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  • 1.  Call for Volunteers - Jump in the "pool"

    Posted 01-07-2019 11:08 PM
    Leadership Academy Community Members,

    Are you interested in serving on an ASHA committee, board, or council? Several committees have vacancies for terms that begin January 1, 2020. If you would like to be considered for an appointment to a committee, board, or council, please submit your completed Committee Interest Form by 3:00 p.m., Eastern time, Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Visit ASHA's website to complete a Committee Interest Form or to obtain more information about the responsibilities of each committee.

    There are some strategies to the completion of the volunteer form. Be thoughtful in choosing committees/boards/councils that you are interested in and that you indicate you interest. Checking EVERY box on the committee list is not a good strategy. In addition, the volunteer form gives you the opportunity to provide some narrative related to your qualifications/interests in specific committees. Be specific - it is not a good strategy to list the SAME info for each committee. Look at the committee descriptions (http://www.asha.org/About/governance/committees/Committee-List/) and identify your specific strengths and interests in each committee. Your name stays in the volunteer pool for a total of 3 years. You can update your preferences at any time and you will need to remember when your 3 years is up so that you can re-enter the pool. Last, although many appointments are made to committees/boards and councils in late spring for the following year, ad hoc committees are formed at other times of the year and this pool is also used for that purpose.

    In my past experience on the ASHA Board of Directors, there is a purposeful effort to appoint members to committees that add to the depth and diversity of all ASHA Committees, Board and Councils. The idea is to ensure that, as much as possible, committees represent our professions across all parameters from ethnicity to practice setting to experience (and much more).

    If you have any questions about the Volunteer Form or volunteering - please feel free to post them here in response to this discussion OR message me individually and I will connect you to someone who can address your question/issue/concern. THANKS!

    Donna

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    Donna Fisher Smiley, Ph.D., CCC-A
    ASHA Fellow
    Audiologist & Audiology Supervisor
    EARS Program @ Arkansas Children's Hospital
    smileydf@archildrens.org
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  • 2.  RE: Call for Volunteers - Jump in the "pool"

    Posted 01-11-2019 11:44 PM
    Donna, thank you for posting the "Call for Volunteers." I know that email like this can sometimes get swallowed up in the "email machine" in our work and personal email boxes. So a posting like this one that you did is always welcome....at least for me. You mentioned the three-year window related to the "call for volunteers" and when that time is up that one would need to reapply/update their preferences. I am speaking from personal experience, but I know that I have a problem remembering what I need to do tomorrow....let alone three years from now. Hahahahaha! What I've done recently to help my ever-fleeting memory is to use my personal and work calendars (with the reminders enabled) to help spark my memory. Everyone is different and we all have different circumstances. Some things may need to be adapted based on everyone's specific needs, but recently, I've been using my personal calendar more and enabling the "reminders" function so I can  remember what I need to do (and when). Recently, I've been "inviting myself" from my personal email to my work email so I can see those important items on both calendars. 
    All of this to say that I understand that three years is hard for me to remember and using calendars/reminders will help me stay on top of important things like maintaining/updating important items like volunteer opportunities with ASHA. I don't know if this is helpful for others but I wanted to share my thoughts :)

    - David

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    David Alexander, AuD, CCC-A
    Towson University - Audiologist - Clinical Assistant Professor
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