My message in this issue is advocatory. I would like to lay out some reasons why an ALIS member should run for the ALIS chair position the next time a call for nominations is made.

Serving as a TESOL interest section chair is actually a 3-year commitment, with responsibilities that change each year. Having been chair twice now, I thought it would be useful to let members know just what a chair does from year to year in order to convince at least a few members of two things: first, that the job is doable even for those of us who hold down full-time jobs, and second, that it's a commitment worth making for numerous reasons.

Chairs are required to attend three conventions: once as chair-elect, once as sitting chair, and once as past chair. At each convention, they attend their primary IS Business Meeting where announcements and other news are disseminated, where general discussion about the policies and direction of the IS happens, where possible TESOL-wide resolutions are considered, and where members may simply get to know one another and recognize mutual interests. In ALIS, perhaps unlike some other ISs, there is a rather wide range of academic and pedagogical interests, so members may benefit in unexpected ways from mutual proximity. Chairs also attend the Interest Section Assembly, a TESOL-wide meeting of IS chairs: At that meeting, policies for the next convention are discussed and individual IS resolutions are read, debated, and voted on. Chairs are also encouraged to attend (at least once) TESOL's General Business Meeting, which takes place toward the end of the convention; there, IS resolutions are presented to the board, and the current president announces details of next year's convention. There may be occasional ad hoc tasks, such as reviewing and amending the ALIS charter. Chairs also contribute short pieces to twice-yearly issues of the ALIS Forum (i.e., the newsletter that you are now reading).

A chair-elect is nominated and elected through an interest-section-wide vote, which is now done online. During the first year of service, the chair-elect participates (along with many rank-and-file volunteer ALIS members) in the online vetting of the following year's convention proposals. The chair-elect is completely responsible for organizing the Academic Session for the next year; each IS is allotted one 3-hour research-oriented panel centered on a single theme or topic. The chair-elect chooses the topic and locates suitable presenters. (This can be a wonderful opportunity to create one's dream panel; if you feel that a particular area of interest has been underrepresented at TESOL in the past, here is your chance to help achieve balance!) There is ample time in the spring and summer to work out the details of the session and make necessary changes.

In the second year at the annual convention, the sitting chair attends the Interest Section Planning Meeting on the last day of the convention. The most important event at this meeting is the organization of collaborative InterSection panels for the following year. ALIS members may already know that an InterSection is a convention panel presentation that is constructed collaboratively between two ISs in order to foster interdisciplinarity; we all recognize an overlap in the interests of (for example) ALIS and the Intercultural Communication IS. Each IS leader may serve as host for one other IS and as guest for another. At this meeting, each host actively seeks a guest (and hopes to be sought as a guest by another host). The general hubbub is exhilarating (at times resembling an auction, at times a speed-dating game), and the process can be exhausting; at the end, the vast majority of ISs leaders seem to have successfully found IS partners. When the smoke has cleared and everyone has gone home, IS chairs proceed to hammer out plans for next year's presentations over the following months.

In the second year the sitting chair also takes charge of the vetting of the next year's convention proposals in consultation with the Central Office (CO). The CO is reasonably effective in guiding chairs through the intricacies of the current online vetting software. Volunteers read and rate proposals, giving each a numerical rating; the chair checks their work, ranks the completed ratings by number, and reports back to the CO with recommendations. This may be the most time-consuming aspect of the entire 3-year job; late June and early July involve what sometimes seem like interminable back-and-forth e-mails to and from the CO. For most involved, fortunately, the process does not interfere much with outside work.

In the third year, the outgoing (past) chair serves mainly in an advisory role. The past chair attends as many convention meetings as possible with the new chair, mentors the chair-elect where necessary, and helps with the summer vetting of convention proposals.

That's pretty much what the job encompasses. Though one's physical distance from the CO in the Washington, D.C., area has never been a serious obstacle to fulfilling the responsibilities of the position, it is even less of an obstacle today. For example, TESOL no longer ships convention proposals to the chair who, in the old days, passed or mailed them out to trusted readers, collected the ratings, and mailed them back to the CO. The vetting process takes place online now, as does nearly every other process; in theory, a moon-dweller could do much of the ALIS chair's job. No matter where you live, the only away-from-home commitment that you ever need to make is to attend the business and related meetings at the annual convention. Responsibilities are mostly spaced out well enough that there is little interference with one's regular job. Furthermore, there are definite advantages to serving in this position, some of which I never envisioned until my mentor David Olsher (chair from 2002 to 2004) convinced me to run for the position. These include fruitful contacts with TESOL members from around the world; the ability to shape the course of the IS by organizing panels; and the opportunity to see how this large organization is run.

I am happy to announce that our new chair-elect, Kara Hunter, has recognized these advantages and may add to the list before she completes her tenure as chair. My thanks to her for picking up the challenge. Thanks also go to Priya Abeywickrama, who has served so ably and willingly over the past few years as ALIS Forum editor, and to Olga Griswold and Jana Moore, who will be assuming Priya's position as coeditors this year.