Certified by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, TELLSI (i.e., Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran) was officially recognized in Farvardin 8, 1383 (March 2007) through the considerable efforts of the late Dr. Seyed Ali Akbar Mirhassani and other TEFL academics in Iran. TELLSI aims at developing and promoting TEFL learners’ knowledge base, improving the quality of
experts’ practice and advancing teaching and research. The members of TELLSI's first board of directors included the late Dr. Seyed Ali Akbar Mirhassani, Dr. Abdolmehdi Riazi, Dr. Seyed Mohammad Alavi, Dr. Reza Ghafarsamar, Dr. Mahmoud Reza Ataee and Dr. Ali Asghar Eftekhari. In the general assembly held in the society’s 6th annual conference in Guilan, the second board of directors’ election was conducted, leading to the election of Dr. Riazi, Dr. Mirhassani, Dr. Ghafarsamar, Dr. Alavi, Dr. Marandi, Dr. Hassasskhah, Dr. Mahdavi, Dr. Kiani and Dr. Eftekhari. After Dr. Mirhasani’s demise and Dr. Riazi’s traveling to Canada, another election was held in the 7th TELLSI conference in Yazd University in Mehr, 1388 (October 2009), resulting in the election of Dr. Anani and Dr. Tajeddin as reserve members. The current members of the TELLSI board of directors were elected in the general assembly of TELLSI 10 at Shahid Beheshti University, as follow: Dr. S. Susan Marandi from Alzahra University (president), Dr. Reza Khani from Ilam University (vice-president), Dr. Reza Anani Sarab from Shahid Beheshti University (treasurer), Dr. Seyyed Zia Tajeddin from Allameh Tabatabaie (editor-in-chief of TELL journal), and Dr. Ramin Akbari from Tarbiat Modarres, with Dr. Abbas Ali Rezaie from Tehran University and Dr. Hassan Soodmand Afshar from Hamedan University as reserve members, and Dr. Zohreh Nafissi from Alzahra University as inspector. TELLSI holds annual conferences, publishes TELL Journal, and has lately established a few Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The society is active both nationally and internationally, and currently has a rapidly growing number of members from among Iranian TEFL and English Literature scholars, professors and students from all over Iran. While the society has come a long way, we believe we can still do much better, and we depend on your help and ideas to do so.
