Greetings ITA-ers,

I hope everyone’s semester is going well, and that you’re looking forward to TESOL 2018 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. I’d like to thank everyone who submitted a proposal to TESOL. While we had numerous strong proposals, we could only accept a small percentage of them. Nonetheless, we should have an excellent slate of presentations, workshops, and panels in Chicago. The proposal and adjudication processes were much smoother than last year, but there were hiccups. If at this point you are still uncertain about the status of any of your submissions, I recommend you reach out to Lisa Dyson directly at ldyson@tesol.org. I apologize on behalf of TESOL for any frustrations you may have encountered. Looking ahead, there are many changes on the horizon that should make future proposal and adjudication processes smoother and more beneficial for those who submit. I have been working on a committee to overhaul the review process, and it looks like we will have a more rigorous and accountable review process moving forward.

Speaking of changes, the ITAIS has submitted its intention to TESOL to remain an interest section (IS). The timeline for the IS statement of purpose, annual plan, and other documents has been moved back a little, so Derina Samuel and I are still developing those. A major part of the restructuring plan involves us planning more events, projects, and webinars throughout the year. TESOL has emphasized that they want the ISs to use the resources they provide, and webinars have been a point of emphasis in leadership meetings. If you have any ideas for webinars or other events in the coming years, please share them with Derina and me so we can incorporate them into our plan. Also let us know if you have other ideas for events; TESOL has suggested that we bring new ideas to them.

Another part of our transition to the new IS is developing a leadership succession plan. I sent out an email last week asking for nominations for leadership positions in the ITAIS. If you have not yet made nominations, but know people who would be great leaders, please email me. These positions are not particularly time intensive but are vital to the success of the IS and rewarding to those who serve in the positions. Personally, I enjoyed organizing an InterSection with the Computer-Assisted Language Learning IS as a member-at-large, and the academic session as the chair-elect. I hope you will consider nominating yourself or a colleague.

Sincerely,

Stephen Looney

ITAIS Chair