Section, Roundtable, and Committee Endorsements of Proposals (Deadline: October 17, 2011)

SAA sections, roundtables, and committees are invited to endorse up to two session proposals per annual meeting.  Endorsements should be sent to the Program Committee co-chairs (at conference@archivists.org) by October 17, 2011.  Endorsements received after this date cannot be considered.

Following is a description of the component group endorsement process, per the Program Committee description in the SAA Governance Manual. The deadline for submission of proposals to the 2012 Program Committee is October 11, 2011 (extended from October 3).  The deadline for submission of endorsements to the 2012 Program Committee co-chairs (via conference@archivists.org) is October 17, 2011.

By tradition, the Program Committee invites SAA committees, sections, and roundtables to provide endorsements of Annual Meeting program proposals. Endorsements by these groups are one factor among many that the Program Committee considers during the process of developing a balanced, diverse program. An endorsement by a group is not a guarantee that a proposal will be accepted. The following procedures (adopted by the Council in August 2005) apply when committees, sections, or roundtables provide endorsements.

1.      If a session proposer wishes to seek endorsement of her/his proposal from one or more SAA groups (section, roundtable, committee), the proposer should send a copy of the proposal to the group before the Program Committee’s proposal submission deadline, and preferably earlier to ensure that the group has adequate time to review the proposal carefully. The “official copy” of the proposal should be sent directly to the Program Committee.

2.      Groups may not endorse more than two program proposals. Endorsements should be sent directly to the Program Committee separately and should be received within one week following the published deadline for proposals.

3.      Group leaders must send their endorsements (received from others or generated within the group) to the Program Committee chair or co-chairs within one week following the published proposal deadline. This communication may be as simple as a list of endorsed session proposals or may be a more detailed statement of why the group thinks that the session is of particular value to the broader Annual Meeting audience (because of the topics, the speakers, or some other factor).

4.      The Program Committee will give appropriate weight to single and multiple groups’ endorsements when selecting proposals that support the meeting’s theme or the broader goal of providing a diverse program that meets the needs of members. Endorsement(s) of a session do(es) not, however, guarantee that the committee will accept a session presentation.

For more information about the Program Committee, click here.