practical offering to the public in need. >>>
Tom Sork, Ph.D., has demonstrated a lifetime commitment of leadership to the field of adult continuing education with scholarly work focusing on program planning and ethical practice. He has national and international stature for this work and has uniquely contributed to the evolution of the field. Sork earned a doctorate in adult education from Florida State University, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Colorado State University. >>>