Each year, one or more members of the MinneTESOL community are awarded the Harold B. Allen Award in recognition of their service and contribution to the organization and the profession.  In addition to that award, presented at the annual conference, the MinneTESOL Journal Editorial Board invites all Harold B. Allen Award winners to submit a short manuscript on the topic of their choosing.  It is our way of honoring these outstanding members and giving them a chance to reflect on what they believe is important to the field, where we have been or where we are going, or share ideas that would be of interest to our readers.  For the rest of us, it is the chance to draw from the wisdom of those who have made substantial contributions to our organization and our work as professionals.

Harold B. Allen, a noted linguist and professor from the University of Minnesota, was the founder and first president of TESOL in 1966. Among his many achievements, he was an internationally recognized expert on regional dialects of the U.S., and he authored the Linguistic Atlas of the Upper Midwest. MinneTESOL celebrates this connection by honoring a member of our local affiliate each year who has demonstrated particular dedication to the profession and to the organization.