NAFSA Mourns Passing of Ron Moffatt

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2008 - Today NAFSA: Association of International Educators Executive Director Marlene M. Johnson and NAFSA President Everett Egginton issued the following statement:

On April 18, the NAFSA community lost one of our strongest and most compassionate leaders in the field of international education. Last Friday, Ron Moffatt, who served as president of NAFSA in 2007 and was director of the International Student Center at San Diego State University, died at his home. Ron was a tireless advocate for NAFSA and international education. Just last week he attended the Spring Planning Meeting for NAFSA's Region XI in Rhode Island. In March, at the Asia Pacific Association of International Education Conference, he led a NAFSA panel presenting "Initiatives in Internationalizing U.S. Universities and Colleges."

For more than three decades, Ron's convictions guided his work in some 35 countries, from sustainable development projects in Uganda, to human rights activism in Senegal, to refugee resettlement in Costa Rica, to overseas-adviser training workshops in India, Nepal, and Croatia. Ron believed that he could make a difference, and that through his work on international education, global understanding, and peace and justice, the world could be a better place.

Those NAFSA members who attended the 2007 NAFSA Washington Leadership Meeting had the good fortune to hear Ron speak about what motivates him as an educator: advancing the causes of peace, justice, and human rights. On that occasion, Ron said:

And for those of you who, like me, may sometimes wonder - How can we possibly do this? How can one person, or one community, or one organization, possibly make a difference with such huge issues on a global scale? - allow me to remind you of the hummingbird that Wangari Maathai described in Montréal last May [at the NAFSA annual conference in 2006]. Like the hummingbird putting out the wild fire with tiny drops of water, "We each must do what we can."

Ron joined NAFSA in 1976 and held more than a dozen leadership positions at both the regional and national level. As NAFSA president in 2007, he led the association's strategic planning process. This effort involved the NAFSA Board of Directors and member-leaders and culminated in a visionary and bold three-year plan. He helped all of us, as international educators, to challenge our assumptions and to understand the critical role that each of us and NAFSA can play in a world with increasing interest in and demand for international education and exchange and global workforce development.

A special remembrance for Ron will be made at the opening plenary session at the NAFSA conference in Washington, DC, in May.