2024-2025 IAAS Elections Slate of Candidates

Junior Co-Chair (2-year term):

Jennifer Dantchev, MSLIS

Title: Graduate, Long Island University

Candidate Statement: 

I have served on the IAAS committee for two years, first as an Early Career Member and then as a Steering Committee Member. I also have previous experience on the Records Management

Section as an Early Career Member and then as a Steering Committee Member. My previous experience on the IAAS has allowed me to learn and better understand the section, its purpose, and how the whole process works. I have a good working relationship with the incoming Senior Co-Chair, and I believe we will be able to work effectively and efficiently to achieve the Section’s objectives. The experience and mentorship will help me transition into the Senior Co-Chair role the following year. I look forward to the opportunity to help lead the IAAS and provide its members with valuable and interesting experiences from across the archival world!

Biographical Statement: 

I am a graduate student at Long Island University graduating this May 2024 with my MSLIS degree. I will also be completing the university’s Certificate of Advanced Study in Archives and Records Management. My goal is to eventually gain employment working in a Special Collections and Archives related to European Studies and/or Western Theology. My previous degrees in Cultural Anthropology and East European Studies express my passion of learning about different cultures and opinions, both in the library science field and in life. Learning is a lifelong process, and we all have something to share with each other.

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One Steering Committee Member-at-Large (3-year terms); Please Select One:

Rachel Poppen, MSIS

Title: Collections Archivist at the University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives

Candidate Statement:

After serving as an Early-Career Member on the International Archival Affairs Steering Committee for the past two years, I am excited for the opportunity to run for the Member-at-Large position. Being a member of this steering committee has been personally and professionally rewarding. This section provides many opportunities to connect with other archivists and has expanded my understanding of archives and their global impact. I have a personal background and interest in working with multilingual collections and would be honored to contribute that passion toward continuing the mission and success of this section.

Biographical Statement:

Rachel Poppen is a Collections Archivist at the University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives. She received her MSIS from The University of Texas at Austin in 2023 and her B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of Iowa in 2021. She has previously worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at the LILLAS Benson Latin American Collection and as a student employee at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

Alan Harris Stein, MLS

Title: Board Member, Consortium of Oral History Educators University of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Candidate Statement: 

I would like to run for this position in light of the plight of many international archives in need of preservation due to wars, hurricanes, fires, and other disasters, and I can bring my direct experience and representation having served on the Hurricane Katrina task force archives, as former Head of the Louisiana Division, city archives collections of the New Orleans Public library. 

Biographical Statement: 

For my efforts in cultural preservation and outreach campaigns to other libraries and archives, I was awarded the Society of American Archivists Spotlight Award in 2007, and also received the SAA Archival Workers Emergency Fund Award in 2021, for my professional efforts  to promote greater public awareness for disaster preparedness by historical and cultural institutions, and the role of archivists in cultural preservation. In 2010, I received the Best article award from the Oral History Association, for my entry on “Oral History, Folklore and (Hurricane) Katrina,” SEE: http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/LFMoral.html

In 2009, I was sponsored by the Oral History Association of Australia (OHAA) to deliver a Keynote address on Cyclone Katrina, to international archival and oral history affairs. One of the reasons for my self nomination is to increase and expand the teaching of environmental social justice/environmental justice related to global warming.

I am concurrently serving on H-Net Council through the end of this year, and winding up my three-year term on the Oral History Association’s Diversity committee as well.