President’s Report to IASE Membership:

As your IASE President, I want to share with you the latest news from the Board and the various IASE Committees that are working on your behalf. Our focus continues to be on growing our international community of special educators.

Since my last report, Renata, our Past President and Iris, our Treasurer were able to visit Thimphu, Bhutan to meet with the local conference committee on June 2 thru June 8 to visit the site of our 19 th Biennial International Conference, at the Royal Thimphu College (CTC). They had the opportunity to visit the proposed conference facilities, hotel and lodging options and several local school and community programs.

The 19 th Biennial Conference is scheduled to be held June 16-21, 2026, and hosted by the Royal Thimphu College (RTC) located in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

The Updated conference information is now posted on our website. The final date for submitting conference proposals is October 1, 2025.

Given the feedback from members, the Board had a zoom meeting with the staff of Easy Chair, a software company which provides conference management services and support. We have entered into an arrangement with them to provide conference support, especially for the submission and acceptance of conference proposals and development of the conference program. You will find their link for proposals on our website under the 2026 Conference webpage. For any inquiries, please get in touch with iaseconference2026@gmail.com
 

At our last IASE Board meeting on April 26, the Board voted to accept the nomination of Elia Balagilije Dyiteg ((Tanzania) as the new Member at Large on the IASE Board of Directors.

In addition, Dr. Brenda Lazarus was appointed our IASE Historian and will be working on collecting and storing our past documents and activities.

We also welcomed Dr. Girma Berhanu from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden as our new JIASE Journal Editor.
 

We had our 1st 2025 Virtual Dialogue on March 29 th . The dialogue was focused on three presentations from our National Chairs in Canada, India and Nigeria. It was a great success due to the effort of our National Chairs Committee chairperson Dr. Samantha Mrstik. Dr. Mrstik is also our Virtual Dialogue Committee chairperson, so if you have any topics for future dialogues, please communicate your recommendations to Dr. Mrstik or any member of the Board. Our 2nd 2025 Virtual Dialogue was held on Saturday, September 6 th . The focus was on: Growing up with a Disability: Challenges and Accomplishments Dr. Mrstik had two of the scheduled three participants from Ghana and Kenya:
Sampson Dzivor, Ghana, Software Developer
Julia Njeri Kiguru, Kenya, Special Education Advocate
Samuel Delali Anku, Ghana, Vice President of Inclusion Africa and Self-Advocate
Representative on the Board of Inclusion Ghana was unable to join the dialogue. The presentations were remarkable in their story telling and information about how these individuals overcame the physical, educational, cultural and community barriers to persevere and grow into successful adult members of their communities. Their stories and Power point presentations will be posted on our website under the Virtual Dialogues section. Please contact Dr. Mrstik or any Board member with any suggestions of future topics and/or participants.
 

I would also like to thank our website moderator, Dr. Kalynn Hall for her continued work on improving our IASE website.
Please communicate any ideas on what content or information you want posted on our website.

To remind everyone, communication is a vital component and important part of our mission. In that spirit, Tejal Kothari, our Board Member at Large from India has volunteered to coordinate our social media messaging.

As a reminder, the IASE Board meets 4 times during each calendar year Our next scheduled Board meetings are on 8/23 and 11/15. If there are any issues, suggestions or topics that you would like to Board to address, please communicate your thoughts to our leadership team. The leadership team contact information is located on the website at iase.org under About Us/Leadership/Board of Directors.

The Board and I will continue the effort to expand our memberships in unrepresented countries and improve our most important international initiatives.
1) The Volunteer Service Projects (VSP)
2) The National Chairs Project
3) Virtual Dialogues
4) Biennial Conference
Again, our organization cannot function and grow without you, our members who provide the dedication, personal time and professional expertise. So, thank you all for your support and continued membership in IASE.
Please respond with comments to: Daniel McCarthy, IASE President atDanielRNM@comcast.net

Past Report from 1/2025

By way of Introduction, my name is Daniel McCarthy and as of 1/1/25 I am now the newly elected President of IASE for the 2025-2026 term of office. I am a retired special education teacher and school social worker (MSW, PPSC, LCSW).

I have been an active member of IASE as the Interim President Elect, including participation on the conference committee for the 18th Biennial Conference just completed in the Czech Republic and as a presenter and attendee at our other previous international conferences in Alicante, Spain; Magamba, Tanzania; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and most recently, in Pilsen, the Czech Republic.

As the new President, I want to share with you my hopes for our IASE organization for the next several years, including our next conference which to be the 19th Biennial Conference to be held June 15-19, 2026 and hosted by the Royal Thimphu College (RTC) located in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

First, I want to acknowledge the previous President, Dr. Renata Ticha for her leadership and the entire Board of Directors for their efforts to insure that IASE continues to be a relevant and important voice for special education students and their families across many borders.

My hope is that during my term of office that we can continue to grow as an international voice for special education, inclusive education and the support services that ensure that all students have a place and presence in all our schools in all our nations.

My goals for IASE are to improve our communication within the organization and within the international community by improving and updating our website which is so important as a platform for information and discussion within our international community.

To improve our services, we need to improve our revenue from membership, Biennial conferences and other sources which need to be developed to increase our international presence and membership to at least 500 and strengthen 3 of our important IASE initiatives:

1)       The Volunteer Service Projects (VSP)

2)       The National Chairs Project

3)       Virtual Dialogues

Communication is very important: Our IASE Board meets 4 times during each calendar year. In 2025, we are scheduled to meet on 2/22, 4/26, 8/23 and 11/15. If there are any issues, suggestions, requests or agenda items that you, our IASE members would like the Board to discuss, please email our Board contact information which can be found on our iase.org website under About Us/Leadership/Board of Directors.

Our organization would not be able to function and grow without members who provide the dedication and passion that our field of practice requires

Take care and continued thanks for your participation and membership in IASE. Please respond with comments to Daniel McCarthy, IASE President: DanielRNM@comcast.net.