ALAO Colleagues,
We had a wonderful Board Retreat in July at the Holiday Inn in Worthington, Ohio. Several photos of new and departing Board members are on the new ALAO website. Speaking of the new site, have you used it yet? Our wonderful web-masters completed the site in record time this summer. Big thanks go out to Brian Gray, Melissa Bauer, and Rob Withers, the ALAO Web-masters, for completing this upgrade. Several other Board members lent support and also deserve a shout out – Katy Kelly, Kathleen Pickens, and Alison Ricker. The site features a new organizational structure, search box, and images of our members in action. This fall we hope to launch a new ALAO listserv. More information will be distributed at the annual conference.

Awards Committee – I created a new form for submitting nominations for the Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award. More information about the award and the nomination process is in this newsletter. The deadline for nominations is September 30th. Please consider nominating a colleague. The Awards Committee will also consider adding new awards to our portfolio. If you have ideas or wish to be part of the conversation, let me know.

Nominations Committee – I’ve been recruiting new members for the nominations committee. This group meets from late Fall through March to accept nominations for ALAO offices open for election and present a slate of candidates to the membership. If you are interested in joining this group, please feel free to contact me. Nominations for ALAO offices will be open later this year. These will include Vice President/President Elect, Secretary, Membership Chair, and 3 Board Members-at-Large. Maybe your name should be on the slate of candidates!

Looking forward to seeing you in October at the annual conference, registration is open!

Best,
Sue Polanka
ALAO Past President