Working Collectively ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Moroccan King names professor to education council

Dr. Kouider Mokhtari, associate vice president for research and associate dean of the UT Tyler Graduate School, has been appointed by the King of Morocco as one of 20 experts to serve on Morocco’s Supreme Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research. The council will work to promote education, training and scientific research to improve Moroccan schools and provide quality education for all. ¶ “Dr. Mokhtari has been a great expert in literacy research and training, a passionate advocate for the value of education and an ambassador of hope in education arenas,” says Dr. Amir Mirmiran, UT Tyler provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “His selection by the King of Morocco provides an opportunity for him to expand his valuable impact to his home country.”

AAMC PRESIDENT AND CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and AAMC Board Chair and UT Tyler President Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, challenged physicians and scientists from U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals to work collectively to improve the health and mental well-being of colleagues and communities.

Nearly three years after COVID -19 caused massive upheavals in the nation’s health care system — to which “learners, faculty, staff and leaders have risen to the occasion magnificently” — challenges remain. “We find ourselves still in a situation of fragmented communities, often bitterly divided political opinion, and severe difficulties hearing and listening to each other,” Skorton tells more than 4,300 medical professionals during the leadership plenary of Learn Serve Lead 2022: The AAMC Annual Meeting.

In addition to representing medical schools, teaching hospitals and faculty, the AAMC oversees the medical school admissions test (MCAT), the residency matching programs and numerous medical student and medical faculty support initiatives.

Calhoun served as board chair November 2021 to November 2022 and is currently serving as immediate past chair.

“Academic medicine lies at the nexus of higher education and health care delivery. Both exist in the very treacherous waters of rapidly changing expectations, misinformation, partisan debate and economic pressure,” says Calhoun. “As we engage in informed and heartfelt dialogue based on the facts, I beg you to never forget the immediate unmet needs of our patients and their families, students, faculty and community.”

¶ Mokhtari is also the Anderson-Vukelja-Wright Endowed Professor of Literacy Education at UT Tyler, where he engages in research, teaching and service initiatives aimed at advancing literacy instruction and increasing students’ literacy achievement outcomes. ¶ “This is a prestigious appointment that speaks to Dr. Mokhtari’s remarkable stature,” says Dr. Steven Idell, UT Tyler senior vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School. “His input is most appropriately sought and welcomed by this austere council, which is a testament to his experience, communication skills and carefully-crafted perspectives.”

¶ Mokhtari’s research focuses on the acquisition of language and literacy by first and second language learners. — HB