2004 Annual Report (UW-Madison Student Chapter)

Coordinators
Shawn San Roman, Coordinator
Stacey Erdman, Vice-Coordinator

Faculty Advisors
Rick Pifer
Ciaran Trace

Membership
Erin Augustine, Laura Sullivan, Cindy Lundey, Marguerite Moran, Ellen Jarosz, Kelly Farner, Quinn Fullenkamp, Deirdre Joyce, Karen Peters, Sarah Schild, Bobbie Harte, John Loud

The Student Chapter of the SAA (SAA-SC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison spent the 2004-2005 academic year reorganizing itself for active member participation. For the previous two years, the Student Chapter existed in skeletal form. As a result, the Chapter did not seek active participation nor did it partake in its normal activities.

The 2004-2005 academic year saw the election of new officers. Shawn San Roman was elected unanimously to the position of Coordinator. Stacy Erdman was elected unanimously to the position of Vice-coordinator. These new officers replaced Sarah Schild, who served as Coordinator during the hiatus period. The newly elected officers dedicated themselves to increasing the visibility and activity of the SAA-SC. The methods utilized to increase visibility were a website redesign, reestablish an Annual Bake Sale, institute Happy Hour, and generally become more active in the Library School’s activities.

As of the report, work on the website redesign has begun, but is moving slower than anticipated due to other demands. The Fall Bake Sale was a huge success bringing in over two hundred dollars. Additionally, the SAA-SC submitted two poster proposals, which were accepted, to the 2005 SAA Annual Meeting. The first poster was designed by the group and includes brief description of the group’s activities. The second poster was submitted by Shawn San Roman and Ellen Jarosz. This poster details some of the user studies research these students are doing for the Wisconsin Historical Society. And, finally, a paper proposal submitted by Shawn San Roman was accepted for the Graduate Student Paper Session at the 2005 SAA Annual Meeting.

In spite of the achievements there is some room for improvement. The SAA-SC Happy Hours have not been instituted, but this was due to the Coordinator’s decision not to infringe upon other Happy Hours offered by other groups. The effort to become more active with other UW student groups was not as successful due largely to time constraints. Nevertheless, steps have been made to bring the SAA-SC more up to date with its administrative duties. Future Coordinators will be encouraged to improve upon the steps made this year.

The following is a brief description of SAA-SC activities for 2004-2005

September 13
First meeting of the 2004-2005 academic year. Sarah Schild (Coordinator), Erin Augustine, Jiangwei Li, Shawn San Roman, Bobbie Harte, Ciaran Trace (Faculty Advisor), Meredith Torre, Laura Sullivan, Rick Pifer (Faculty Advisor) were all in attendance. This meeting was designed to introduce new SLIS students to the SAA-SC.

October 1
Meeting held to elect new officers. Ciaran Trace (Faculty Advisor), Shawn San Roman, Kelly Farner, Cindy Lundey, Marguerite Moran, Ellen Jarosz, Stacey Erdman, Laura Sullivan were in attendance. Shawn San Roman was elected unanimously to the Coordinator position. Stacey Erdman was elected unanimously to the Vice-coordinator position.

October 16 and 17
Annual Bake Sale held in SLIS Commons. In honor of Archives Week, a display of archival items was set-up in the SLIS Library.

November 12
Potluck held at Rick Pifer's House. In addition to the social gathering, Rick and
Ciaran Trace discussed job searching and interviewing techniques.

November 29 through December 5
SAA-SC display set-up in glass case outside of the SLIS Library.

January 28, 2005
Happy Hour held at Wonder’s Pub.