A special tribute to Nancy Quisenberry from the Executive Board and friends in ACEI.

We all loved Nancy for many reasons. Nancy Quisenberry was the President of ACEI from 2001 to 2003. As a gifted leader, she was always there to support us--always willing to listen and discuss issues that celebrated children, teachers, and the standards for a high quality of educational opportunities.

When she became President of ACEI in April 2001, Nancy told us that she felt this time of her presidency to be an exciting time for education. Nancy believed that in order to make progress in our schools a true reality--whether we were classroom teachers like her daughter-in-law, Jill, administrators, policymakers, parents, or someone working in other capacities, like her son James--we must all work together to make a commitment and move forward. As Nancy led ACEI into the new millennium, she led us with the development of the new elementary standards for teacher education that would be used for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the standards that are now the responsibility of ACEI. Many of us believe that Nancy wrote the standards herself, but Nancy would remind us that committee members all worked together to write the standards. That's another reason we loved Nancy--she empowered us and inspired confidence in us. As she led us into a new century, she asked us to look into the future and create a vision, not only for ACEI and its members, but also for everyone throughout the world who serves children.

Nancy reminded us that it's easier to coast on what we did last year than to develop new ideas and new ways of doing things, but she let us know that she expected us to move forward, and that she would be supportive of our efforts. She encouraged us to use technology as a mechanism to bring us closer together, and for sharing ideas with parents and other educators. She wanted us to think outside the box and to be innovative. Being an outstanding writer herself, she celebrated other ACEI members as authors and she often called attention to ACEI's outstanding publication record and excellent conferences. But with all of our successes, she cautioned that we could not rest on our laurels; she encouraged us to always do better work toward our mission of advocating for children throughout the world. Consequently, our committees began to focus on priorities and commitments.

Teacher preparation was Nancy's professional life for many years; as she retired from teaching, she found herself in more special roles, such as those that she and Jim worked toward. They volunteered to read to 2nd-grade children on a regular basis. But the most special child that Nancy read to during the last 3 1/2 years has been her grandson, Will. Nancy loved reading special books with Will and she shared many special and lovely stories of her young pride and joy, Will, with us. Nancy and Jim were an inseparable couple who made great contributions to the international community of ACEI and taught us about global values.

Nancy has provided ACEI members many opportunities for real work in developing initiatives that promote learning opportunities throughout the world. She encouraged us to see ourselves as colleagues and friends. She encouraged us to support each other. To honor Nancy's contribution, ACEI awarded Nancy the Patty Smith Hill Award to recognize Nancy's significant contribution to the betterment of ACEI and children.

We loved Nancy and we will surely miss her wry sense of humor as we follow in her footsteps to celebrate the experts we are becoming. We will remember Nancy's superior intellect, her dedication to ACEI and its principles, and her commitment to the quality of teacher education. She mentored many of us in the leadership roles.

Nancy would expect us to continue to become people who value learning, and educators who can keep an open mind and be flexible. We believe she would expect us to share with each other; to love each other across borders, throughout the world; and to pay special attention to those who love us most, our families. Thank you, Nancy.

There is no single word that could sum up the impact that Nancy had on us and on ACEI. We miss you, Nancy--not just as a colleague but as a dear friend.