From The Forum on Education Abroad:

The Forum on Education Abroad gave its 2016 Peter A. Wollitzer Advocacy Award to the late Joe Brockington, Ph.D., at the 12th Annual Forum Conference in Atlanta. The award was accepted on his behalf by Joe’s wife, Cathy, and sons, David, Sam and Drew. The award was presented to the Brockington family by Joe’s colleague and friend, Margaret Wiedenhoeft, Ph.D., acting director of the Center for International Programs at Kalamazoo College.

Here is an excerpt from Margaret’s citation delivered at the award ceremony:

“Throughout his twenty-plus years in international education, Joe Brockington consistently contributed to and advocated for the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad, mentoring colleagues at institutions on how to develop and provide programs incorporating The Forum’s Standards that met curricular goals while also fully supporting students. His contributions to the research of the development of the profession of international education helped to create recognition of the increasing professionalization of our work while acknowledging how much the field has changed. Throughout his career, Joe never missed an opportunity to remind colleagues that having standards was so important because, as he would say in his very Midwestern, dry, humorous tone, ‘that next to parenting, education abroad is the world’s greatest amateur sport.’”

Joe Brockington, a member of the founding Board of Directors of The Forum, passed away in August 2015. He served as associate provost for international programs and professor of German language and literature at Kalamazoo College. He was instrumental in the founding of The Forum and over the years contributed to the field in innumerable ways by presenting at conferences and initiating projects.

The Peter A. Wollitzer Advocacy Award was established to honor a Forum member who has been remarkably effective in influencing institutions of higher learning to understand and support education abroad through the dissemination of the Forum’s goals: standards of good practice, data collection and research, curricular development and academic design, and assessment. The award will be given to an individual, but individual achievement pre-supposes institutional efficacy and impact and provides inspiration to the field of education abroad. Awardees can be individuals who work on a U.S. or foreign university campus or for domestic or foreign providers or organizations.

The award is presented each year at The Forum’s Annual Conference.

The Forum on Education Abroad (https://forumea.org) is recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as the Standards Development Organization (SDO) for the field of education abroad. The Forum provides training and resources to education abroad professionals and its Standards of Good Practice are recognized as the definitive means by which the quality of education abroad programs may be judged. The Quality Improvement Program for Education Abroad (QUIP) and The Professional Certification for Education Abroad Program provide quality assurance for the field through use of the Standards in rigorous self-study and peer reviews for institutions and professional certification for individuals.