2011-2012 Junior Co-Chair Candidate Statements

VOTE HERE: http://www2.archivists.org/groups/elections
Note: You must be an SAA member to vote.

TESSA FALLON
Web Curator, Columbia University

I am a web collection curator at Columbia University Libraries and I am currently focused on building our Human Rights Web Archive.  In addition to my work at Columbia, I am currently the co-director of the International Council on Archives Human Rights Working Group archives directory project. I earned a MLIS  and a certificate in Archives and Records Management from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.  I've been interested in human rights and social justice since I started my career in information science as a intern at Democracy Now!.  Prior to my work at Columbia I was the archivist and knowledge management consultant at an NGO called the International Center for Transitional Justice.  I would like to see the Human Rights Archives Roundtable establish an online presence and/or community for roundtable members and possibly other interested groups to discuss human rights, archives, and any combination thereof.  While SAA (very generously) provides an online space for roundtables, I think we could benefit from using an outside platform to build a more dynamic and user-friendly space.

BÉATRICE SKOKAN
Special Collections Librarian, University of Miami 

Dear Members of the SAA Human Rights Roundtable,

I am the Special Collections Librarian for Archives, Manuscripts & Outreach at the University of Miami Libraries. I hold a Master's in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and studied at the N.A.R.A. Modern Archives Institute while pursuing my graduate degree. I also hold an M.A. in International Studies (with a focus on economic development) and M.A. in French Literature (with a focus on postcolonial studies) from the University of Miami as well as a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from St. Thomas University. My professional interests include the documentation of oral, immigrant and peripheral cultures.

During the past couple of years I have been working within a collaborative framework with faculty, students and community leaders to seriously document the cultural contributions of South Florida’s immigrant experience. The lone organizational work of reaching out and collecting within communities that had been neglected led to the addition of new collections such as the Max Rameau Papers which document activism for the homeless and victims of gentrification as well as the Marleine Bastien Papers which focus on women and immigration rights within the Haitian diaspora. I also spearheaded an oral history pilot project to capture the oral tradition of Haitian artists and activists. My outreach work also includes presentations to church groups, organized training sessions, formal assessments, physical and online exhibits on civil rights and environmental advocacy (Please see The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Experience in Miami and Marjory Stoneman Douglas Writer & Conservationist) to document, preserve and promote the contributions of activists voices from Miami and its migrating cultures from the Caribbean and South America.

As Jr. Co-Chair, I hope to bring these experiences to the Human Rights Roundtable which lends itself so well to advocacy for the disenfranchised members of society. In addition, I think that my personal life experiences as the offspring of Haitian immigrants, coupled with 15 years of work experience in libraries and archives have provided unique insights into the life of marginal groups and the crucial role of archives in documenting their modes of expression. I hope to use these skills to advance the work of the Human Rights Roundtable.

 Thank you,
Béatrice Colastin Skokan