From the Executive Director
Walter Bacak, CAE
walter@atanet.org
The ATA Board of Directors met November 5–6, 2016 in conjunction with the Annual Conference in San Francisco. Here are some highlights from the meeting:
- Welcome: President David Rumsey welcomed the new Board of Directors. Jane Maier was elected secretary for one year to complete Rudy Heller’s term. (Jane was a director and then volunteered to serve as secretary prior to this election.) Three directors were also elected for three-year terms: Evelyn Yang Garland (re-elected), Cristina Helmerichs (serving a second term after a four-year hiatus), and Karen Tkaczyk. They join President David Rumsey, President-elect Corinne McKay, Treasurer Ted Wozniak, and Directors Chris Durban, Melinda Gonzalez-Hibner, Geoff Koby, Frieda Ruppaner-Lind, Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo, and Faiza Sultan.
- Certification: The Board was briefed by Certification Committee Chair David Stephenson on changes to the Certification Program, such as increasing the number of keyboarded exam sittings for 2017, changing the exam passages to general subject matter content (as opposed to one general passage, one scientific/medical, and one business/legal), and looking to add additional language combinations. The Board and Stephenson then discussed exam prep programs, like the ones held at the conference, with a look to expanding them.
- Membership: The Board reviewed and discussed the Membership Committee’s report and plans. The Membership Committee, chaired by Tess Whitty, is working with Headquarters and the Chapters Committee to reach out to non-ATA members at the chapter level. The Committee is also looking to recruit more student members.
- Appointments: The Board approved the appointments of Jost Zetzsche as chair of the Translation and Interpreting Resources Committee, Caitilin Walsh as the ATA Representative to the Joint National Committee for Languages, and Paula Arturo as a member of ATA’s Ethics Committee.
- American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation: The Board approved the appointment of the AFTI Board of Directors: Marian Greenfield (president), Caitilin Walsh (vice-president), Melinda Gonzalez-Hibner (director), Geoff Koby (director), and Glenn Nordin (director). In addition, David Rumsey, as ATA president, is a director on the AFTI Board. The ATA Board must approve at least 60% of the appointments to the AFTI Board. AFTI, the charitable supporting organization for ATA, provides scholarships. AFTI also funded the Annual Conference speaker in 2015 and 2016. There are plans for the foundation to get more involved in translation and interpreting research in the future.
The Board meeting summary is posted online. The minutes will be posted once they are approved at the next Board meeting. Past meeting summaries and minutes are also posted online at www.atanet.org/membership/minutes.php. The next Board meeting is set for January 21–22, 2017 in Los Angeles. As always, the meeting is open to all members, and members are encouraged to attend.
Be Sure to Renew!Membership renewals have been mailed. It’s easy to renew online, if you prefer. Just go to www.atanet.org/membership/renew.php. Thank you for your support and membership in 2016. We look forward to serving you in 2017! |