SPLIS Newsletter - August 2019 (Plain Text Version)
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LEADERSHIP UPDATES LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Susan Spezzini, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Dear SPLIS members, It is my great honor to write you as this year’s SPLIS chair. First of all, I would like to welcome our new SPLIS leaders—Sinem Sonaat as Chair-Elect, Sezgi Acar as Secretary, and Matthias Maunsell as Coeditor. They joined our team at the 2019 TESOL Convention in Atlanta. I would also like to welcome back several SPLIS leaders who will be serving for another year—Veronica Sardegna as Past Chair, Suzanne Franks as Coeditor, Nancy Elliott as Member-at-Large, and Holly Hubbard as Community Manager. And, finally, I would like to express my appreciation to SPLIS leaders whose terms have ended—Hilal Ergul as Secretary and Shantaya Rao as Coeditor. Our SPLIS leaders are volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to support our interest section in meeting goals related to speech, pronunciation and listening. Working together as a team, our leaders provide the pulse for SPLIS, which is one of TESOL’s most vibrant interest sections. I am especially excited that this year’s first issue of our SPLIS Newsletter is being published in August. At SPLIS’s March business meeting, we discussed the importance of having this newsletter available to members at the start of the northern hemisphere’s academic year. While in Atlanta, our Coeditors started working toward this target. They attended SPLIS-related presentations and invited presenters to submit articles. They also reached out to other colleagues. As you read this Newsletter, I’m sure you will agree with me that Suzanne’s and Matthias’ efforts have definitely paid off. However, one of our main reasons for publishing this newsletter in August is that of reaching out to graduate students. The future of all organizations, including TESOL, relies on a steady increase of new members, young professionals eager to learn and become involved. Many professionals initially join TESOL while in college and thus are still eligible for accessible student membership rates. Another student benefit provided by TESOL is the possibility of presenting at the annual Master’s Student Forum and Doctoral Research Forum. The next forums will take place on March 31, just before the start of TESOL’s 2020 Convention. Interested students should follow instructions on the TESOL website and also seek guidance from their professors. Our SPLIS leadership strongly encourages all graduate students to take advantage of these forums and submit their presentation proposals by the September 16, 2019, deadline. It is always a pleasure to meet fellow SPLISers in person at the annual TESOL conventions. Likewise, it is a pleasure to meet current and potential SPLISers virtually through TESOL’s online platforms. Our SPLIS Newsletters foster such communication and also provide continuous professional development, which is of utmost importance for members unable to attend the TESOL conventions. To that end, I look forward to hearing from you on myTESOL and wish you the very best in your SPLIS-related activities. Susan SPLIS Chair, 2019-20 |
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