Welcome to the New International Journal 8 Global Education Review 1(1) Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Mel Wermuth (2014). Editor’s Welcome to the Inaugural Issue. Global Education Review, 1 (1). 8-9. Editor’s Welcome to the Inaugural Issue Mel Wermuth Editor, Global Education Review It is customary for the editor of a new journal to thank all of the people who helped to make the dream a reality, and this introduction is no different. Without the generous help of literally dozens of people, Global Education Review would not exist today. To them and for all of their help, I am grateful. First, thanks to the authors. Authorship and publication is the lifeblood of academia, and “the coin of the realm” with respect to promotions and tenure. It is impossible to express in words the debt that we at GER owe to the authors who were willing to take a chance and submit their important work to a journal that had never published. I first suggested the idea of an open access on-line journal to Al Posamentier, Dean of the School of Education at Mercy College. Al’s advice, always very pragmatic, was “Why don’t you announce it at a faculty meeting and see what kind of support you get?” The faculty was interested and ever since, Al’s personal support has been unwavering. At the conclusion of that meeting, Patrick McCabe approached me to say, “I want to help you.” Patrick, then a new faculty member, had been associate editor at Reading and Writing Quarterly for fifteen years and with his suggestions and guidance the form of the journal was developed: It would be an international, policy oriented journal, focused on timely topics in the field of education. Using the broadest definition of “policy maker,” to include practitioners as well as academics and governing elite, was something of a stumbling block. The articles would have to be data based, but still readable enough to ensure access to the widest possible audience. We hope that you will agree that this challenge has been met. Many meetings and conversations ensued with Bruce Cooper (Fordham University) who wrote an introduction to this inaugural issue. Thank you, Bruce for asking, “What is it going to be about?” then suggesting the title, Global Education Review. Thanks, too, to the advisory board who graciously lent their names to this nascent journal, and who selflessly continue to provide support, advice, suggestions and access to their wealth of contacts: Dr. Maria-Luise Brownsteiner (University College of Teacher Education – Lower Austria), Dr. Bruce S. Cooper (Fordham University), Dr. Anton Dobart (Austrian Ministry of Education and Culture), Dr. Curt Dudley-Marling (Lynch School of Education, Boston College), Dr. Doris P. Fromberg ( Hofstra University), Dr. R. Douglas Greer (Teachers College, Columbia University), Dr. Ulrike Greiner (University College of Education - Upper Austria), Dr. Brigitte Rollett (University of Vienna), Dr. James B. Schreiber, (Duquesne University), Dr. Ilse Schrittesser javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/80') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/80') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/30') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/115') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/115') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/79') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/79') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/87') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/85') javascript:openRTWindow('http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/about/editorialTeamBio/84') Editor’s Welcome 9 Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Mel Wermuth (2014). Editor’s Welcome to the Inaugural Issue. Global Education Review, 1 (1) (University of Innsbruck). Special thanks to Doug Greer and Curt Dudley-Marling, who gave generously of their time and answered countless questions over the past year and one half. Recognition is due to the members of the review board for their timely recommendations and advice, which helps to ensure publication of high quality material. It goes without saying that no peer-reviewed journal exists without reviewers. And the quality of the articles that are published, of course, is dependent on the quality of the reviews. Thanks, too, to the faculty of the school of education: the chairs, the theme editors, and the supportive faculty for their help, encouragement and advice every step along the way. Tesse Santoro of the Mercy College libraries gave unstintingly of her time to help me to understand meta data, search engines, and data bases to ensure that Global Education Review reaches the widest possible audience. Finally, special thanks are due to Erwin Epstein, Loyola University Chicago (emeritus), past president of the Comparative and International Education Society. One of the first questions that he put to me, in the beginning, when I reached out for help was, “What makes you think the world needs another education journal?” Thank you, Erwin, for putting us on the right track and helping us to answer that question. Thank you, dear reader, for logging on and reading this journal. We at GER hope that you will agree that the world really did need another journal. About the Author Mel Wermuth, Ed.D., is assistant professor of education at Mercy College, New York.