Bill retired from UBC in 2012, after 35 years teaching socio-linguistics and research methodology in the Faculty of Education. It was a calculated move from the ivory towers of academia back to the front line of his 40-year involvement as a community educator at the local, regional, national and international levels of the voluntary sector.
He is currently on the boards of the Pacific Community Resources Service, Board Voice, Canada Japan Society of BC and Vancouver Mokuyokai. He is a Past President of TESL Canada, the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and Collingwood Neighbourhood House and serves on the Pathways to Education Research Advisory Committee and organizing committee for TEDx East Van.
Bill has led a long double life of applying theory to practice and vice-versa. His doctoral research mapped the settlement experiences of female refugee claimants in four Canadian cities and pioneered a translated interview protocol that is used with gendered, first-language focus groups. The research has since informed numerous intercultural initiatives throughout the Lower Mainland which, in turn, have informed the development of community-based intercultural theory. For his efforts in the voluntary sector, Bill has received numerous awards including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal Award, the BC Community Achievement Award and the Vancouver Mayor’s Achievement Award of Excellence.
For his efforts in the voluntary sector, Bill has received numerous awards including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal Award and BC Community Achievement Award.