Home >
About NAFSA >
Awards and Leadership Recognition >
Cassandra Pyle Award for Leadership and Collaboration in International Education and Exchange >
About NAFSA
Cassandra Pyle Recipients
The Cassandra Pyle Award for Leadership and Collaboration in International Educational Exchange honors the contributions of a senior international educator to global international exchange.
This year Ward B. Chamberlin received this distinguished award honoring his lifelong impact on the field of international education. During World War II, Ward served with the American Field Service ambulance corps in Africa, Italy and India, ending with the British rank of Major. The American Field Service transformed into what today is AFS Intercultural Programs, and as a founding father of AFS, Ward never tired in his commitment to and enthusiasm for AFS and its mission of promoting international educational and cultural exchange.
Ward was among the members of the American Field Service that, after meeting in New York in 1946, decided to transform an organization of volunteer ambulance drivers who transported the wounded to safety during the two World Wars into an organization that would seek to promote peace and understanding through international youth education exchanges. For more than 60 years, Ward has been dedicated to AFS’s mission, as a former chairperson and currently a life trustee of the board.
Today, AFS is one of the world's largest not-for-profit community-based volunteer organizations dedicated to building a more just and peaceful world through intercultural exchange. AFS has a network of more than 50 partner organizations and runs programs involving more than 13,000 students, young adults, and teachers each year.
Mr. Chamberlin is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University Law School. He practiced law in New York and held posts in Paris and London in the Marshall Plan. As important as his commitment to international exchange through AFS, his leadership of PBS has changed our lives and focused the power of television on education and broader understanding of our broader world, cultures, and societies.
2008 Recipient - Ward Chamberlin
This year Ward B. Chamberlin received this distinguished award honoring his lifelong impact on the field of international education. During World War II, Ward served with the American Field Service ambulance corps in Africa, Italy and India, ending with the British rank of Major. The American Field Service transformed into what today is AFS Intercultural Programs, and as a founding father of AFS, Ward never tired in his commitment to and enthusiasm for AFS and its mission of promoting international educational and cultural exchange. Ward was among the members of the American Field Service that, after meeting in New York in 1946, decided to transform an organization of volunteer ambulance drivers who transported the wounded to safety during the two World Wars into an organization that would seek to promote peace and understanding through international youth education exchanges. For more than 60 years, Ward has been dedicated to AFS’s mission, as a former chairperson and currently a life trustee of the board.
Today, AFS is one of the world's largest not-for-profit community-based volunteer organizations dedicated to building a more just and peaceful world through intercultural exchange. AFS has a network of more than 50 partner organizations and runs programs involving more than 13,000 students, young adults, and teachers each year.
Mr. Chamberlin is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University Law School. He practiced law in New York and held posts in Paris and London in the Marshall Plan. As important as his commitment to international exchange through AFS, his leadership of PBS has changed our lives and focused the power of television on education and broader understanding of our broader world, cultures, and societies.
Previous Recipients
- Dr. Christian Bode, German Academic Exchange Service - Read Dr. Bode's Acceptance Speech
- Dr. Humphrey Tonkin, University of Hartford
- Harriet Fulbright, Fulbright Program
- Alice Stone Ilchman Jeannette K. Watson Fellowships
- Axel Markert, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
