17 Jan Letter From the Chair
Letter from the Chair: Proteus 2017/18 Winter Volume XXX Issue No 2
By Gladys Matthews, Ph.D.
Dear colleagues,
2017 was an exciting year for NAJIT, and 2018 is shaping up to be even better. In 2017, we received the largest number of submissions for annual meeting presentations in NAJIT’s history, but I’m excited to tell you that we have received even more submissions for the 2018 conference in San Francisco. Hilda Shymanik and all the members of the Conference Committee are already hard at work putting together a conference program packed with great sessions. As always, there will be how-tos to help all of us become better interpreters, translators, linguists or better at working with them, as well as expert presentations on the key issues facing our profession. This year, we are making a special effort to include sessions for interpreters and translators working in a wide range of languages. Also, in keeping with NAJIT’s tagline – Empowering Interpreters and Translators WorldwideTM – we hope to expand international participation in the conference. I believe the 2018 annual conference will be the best yet, and it’s not too soon for you to make plans to attend.
The NAJIT committees are all up and running and their work will be in full swing after the holidays. As I have said before, we can only make a difference by organizing and maintaining consistent efforts to advance our profession, which are made through our committees. I want to express my appreciation to the chairs and to everyone who volunteered to serve on one of NAJIT’s committees.
Thanks to the efforts of Cecilia Golumbeanu, Andre Moscowitz, Kathleen Shelly, and Rosemary Dann, NAJIT’s newsletter keeps everyone informed about the work of our association and key developments in the profession. The NAJIT listserv, moderated by Cristina Courtright and Bethany Korp-Edwards, continues to fill a real need. I would like to invite you all to contribute ideas and articles to our Newsletter and participate actively in discussions on the listserv.
Membership continues to grow, but all of us on the Board of Directors believe we can grow NAJIT even more. We are taking steps to increase our outreach to prospective members and are committed to delivering high-quality products and services that demonstrate the value of NAJIT membership (like the members-only job board on the NAJIT website). We want an even larger proportion of interpreters and translators to join with us to strengthen our profession as it grows in importance to the nation. Please encourage all your colleagues and fellow interpreters to join us!
I want to take advantage of this opportunity to express a heartfelt thanks to my fellow board members, Aimee Benavides, Ernest Niño-Murcia, Julie Sellers, and Hilda Shymanik, as well as Rob and Susan Cruz of our management company, for all their hard work on behalf of NAJIT. Thanks are also due to Arianna Aguilar, Editor-in-Chief of Proteus, to all the members of the Proteus committee, and to the all the authors for this great issue and their work throughout the year.
Sincerely,
Gladys Matthews
Chair, NAJIT