Local News in Brief : Garden Grove : American Host Group Names New Director

Galal Kernahan, who successfully worked to get statewide observance annually of a Day of the Teacher, is the new executive director of the Garden Grove-based American Host Foundation. He succeeds the late Thomas Murphy, who co-founded the nonprofit organization with his late wife, Frances.

American Host Foundation arranges for teachers in Western European countries to spend a month during the summer living with U.S. families. The organization’s goal is to promote better European understanding of the way Americans live and think.

Kernahan, 62, a resident of Newport Beach, was formerly with the nonprofit Community Development Council based in Costa Mesa and also spent 11 years as a field representative for the California Teachers Assn.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kernahan worked to get all school districts in the state to have a special Day of the Teacher, similar to an official observance in Mexico and several European countries. In 1982 he succeeded in getting legislative passage of a bill that now designates the second Wednesday each May as the state’s official day to honor teachers.

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Kernahan is a graduate of Chapman College and did graduate work at Boston University and the University of Geneva. He has lived in the county since 1954.