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· eNews · Contact Us · |
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ΣΤΔ Fall Start-up Welcome back as we begin an exciting new academic year. Sigma Tau Delta is larger now than ever; during the last academic year we added over 8,345 new members in our over-725+ active chapters in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe. We again increased the number of scholarships, grants and awards, increased the size of our Newsletter, The Rectangle and ΣΤΔ Review, and are redesigning and enlarging our website. Progress is inevitable! Everything you need to get your chapter up and running this year—and to keep you going throughout the year—is available on this website. Please check it out—and continue to check the rest of our website regularly for announcements, chapter tips, updates, and valuable information. I call your attention especially to the following items and deadlines.
Chapter Activities: The Central Office gets many requests for suggestions about what chapters can do for service, fun(d)-raising, and English-related projects. Under "Chapter Activities" you’ll find a wealth of materials, gathered from chapter reports and creative think-tanks, to help turn your chapter into a truly outstanding, truly active, one. Chapter Annual Reports: These are important documents both for you, in recording a year’s events and forthcoming year’s plans, and for the Central Office as we assess ways we can best assist chapters. The deadline for submission is September 30. Convention: Although we’re just beginning the school year, it’s definitely time to plan ahead for next spring’s Convention. Mark your calendars for March 5-8, 2008, when we’ll meet in Louisville, KY, with sessions on literature, language, and chapter development, and a poster exhibit of outstanding chapter activities. Authors Suzan-Lori Parks, Naomi Shihab-Nye, and Kim Edwards are already on the program. The 2007 event drew upwards of 800 people; we’re hoping to have even more in Louisville! Note that the convention is earlier in 2008; start planning early for paper submissions, panel presentations, and participation. Full information will be sent soon, in September. National English Honor Society (NEHS): two years ago ΣΤΔ developed a new English honor society for high school students. Already with 150+ chapters, NEHS has its own website, an online journal (The Museletter), and provides for secondary school students and teachers what ΣΤΔ provides on the college level. If you have chapter members who are student teaching, or who are planning to teach high school English, or if you have alumni members already doing so, please direct them to NEHS. Alumni: We are actively exploring ways to involve ΣΤΔ alumni in Society activities. Alumni can be great professional, experiential, and personal resources, and their continued involvement maintains the ties—they with us, and us with them—as we move into post-student days. Remember, ΣΤΔ membership is for life; invite local alumni to your meetings and activities. Our Alumni Committee is eager for your input—contact Southern Regent, Roger Stanley, at rstanley@uu.edu with questions, comments, or suggestions. Photos Needed: Our website is making an “about-face”—in particular, we want to put your faces into the redesign of our webpage! If your chapter has JPEG photos of your members in action, send them to us for consideration. Email photos to Elfi Gabriel at egabriel@niu.edu. If we choose to use your photos, we will contact you to get permission before we post the photos on the website. Does your chapter need help with anything? Remember, each chapter is part of a Region; each Region has an elected faculty Regent, an elected Student Representative and an elected Associate Student Representative. Check the addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the Board of Directors, listed under "Contacts" in our website, to find information about your Regent, your Student Representative, your Associate Student Representative, and the two Student Advisors who serve on the Board; contact any of them for help. Remember, too, that the Central Office staff is also here to assist you; if there are ways we can serve you better, let us know. Best wishes for a creative, energizing, and productive academic year! I look forward to seeing you next March in Louisville; perhaps we’ll even learn to pronounce it correctly! William C. Johnson |
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