Fellow: Cheryl Stadel-Bevans

Cheryl Stadel-Bevans, records management officer for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during the Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists and SAA in Austin, TX, July 31–August 6. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.

Stadel-Bevans has been an archivist and records manager for more than twenty years, focused on managing electronic records throughout the archival lifecycle. For much of her career, she has held positions of increasing responsibility, and deftly navigates her institution through competing pressures and complex frameworks of laws and regulations. The trajectory of her career reflects her willingness to undertake roles that develop and implement policy, create procedural guidelines, and teach colleagues how to follow such guidelines. She has explored, consistently and proactively, the recordkeeping ramifications of important developments such as the Controlled Unclassified Information program and has encouraged other archivists and records managers to do the same. Additionally, she coauthored an entry, "American Archives and Archival Science," in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, a comprehensive reference work that is frequently consulted by graduate students and working professionals.

A longtime SAA member, Stadel-Bevans has continually served in various capacities, including as SAA Treasurer. She has been a leading force in developing Annual Meeting sessions that address work-life balance issues in the archival profession—a rarely championed topic in the professional literature. Her efforts to highlight this issue and develop strategies for addressing it has helped dozens of archivists feel less isolated and overwhelmed, as well as encouraged professionals to begin thinking and talking about ways the profession, and its professional associations, can be more responsive to the needs of its practitioners. Her mentorship of a number of early-career archivists has inspired them to pursue various SAA leadership positions and to emphasize to others the importance of becoming actively involved in the organization. In addition, Stadel-Bevans has served on numerous Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) committees, including as co-chair for three program committees, and was a member of the 2010 Archives Leadership Institute.

As one supporter noted, “Her guidance has led to dozens of archivists and records managers becoming more knowledgeable, effective, and committed professionals.”