Reception planned for former Applied English Center director

LAWRENCE — Longtime Applied English Center staff member and director Mark Algren has left the University of Kansas to continue his work boosting international education.

Algren’s contributions at KU will be celebrated 3:30-5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, in the Malott Room, Kansas Union.

Algren joined the staff of the AEC in 1993 as a language specialist and became an associate director in 2007. Algren was heavily involved with international student recruiting efforts, was the director of the AEC Computer Lab and was a sponsored student adviser, among many other administrative and teaching responsibilities. In service to the profession, he took two leaves of absence: in 1996-1998 to serve as director of the Orientation English Program at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, and again in 2004-2006 to serve as director of the Intensive English Program at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

As AEC director beginning in 2010, Algren’s achievements include redesigning the budget and implementing new reporting processes, as well as overseeing the dramatic expansion of short-term programs. He also envisioned and put into place a plan to build a state-of-the-art student database for the center, which will come fully online this fall. Algren is a longtime active member of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language, serving as the association’s convention chair in 2002-2003, and as president from 2009-2010. He currently serves as president of the UCIEP: the Consortium of University and College Intensive English Programs.

“Mark is well-recognized as a global leader in the intensive English field," said Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco, associate vice provost for International Programs. "For over 21 years he has dedicated his expertise, passion and commitment to international higher education to the University of Kansas, and our programs have been strengthened by his efforts in a myriad of ways. Mark’s efforts have ensured that KU remains at the forefront of intensive English programs the world over. While Mark embarks on a new direction in his career at the University of Missouri, his impact here will be felt for generations by Applied English Center students, faculty and staff.”

In his new position as director of the University of Missouri Center for English Language Learning, Algren will oversee the long-standing Intensive English Program and the English Language Support Program, now brought together within the new center, with a combined enrollment of around 300 students. “This position provides a remarkable opportunity to expand and develop programs at another state flagship research university like KU. I will be working with faculty and administration across the campus, as well as the ESL programs staff, to build the international student presence at Mizzou,” he said.