Slate of Candidates for Election to IAFA Office
For President:
Jim Casey
As AV Monkey, I reorganized ICFA’s entire AV system by standardizing procedures, updating equipment, and developing a plan for the future. If elected, I would continue the improvements begun through my Monkey Business and Tech Gnomery, upgrading our technological infrastructure, regularizing administrative procedures, improving communication, and implementing training programs so people can participate more easily. Rather than relying on the institutional memory of a few enlightened bureaucrati, IAFA needs to involve all our wonderful members, increasing both membership and involvement without alienating long-time members. If elected, I promise to take the conference and organization seriously without taking myself too seriously.
For First Vice President:
Judith Collins McCormick
I have skirted the edges of the ICFA for about thirty years now, enjoying both its personal and its professional benefits. It’s time I paid something back.
According to several reliable sources, the office of 1st Vice President is best filled by a person with at least one of the particular neuroses I already possess, namely O.C.D. Thus, I humbly submit my name for said office, hoping the membership will see fit to allow me to fixate on scheduling, coordinating, and the correct spelling of every name.
Sherryl Vint
The IAFA and its annual conference has been an important part of my academic life since I attended my first conference in 2000. The opportunity to receive feedback on my presentations from some of the leading scholars in the field has enhanced my thinking and made me a better scholar. I have also made some of my dearest friends through the conference and its promotion of a collegial and collaborative atmosphere regarding research in the fantastic. I am interested in serving as 1st VP in order to ensure that these opportunities remain available for future generations of scholars. I have served for a number of years as the Division Head for the SF Literature and Theory section, and have enjoyed the opportunities I have had to get to know more of the association’s members and to organise events such as panel discussions and theory roundtable readings to foster intellectual exchange. Were I to be elected, my priorities would be to ensure that the conference remains a lively site of exchange that continues to promote the best scholarship in the fantastic, to foster collaborative projects and collegial exchange, and to nurture the next generation of scholars through support for graduate students.
For Public Information Coordinator:
Crystal Black
I’ve been an active member of IAFA for eight years, the last two as your Head of Registration. While I’m no longer an academic, my professional experience as a marketing and communications manager in the high tech industry should help IAFA forge into new communication technologies possibly including podcasting and social media like Facebook and LinkedIn. Other organizations I’ve supported in various communication activities include Virginia Tech San Francisco Alumni Association, Bus Barn Stage Company, SCSI Trade Association, and Fibre Channel Industry Association. I’m eager to continue my support of IAFA and believe this is the best way I can give back.
Aidan-Paul Canavan
The ICFA has supported me during my Ph.D. by providing a forum to discuss my research, to meet like-minded academics and to have their scathing criticism hone my arguments.
The organisation has been the unacknowledged partner in my research and I want to serve on the board to redress part of the balance of what I owe. I need to stop being a bystander and to start taking responsibility for the conference I love.
I can promise hard work, dedication, and the best of my considerable organisational abilities. I will also consider dressing as a leprechaun for some formal dinners
Valorie Ebert
I am new to both IAFA and ICFA, but my first experience with them, at ICFA 30, made a strong impression on me. Because ICFA 30 was my first conference as a graduate student, I was understandably nervous. However, within the first few hours, I was warmly received by several veteran attendees. Not only did they encourage me and offer advice; they also showed up at my reading to give me the added benefit of familiar faces to calm my nerves.
This experience inspired me to become more involved with IAFA and ICFA, to get more familiar with the process, and to encourage others to attend and present papers. Because the duties of the Public Information Coordinator require the use of my strange obsession with organization and my need to meet deadlines, I feel that this position will be a valuable experience that I will undertake with enthusiasm.