President’s Column

Jennifer Wies
Eastern Kentucky University

Continuing a theme of sharing information to foster engagement and generate feedback, this issue’s President Column focuses on the work of the SfAA leadership.  Leadership in the SfAA takes many forms- Board members (former and current), editors, SfAA staff, TIG leaders, committee chairs, session organizers, annual meetings program coordinators, donors, and everyday practitioners and teachers of the applied social sciences. 

Below, I share the Board’s priority initiatives and the corresponding projects and updates. I welcome you to review, ask questions, and share ideas for how we can engage you and our membership in these journeys.

Membership and Engagement

• Continued support for career workshops and student-centered training at the annual meetings.

• A project to increase the visibility and clarity of the SfAA Fellows process, and Fellow’s engagement.

• Approval to increase all student travel awards to $750 (from $500).

• Activities to engage students and other awardees to cultivate a commitment to SfAA. 

Long-Term Financial Sustainability

• Enhance fundraising and donor recognition, including an expanded program for the annual Sustaining Fellow and Founder’s reception.  

• Additional supporting documents will highlight SfAA award winners’ accomplishments, to help us tell the success stories of SfAA award recipients.  

Meetings

• Supporting the Annual Meeting Program Chair to advance innovative and exciting annual meetings programming and content. Registration is open!

• Examining ways we can connect in between annual meetings, including webinars like the one on October 19, “Decolonizing Anthropology: Future Directions and Priorities.” 

• Advancing efforts to welcome co-sponsors to the annual meetings, creating synergistic energy around topics and solutions.  

Communication Infrastructure

• A request for proposals for a redesign of the SfAA website is in circulation.

• The 2023 SfAA J. Thomas May Memorial Intern is examining the Society’s social media channels to help inform the next steps for improving our ability to share updates and information.

Publications

• The SfAA announced a publishing partnership with Taylor & Francis beginning January 1, 2024. More information is found here: https://www.appliedanthro.org/publications/new-publishing-partnership.

Inclusion

• This cross-cutting goal is integrated into each of the SfAA’s key priorities.

• Recent accomplishments include 1) the new publishing partnership, which will support article accessibility and globally expand access to publishing with the SfAA and 2) the increased funding amount for student travel awards.

• The 2024 Program Chair, A.J. Faas, partnered with Kiran Jayaram (University of South Florida) to secure an NSF grant to fund travel and accommodations for students, scholars, practitioners, and community members who belong to historically underrepresented in anthropological sciences or those disproportionately affected by critical issues in the 2024 Annual Meeting program. More information can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333784&HistoricalAwards=false

Mission

• A working group is formed, and efforts are underway to identify ways the SfAA mission can be revised to best meet the needs, goals, and hopes of today’s membership.

As change persists in our organization, the Board will continue to engage the membership in conversations about impactful actions. I encourage you to reach out with ideas and feedback. If you would like to share feedback on a specific initiative, please email me at jennifer.wies@eku.edu. Thanks to all for your continued support of the Society.