By now each member of ATJ should have received an important mailing from the secretariat. It contains a proposal for a wide-ranging revision of the ATJ Bylaws. I urge you, if you have not already done so, to read the materials carefully and register your vote to approve or oppose the Bylaws revisions. The deadline for receipt of ballots in the ATJ office is November 30, 2001.
The changes are intended to ensure continuity of leadership for the organization by instituting overlapping terms for officers elected by the full membership, as well as providing for a professional staff person to take over some of the administrative and clerical duties that have proved a heavy burden for volunteer officers as the organization has grown. In addition, they are intended to ensure that the various sectors of our field - literature, linguistics, language pedagogy, and pre-college language education - will be represented on the Board by allocating one seat to each specialization. The Bylaws revisions were discussed and recommended by the ATJ Board of Directors at their September 29, 2001, meeting. The recommended changes affect (a) the officers of the Association, (b) the Board of Directors, and (c) elections and meetings.
The recommendations regarding officers are to replace the current slate of officers (a President elected by the Board, plus a Secretary, Treasurer, and Newletter Editor recommended by the President and approved by the Board) with three officers (President, Past-President, and President-Elect) elected by the full membership of ATJ from a slate of nominees proposed annually. The duties of the current officers will be assumed by this "triumvirate" and by an Executive Director appointed by and reviewed regularly by the Board of Directors. Provision is made for replacement of an elected officer should she or he leave office during the term of service.
Recommended changes regarding the Board of Directors include the reduction of the size of the Board of Directors from the current 15 (plus four non-voting officers) to 9 plus the three elected officers. The proposed changes ensure that there will always be a diversity of views on the Board of Directors by reserving "slots" for representatives of the different specializations within our field that were listed above.
In addition, the recommended changes will allow for meetings of the Board of Directors to take place via telephone or other electronic means of communication, which will both facilitate timely communication and decision-making and lower costs, as compared to physical meetings of all Board members.
Nominations for elected office (both for the officers and for the Board of Directors) will be the responsibility of the Nominating Committee, which will solicit nominations from the membership as in the past. Votes via email are made possible in the future. The mailing you received contains copies of both the present Bylaws and the proposed revised version of the Bylaws in their entirely. The full text of the proposed revised Bylaws is also printed in this issue of the Newsletter, beginning on page 5. Members who are interested in a point-by-point comparison of the changes may view or download a copy of the red-lined text of the Bylaws on the ATJ web site, at www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/ATJ/bylaws_rev.html. Please participate in the future of the organization by reading and considering the revisions and casting your vote. Again, the deadline for return of ballots is November 30, 2001. Thank you!
Laurel Rasplica Rodd, President