33 Earn Digital Archives Specialist Certificates from Society of American Archivists

Congratulations to the thirty-three new Digital Archives Specialists (DAS).  These archivists, who represent a variety of repositories from around the country, earned a DAS Certificate from the Society of American Archivists (SAA) after completing required coursework within twenty-four months and passing comprehensive examinations in November 2013.

The innovative DAS Curriculum, developed by experts in the field of digital archives, is structured around seven core competencies: understanding the nature of records in electronic form; defining for a variety of audiences the requirements, roles, and responsibilities related to digital archives; formulating strategies and tactics for appraisal, description, management, organization, and preservation; integrating technology to provide access to digital collections; planning for the integration of new tools for successive generations of technology; curating, storing, and retrieving original masters and access copies of digital archives; and providing dependable organization and service to designated communities across networks. Participants complete nine required courses from four tiers addressing these competencies.

The new Digital Archives Specialists are: 

• Angelina Altobellis (Rollins College), 
• Dolores Barber (American College of Surgeons), 
• Erica Boudreau (JFK Presidential Library and Museum), 
• Johanna Carll (Harvard University), 
• Sara Casper (South Dakota State Archives), 
• Tanya De Angelis (Sundance Institute), 
• Susan Earle (Harvard University), 
• Lara Friedman-Shedlov (University of Minnesota), 
• Joan Gearin (National Archives at Boston),
• Lauren Goodley (Texas State University), 
• Anne Graham (Kennesaw State University), 
• Rabia Gibbs (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), 
• Peter Gunther (Society of the Divine Word), 
• Carolyn Hansen (University of Cincinnati), 
• Patrick Johnson (San Francisco Symphony), 
• Kris Kobialka (Boston Architectural College), 
• Mary Anne Lenk (Dominican Sisters of Hope), 
• Michele Morgan (University of California, Berkeley), 
• Doris Munson (Eastern Washington University), 
• Justin Otto (Eastern Washington University), 
• Brandon Pieczko (South Dakota State Archives), 
• Valerie Prilop (University of Houston), 
• Allen Ramsey (Connecticut State Library), 
• Amy Roberson (Trinity University), 
• Amy Rushing (University of Texas at San Antonio), 
• Chelle Somsen (South Dakota State Archives), 
• Pauline Smith (Eastern Washington University), 
• Heather Stecklein (University of Wisconsin-Stout), 
• Nikki Thomas (University of Texas at San Antonio), 
• Nathaniel Wiltzen (National Archives at Boston), 
• Julie Yamashita (Broad Art Foundation),
• Andrew Young (Abraxas), 
• Joshua Zimmerman (Archdiocese of Seattle).

A total of forty-seven people have earned Digital Archives Specialist certificates since the program began in October 2011. Currently, there are 600 participants in SAA’s DAS program who are working toward earning a certificate. For more information, visit http://www2.archivists.org/prof-education/das or contact SAA Education Director Solveig De Sutter (sdesutter@archivists.org).