President’s Message to IASE Membership:

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.