Shekhtman, Boris: - At the Foreign Service Institute (the training arm of the US Department of State), Boris Shekhtman earned the Una Cox Chapman award for outstanding quality of instruction to diplomats learning Russian. He developed the first course for ILR Level 3-4 students (professional level and near-native language proficiency). That course has been described in a number of publications and was presented to the Interagency Language Roundtable in 1985 as a program of excellence. In the 6 years that he taught the advanced course at FSI, with classes ranging in size from 4 to 6 students, everyone who entered at Level 3 (professional level proficiency) with prior in-country experience (the prerequisite for enrollment) and remained the entire 6 months, achieved Level 4 (near-native proficiency).Boris Shekhtman was a key person in organizing nine conferences of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers for the purpose of providing support to the universities, institutions, and schools with programs that teach foreign languages to the near-native level. He served on the Editorial Board for the first six issues (2003-2010) of the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies. He edited of five books on socio-cultural and socio-linguistic competences, coauthored "Mark Smith's Diary: Cross-Cultural Lessons in Russian-American Mentality" (FSI and ERIC, 1986); and contributed to the groundbreaking book, "What works: Helping Students Reach Native-Like Second-Language Competence." (MSI Press, 2008)