Born in Six Lakes, Michigan, Alice Miel was a former elementary and secondary school teacher, principal, and curriculum coordinator. She spent most of her professional career as a Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. She held teaching and consulting positions in Japan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Afghanistan.

Alice Miel generously gave her wisdom, hospitality, financial resources, vision, and caring to all aspects of the organization. She served as a link with its parent organization, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development having served as co-chair of the world role in drafting the constitution, which helped created WCCI. Alice was a founder of WCCI.

Alice’s life was characterized by a vision of diversity of peoples united by common principles and purposes. Her writing, teaching, and organizational work all had themes of education’s role in promoting cooperation among persons of the world. She devoted her whole life to enhancing the learning achievement of children and the development of values such as equity, human rights, and democracy. With her interest in achieving peace on a global scale, she encouraged overall multi-dimensional and diversified approaches to curriculum and instruction, and linked these with the values specific to each person and each country by promoting inter-country transfer of experience and cooperation. She kept the vision of mobilizing WCCI on the level of persons as resources. Recognized around the world for her humanitarian interests, Alice received the National Education Association’s Committee on Human Rights Award, the Teachers College, Columbia University Medal for Distinguished Service, and kappa Delta Pi’s election to its Laureate Chapter.

The above excerpts were taken from memorial tributes by Louise Berman and Shigekazu Takemura, past-Presidents of WCCI