Aileen Hawkes was an active committee member with WATESOL from soon after its inception until retiring in 2007. Over the years she has held a number of roles on the committee including president and ACTA vice president. Always politically savvy, despite retiring from the committee she continues to keep us informed about issues of importance and concern.
In her roles she balanced professionalism with a sense of humour, sharing stories and contributing her thorough knowledge to issues tackled by the committee. In recent years she was our representative on the national TESOL council, ACTA, where she worked tirelessly advocating for the educational rights of migrant, refugee and Aboriginal students.
An example of her commitment to her role was the thoughtful succession plan that she put into place as she drew near to stepping down from active committee work. Aileen mentored her replacement for a year prior to retiring, explaining issues and procedures and accompanying her in teleconferences and national meetings.
Her warm and friendly manner has been a wonderful example to the rest of us.
