I am excited at the opportunity to serve as your President for the period 2023-2025, having occupied the position Vice President of ALTA during the term 2021-2023. I am sincerely thankful for the trust and confidence you have in me. I joined ALTA in 2007 when I was a graduate student at Michigan State University. Undeniably, ALTA has deeply contributed to my personal and professional growth since then. Therefore, serving in this leadership role is the best way for me to give back to ALTA. I promise to do my best to serve you as we grow ALTA together. I also take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the past presidents of ALTA for their excellent leadership. They laid a firm foundation for ALTA and maintained its development to the present.

Although it is based in the USA, ALTA has a global status through the annual conferences we hold, its members, and the publication of the ALTA journal known as the Journal of African Language Teachers Association (JALTA). ALTA Conference participants come from different parts of the world just as the JALTA audience spans the entire global community. ALTA is grateful to Indiana University-Bloomington’s (IU) National Language Resource Center (NALRC) for publishing JALTA. Special thanks go to the current leaders of NALRC, i.e., Dr. Alwiya Omar (Director) and Dr. Kazeem Sanuth (Associate Director). ALTA also appreciates the work of the current JALTA editorial team led by Dr. Leonard Muaka of Howard University.

ALTA is a professional organization for all those involved in the teaching, researching, and promotion of African languages and cultures globally. Teachers, students, researchers, and leaders of programs related to African languages at home and abroad constitute the base of ALTA. Other individuals and institutions that support ALTA activities are also an integral part of ALTA. Since its founding, ALTA has immensely benefitted from institutional members as well. Several universities in the USA are institutional members of ALTA, and their membership has supported ALTA considerably. We invite more institutions to support ALTA through Institutional Membership.

Undoubtedly, ALTA is a significant avenue for scholars and other stake holders to meet and share best practices regarding the teaching and scholarship of African languages. ALTA holds  conference meetings annually to bring together its members to exchange knowledge, share current trends in the field, and influence one another. Pre-conference workshops provide a special opportunity for training related to second language pedagogy. Sessions for keynote speakers create openings for high-ranking experts in the profession to address conference participants and share their rich experiences. Conference parallel sessions make up the center of the annual conferences and during these sittings, participants discuss their research findings and pedagogical practices with their peers and receive crucial feedback from the audience. These meetings enable senior teachers and scholars to mentor students and early-career teachers. These interactions go a long way to building the field of African language teaching and research. Certainly, annual ALTA conferences promote personal and professional growth. Conference goers get a chance to mingle and develop personal and professional networks that are essential for growth.

ALTA established JALTA to enable members to publish their research findings and share their works widely. JALTA also provides an opportunity for members to review their peers’ work and provide constructive feedback. Members who serve on the editorial board find this to be an important opening to serve the ALTA community, grow professionally, and exploit their talents in editorial work. Indiana University-Bloomington’s National African Language Resource Center (NALRC) that publishes JALTA collaborates with ALTA to accomplish this goal. This collaboration is a major great partnership that enables NALRC to channel their Title VI funds to the development of research and publication efforts in African languages. To express your interest in publishing an article in the Journal of African Language Teachers Association (JALTA), do so at the following site. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jalt/about/contact

If you are not a member of ALTA, you are welcome to join this great community. Feel free to contact any current member or members of the current Executive Board for more information. You may also email any questions and/or comments to the ALTA Executive Board at: [email protected] or me via my work email address: [email protected].