Dear fellow AMNESPers,

 

Happy April!  I hope that you are soaking up the long-awaited sunshine outside even as I type this.

 

I have been remiss in writing to you about elections for our GSA; it’s time for us to focus our energies upon next year’s leadership and agenda.  But first, a moment of congratulation and reflection.  We’ve accomplished a lot together this year and I think we should note the following developments:

 

We established an officially recognized and approved graduate association at the university

We built a web presence for the GSA

We conducted monthly meetings to address matters relevant to the graduate community of AMNESP*

We assisted faculty in an external review process that confirmed our program’s national profile and ranking

We maintained the success of the Americanist Forum

We revitalized the Learning the Ropes series

We began the process of creating a new AMNESP online journal

We founded a social action committee

We organized a conference that drew fellow graduate students from a range of institutions across the country

We established a place for a student representative on the AMNESP executive committee

We began the year dependent upon the Program for funding and now have $545 in our GSA account

We celebrated together through new social channels and events

 

Undoubtedly, there are projects and accomplishments that I have missed, but such is the way with such an ambitious group of people!  Suffice it to say that we’ve done a good job and we have done it together.  In that spirit, I am requesting nominations for the following positions on the GSA for next year:

 

President–see Casey for details/questions re: responsibilities

Vice President–see Niki

Secretary–see Jared

Treasurer–see Becky for details

GSO Liason–see Tessa, Rachel S, or Ian S

AMNESP Executive Committee Student Representative–see Niki

Preservation Coordinator–see Haley

Orientation/Welcoming Coordinators–see Adrea, Channon, Sam

Fundraising Chair–see Sarah

Americanist Forum Chair–see Kathleen or Rob

Social Chair–see Emma or Karen

 

Gretchen Pineo has graciously agreed to remain our webmistress unless or until someone in AMNESP would like to take that on.

 

Please send your nominations to me by this Friday, April 12th.  I will contact all nominees this weekend to ensure their willingness to participate, and then we will hold elections next week.  After the elections, I will send out an email about the final AMNESP GSA meeting for this semester.

 

Thank you all,

Casey

 

* Except for March, because holy cats running a conference takes up a lot of time.  Sorry about that.