Jim Eade of Menlo Park, California, current president of the U.S. zone for the World Chess Federation (FIDE — Federation Internationale des Echecs), has been named chairperson of an advisory board to the chess program at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), home of the top-ranked intercollegiate chess team in the country.

Eade, a former member of the United States Chess Federation Executive Board and the author of three books on chess, including the best selling Chess for Dummies, will advise UTD Chess Program Director Dr. Tim Redman on a variety of issues related to chess and education and will help build national support for, and awareness of, the UTD Chess Program. Eade also will be responsible for helping to recruit members of the national and international chess communities to the newly created advisory board.

Redman, a professor of literary studies in UTD’s School of Arts and Humanities, said Dr. Alan Kirshner, a professor of political science and history at Ohlone College in Fremont, California, and IBM executive Rodney Thomas of Dallas would join Eade on the advisory board. Kirshner coaches a chess team at Weibel Elementary School in California that has won at least one state championship every year since 1990. Thomas is the treasurer of the Dallas Area Chess In Schools Foundation (DACIS).

“We are delighted to have three people of the caliber of Jim, Alan and Rodney join our board,” Redman said. “They understand that chess is a valuable tool both in education and in helping young people build self-esteem. They will be tremendous assets to UTD.”

Redman started the chess program at UTD six years ago. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chess Federation named UTD “Chess College of the Year.”

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 7,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.