Thanks and End of Year To-Dos

From the Executive Director

Walter Bacak, CAE
walter@atanet.org

Thank you to ATA’s outgoing Board members!

Director Odile Legeay: Odile has completed her second and final three-year term as director. Odile was a part of the teams that were instrumental in creating the guidelines for translation and interpreting agreements as well as adapting CalPro—an online business valuation program for independent contractors—for U.S. translators and interpreters.

Secretary Boris Silversteyn: Boris has completed his second and final two-year term as secretary. Prior to serving as secretary, Boris held two terms as a director. Boris’ keen eye for detail, his experience with processes (from his earlier life as an engineer), and his wisdom conveyed through colorful stories will be missed.

President Caitilin Walsh: Caitilin has served two years as president, two years as president-elect, and one term as director. Caitilin has led ATA through some challenging issues, from revamping the magazine to making tough choices regarding the Association’s finances. In addition, she has worked successfully to make sure interpreters and interpreting issues remain an integral part of the Association.

As this is the last issue for 2015, please note some end-of-year items for your attention.

Overall Event Survey: For those who attended ATA’s Annual Conference in Miami, please be sure to complete your Overall Event Survey. Your feedback really makes a difference. The conference planning team—president, president-elect, ATA Meetings Manager Teresa Kelly, and I—review the compiled results as well as all the comments and use them to shape future conferences. The survey can be accessed via the app.

The ATA Chronicle Microsite: Please be sure to check out the new Chronicle-Online (stg-americantranslators-staging.kinsta.cloud/chronicle-online). This site’s dynamic programming provides readability on mobile devices and full indexing of past issues. Besides current and past issues, the site also features bonus material not found in the print magazine, including the Translation Inquirer and the Humor and Translation columns.

Membership renewal: The 2016 membership renewal notices will be sent in early December. Thank you for being an ATA member in 2015. Please be sure to renew for 2016.

Sanctioned Member Mohamad Anwar was sanctioned recently for misrepresenting his credentials (specifically his claim of having a Ph.D.). His action violated the third tenet in the American Translators Association Code of Ethics and Professional Practice: “to represent our qualifications, capabilities, and responsibilities honestly and to work always within them.” This type of violation is subject to disciplinary action pursuant to the ATA Bylaws, Article III, Section 6.a.3: “Fraud or misrepresentation in the application for or maintenance of ATA membership, professional certification, or other professional recognition or credential.” He is prohibited from being an ATA member until September 15, 2020. According to the ATA Bylaws, Article III, Section 6.b. Disciplinary Actions, “All disciplinary actions are taken pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board from time to time, which procedures may be amended only by a two-thirds vote of the Board.” The procedures are addressed in the ATA Policy on Ethics Procedures (stg-americantranslators-staging.kinsta.cloud/docs/p_dm_ethics.pdf). The sanctions applied to these individuals are in accordance with the ATA Policy on Ethics Procedures, Section V.