Life Membership Recipients

Life Membership is awarded each year to senior NAFSA members to recognize their achievements in advancing the goals of the association and of international education and exchange.

2011 Recipients

Dr. James E. Frey

James S. Frey, for the past 49 and half years, has had tremendous influence in the field of international education both here in the United States and overseas. He began his career in 1961 at Marquette University in admissions and as an international credentials evaluator. He has also worked at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the U.S. Educational Commission in Japan, Indiana University-Bloomington, World Educations Services Inc., Cardinal Stritch College, and finally at Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc., which he founded in 1980 and of which he served as president from 1980 to 2006. In 2006, he became ECE's senior adviser.

Jim has authored six books, 20 book chapters, 69 articles, 54 newsletter columns, and has coauthored eight books. He has conducted workshops and has presented sessions for NAFSA, AACRAO, EAIE, the College Board, the Canadian Education Centre Network, the Council of Graduate Schools, the Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools, and the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation, Education New Zealand, the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, the Hawaii Department of Education, the Institute of European Studies, and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. He received NAFSA's Homer Higbee Award in 1991; AACRAO's Excellence in International Education award in 2006; WACRAO's certificate of appreciation for years of service and contributions in 2006; and was the first recipient of EAIE's President's Award in 2008.

The leadership positions that Jim has held within NAFSA include:

Within NAFSA, he has chaired seven admissions workshops and has been a program participant at 36 regional conferences, 11 state conferences, and 34 national conferences.

Patricia Jones

Patricia I. Jones received her MS in college student personnel at Western Illinois University in May 1981 and her BS in English and Spanish in May 1970. She worked at Western Illinois University from 1979 until her retirement in April 2008. From July 2010 to the present, she has been the director of English as a Second Language at Western Illinois University; prior to this she served as an interim academic adviser (January 2010–March 2010) for the department of English and Journalism at Western Illinois University.

When she retired from Western Illinois University in 2008, she was serving as the assistant director of the University Advising and Academic Support Center, a position she began in January1996. Her NAFSA leadership consists of: 2009-11 chair, Leadership Development Committee (term extended to 12/11 to serve an additional adjunct year on the committee); 2007-2008 chair, Training Coordination Subcommittee; 2006 chair-designate, Training Coordination Subcommittee; 2003-05 chair, national task force for the NAFSA Academy Pilot Program; 2000-03 Region V Chair, past chair (served repeat terms due to interruption in cycle of elected leadership). In May 2009, she was awarded the Homer Higbee award. In May 2008, she was a presenter for a NAFSA webinar, "Al-Musharaka: the Collaboration." It was a webinar dealing with the collaborative training grant for overcoming Arabic stereotypes. From July 2007-October 2007, she was the grant director for "Theory to Practice: Dealing with Real Life Cross-Cultural Issues," a supplemental collaborative training grant administered by NAFSA with funds from the U.S. Department of State. She also serves as a deacon in her church and as past president of the Western Illinois University Annuitants Association as part of her "retired" duties.

Martha Wailes

Martha Wailes' contributions to the field of international education have been profound and have extended over more than three decades. She became an adviser in the Office of International Services at Indiana University-Bloomington in October 1979 and has been a NAFSA member since July 1990. Martha was the first recipient of the Region VI George E. Hertrich Advocacy award in 1997. Her contributions to the development of various regulatory workshops are held in high regard by her peers. She has served as a long-standing member of Trainer Corps, and she has been a contributor to the NAFSA Advisor's Manual over the years.

Early on, Martha worked as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Mexico City, assisting visa applicants, and later in London. She has held numerous leadership positions at the regional and national level and has touched the lives of countless NAFSA members in their formative professional years or later in their careers. Most recently, she has served as the NAFSA Waiver Liaison with the U.S. Department of State. Martha has helped beginners gain an understanding of F-1, J-1, H-1B, and permanent resident regulations. She willingly and tirelessly gives so much of her personal time to help others understand the intricacies and deal with the ambiguities found in U.S. immigration regulations. She has presented or led at countless state, regional, and national NAFSA sessions and workshops. A sampling includes: J-1 workshops (beginners and advanced), "Love and Marriage" (applying for permanent residence), "Yes You Can! Paying the Short-term Visitor," "Outstanding! The O-1: Why When and How," "Poorly Worded, Ambiguous Regulations Are Par for the Course: Developing Policies When F&J Regs Aren't Clear", "J-1 Update," "Dual Nationality, Naturalization and Preserving Permanent Residence."

Previous Recipients

• G. James Haas, Edwardsville, IL
• David Horner, Michigan State University
• David Larson, Center for Education Abroad at Arcadia University
• Jerry Wilcox, University of Texas at Austin
• J. Russell Lindquist, California State University-Long Beach
• James F. Lynch Jr., Pennsylvania State University
• E. Nell Magee, Nashville, TN
• Alan M. Margolis, Consultant in Higher Education
• Harriet Marsh, Tucson, AZ
• Mary Cay Martin, University of Chicago
• Josef A. Mestenhauser, University of Minnesota
• Forrest G. Moore, Roseville, MN
• June C. Naughton, University of Hawaii-Manoa
• Joe W. Neal, Austin, TX
• Donald Nelson, Miami University-Oxford
• Ruth H. Purkaple, Denver, CO
• Richard Reiff, University of Georgia
• Tom Roberts, Butler University
• Kenneth Rogers, Indiana University-Bloomington
• Mary Rogerson, Columbia, SC
• Inez Sepmeyer, Los Angeles, CA
• Clara Simerville, Oregon State University
• Cliff Sjogren, Cadillac, MI
• Mickey Slind, IFSA- Butler University
• William H. Smart, Oregon State University
• Eugene H. Smith, Bozeman, MT
• Paula Spier, Brewster, MA
• Joann B. Stedman, Stedman Associates
• Jennifer Stephens, Essex, MA
• Leo J. Sweeney, University of Missouri-Kansas City
• Gail Szenes, New York University
• Lee Thompson, Boulder, CO
• Mary A. Thompson, New York, NY
• Mary Tinkham, Harvard University
• Joyce Valdes, Houston, TX
• J. Paul Ward, Albany, NY
• Henry D. Weaver, Goshen, IN
• David B. Williams, Asheville, NC
• Joseph F. Williams, SUNY-Buffalo
• Geoffrey R. Wood, Geoffrey Wood International Education Consulting, Inc.
• A. Lee Zeigler, San Francisco, CA

• Suzanne Marlay, University College at Arkansas State University
• Valerie Woolston, University of Maryland
• Dixon Johnson, University of Southern California
• Margaret D. Pusch, Society for Intercultural Education
• Martin Limbird, Ball State University
• Stirling Huntley, Pasadena, CA
• Sanford C. Jameson, Bethesda, MD
• Robert B. Kaplan, Port Angeles, WA
• Robert Klinger, Ann Arbor, MI
• Nancy J. Kopka, Grosse Point, MI
• Diana Lopez, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Linda Heaney, Linden Educational Services
• Harvey Stein, University of Chicago
• Nancy Stubbs, University of Colorado – Boulder
• Caroline Aldrich-Langen, Chico, CA
• William H. Alloway, University of California-Santa Barbara
• Gary Althen, University of Iowa
• Marvin Baron, Walnut Creek, CA
• Ralph P. Barrett, Elta
• Brian A. Bates, Global Credential Evaluators, Inc.
• Alex Bedrosian, Basking Ridge, NJ
• August G. Benson, Lisle, IL
• Stan Berry, Pullman, WA
• Hazel Boltwood, Southfiled, MI
• Alice Bonzi Lawler, Beavercreek, OR
• M. Archer Brown, NAFSA
• D'Ann Burke, University of Houston
• Jack D. Burke, University of Houston
• Thomas Carey, University of St. Thomas
• Eugene R. Chamberlain, Hingham, MA
• Phyllis Cotten, Wheat Ridge, CO
• Garland H. Davies, Westerly, RI
• James M. Davis, San Diego, CA
• Jean Delaney, University of Colorado-Boulder
• Edward Devlin, AACRAO
• Richard D. Downie, Newberry, FL
• Marvin Durham, Philomath, OR
• Kathleen M. Ellinghaus, University of Colorado
• Charles W. Gay, U.S.C.
• Kath-Ann Gerhardt, University of California-Davis
• Johanne M. Glass, Ann Arbor, MI
• Jean S. Griswold, Colorado State University