Former UG lecturer Dr Belle P. Tyndall dies

Jul 04, 2017 News

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Dr Belle P. Tyndall (nee Thorne), Associate Professor Emeritus, George Washington University and former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Guyana, passed away on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at Haven

Hospice, Gainesville, Florida. Her husband, former Minister Joseph Tyndall, and their three children together with their spouses were at her bedside.
Dr Tyndall was born in Bent Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown, Guyana on September 13, 1934. Her mother, Sheffield Mansfield was a seamstress and her father, Clement Thorne an engineer. Dr Tyndall attended Smith Church Congregational Primary School in Georgetown, Guyana from which she won a Government County Scholarship in 1945 to The Bishops’ High School (BHS).
She graduated from BHS with Advanced Level passes at the General Certificate Examinations of the University of London in English Literature, History and Latin. Immediately after graduation, she was admitted to the Government Teachers’ Training College (now the Cyril Potter College of Education). She was the first student to be admitted directly from high school and, at the age of 20, the youngest to graduate from the institution, earning a First Class Trained Teachers’ Certificate.
Dr Tyndall later went on to graduate from the University of Manchester, England, with a Diploma in the Teaching of English Overseas and from The University of London with a B.A. degree in English, Latin and Theology and a Masters Degree in Language and Literature in Educationfrom the University of London Institute of Education.
After receiving her PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington DC, and motivated by a keen interest in distant and continuing education, Dr Tyndall later successfully pursued the Professional Development Certificate in Distance Education from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) School of Education Graduate Program in Continuing and Vocational Education.
Dr Tyndall worked for 48 years as a teacher, 28 of those years in Guyana. She taught at all levels of the education system, primary (St Stephens Scots School and Smith Church Congregational School), Secondary, the Teachers Training College, the Government Technical Institute and the University of Guyana.
Her first appointment at the University was as Language Research Fellow, Carnegie Research Unit of the Faculty of Education, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of the U.S.A. Appointments as Lecturer in Language Education and Head of the Department of Curriculum Development and the Carnegie Research Unit soon followed.
From 1980 to 1983, Dr Tyndall served as Dean of the Faculty of Education and Chair of the Committee of Deans before retiring from the University to join her husband Joseph A. Tyndall, formerly Deputy and Acting Secretary General of CARICOM and Minister of Government, who had taken up the position of Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC.
While at the University of Guyana, Dr Tyndall was a member of a small team of Caribbean educators responsible for developing the syllabus for the secondary schools English Language examinations of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). The CXC examinations were developedto replace the General Certificate Examinations of the University of London with the objective of ensuring that the syllabuses were more attuned to the needs and circumstances of the English-speaking Caribbean countries. Dr Tyndall was the University representative to the CXC and, for many years, Assistant Chief Examiner for English.
After moving to the United States, Dr Tyndall continued her teaching career for a further 20 years. Her first appointments were as Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University School for Summer and Continuing Education, Assistant Professorial Lecturer, English as a Foreign Language, George Washington University, and Assistant Professor of English, Howard University.
She eventually accepted a permanent appointment at George Washington University (GWU) as Assistant Professor in the Department of English as a Foreign Language and after two years, was promoted Associate Professor of English as a Foreign Language.
She was Chair of the Department from 1992 to 1998, during which period, the Department enrolled an average of 800 international students annually. At GWU, Dr Tyndall was also involved in assessing the oral proficiency of international students applying for teaching assistantships as well as the written proficiency of MA and DSc candidates. From 1992 to 1995, she was a member of the University Council on International Programmes.
Dr Tyndall was a member of a number of organizations, including the Washington Linguistics Society, TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of other Languages), National Council of Teachers of English, American Association of Applied Linguistics, International Language Testing Association, National Association of Foreign Students Advisors (NAFSA) later, Association of International Educators.
She served as Chair of NAFSA Region VIII, one of eleven regions of the national organization, covering Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Dr Tyndall ended her career as Associate Professor Emeritus of English as a Foreign Language of George Washington University in 2004.
After her retirement, Dr Tyndall was one of the first commissioners elected to the Commission for English Language Accreditation, based in Alexandria, Virginia.It was, at the time, the only accrediting agency for English Language programmes in institutions in the United States as well as schools in a number of countries abroad.
Dr Tyndall and her husband of almost 59 years, Joseph A Tyndall, lived in Bethesda, Maryland for eight years, then in Beltsville, Maryland for 25 years, moving to Gainesville Florida in September 2016 to live just minutes away from two of her three children, Dr Joseph Adrian Tyndall, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Chair of the Emergency Department; and Dr Althea Tyndall Smith, family physician and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, both of the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, and their families.
The eldest of her three children, Alison Tyndall, a consulting actuary, resides in London.
Dr Tyndall is survived by her husband, her three children, her five grandchildren, Gylianne, Jordynn and Gabrielle Tyndall and Maxwell and Miles Smith, her daughter-in-law, Johanne Tyndall, her son-in-law, Michael Smith and many more relatives and friends.
The funeral service for Dr Belle Tyndall will be held at the People’s Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington DC, thence to Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring Maryland for the interment.

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