AWSS President
Description of position by Sibelan Forrester, President, 1999-2000.
The President of the Association for Women in Slavic Studies ideally combines an administrative role with leadership in charting the future of the organization. She initiates and moderates discussions among the Board and responds to questions from the membership (or puts the querent in touch with the appropriate person). The President is the first person to field matters that need immediate attention, and she serves as the one common link between all of the various parts and enterprises of AWS: the newsletter, WEW; the e-mail lists, AWSS-L and AWSS-GRAD; the web page and its webmistress; the Board; the particular work of the Secretary and Treasurer; various other committees; and the membership. She also represents the AWSS when necessary to outside organizations (example: writing a letter to AAASS suggesting that they not schedule another annual conference in September in an area prone to hurricanes).
The President chairs the Outstanding Achievement Award committee, whose members also include the Vice President and the Immediate Past President. This involves soliciting and collecting nominations from members in the current year, referring to past nominations, and making a decision in time to inform the recipient before the AWSS conference.
The President also handles communication with AAASS in order to reserve a table for AWSS at the annual conference ensure that AWSS has an appropriate meeting slot (for several years now this has been combined with a luncheon meeting, which the President has taken part in organizing). The President may take action to support AWSS meetings at affiliated disciplinary conferences (for example, as has happened, at the AATSEEL conference). When AAASS still gave affiliate organization an automatic panel slot, the President gathered suggestions for this panel and took care of all the documents for proposing it to AAASS. Now that there are no more automatic panel slots, the President may still organize a panel devoted to an issue or concern to our members, or else delegate this job to another member.
The President schedules a Board meeting to take place during the first part of the AAASS conference (ideally, at a time that a majority of Board members can attend) and reminds committee chairs and other officers to submits their reports to the Board by e-mail ahead of time. She composes an agenda for this meeting and presides at it.
A good part of the President's work is routine and follows the annual schedule of AWSS prize competitions, the AAASS conference schedule, and AWSS elections. However, there is also a significant amount of business that must be handled quickly as it arises, including both proposals from the Board and other members of AWSS and questions from members and non-members, as well as any problems or unusual situations that arise in any part of AWSS. In some cases the President can intervene from a position of authority to make sure that projects continue to function smoothly.