From the SFRA Executive Committee
From the President
Hugh O’Connell
It’s been a chaotic shitstorm here in the US over the last few months, with continual attacks on higher education, our international colleagues and students, our LGTBQIA+ colleagues and students, and pretty much anyone else doing any sort of work that doesn’t accord with our current administration’s whims. These are unprecedented times for the SFRA, at least for the current Executive Committee. From within this maelstrom, we’ve been doing our best to keep the SFRA running as smoothly as possible for the entirety of our membership.
For example, you may have noticed that we are implementing some different protocols this year around the conference and the dissemination of information about presenters and their work in relation to the program. In this light, we’ll ask you to please also be mindful this year about sharing comments about and images of others’ work or presentations on social media. It’s disappointing to have to say this, because the sharing comes from a good place and it helps extend our community, but some presenters may be in precarious situations. We’ve already been fielding questions and concerns around this area, and hopefully it goes without saying, but our membership’s safety and dignity is our top priority. We are therefore also working on a policy for anyone who needs to switch their presentation from in-person to virtual. You should be hearing more about that from the organizers soon.
Given everything that is going on in higher education at the moment, now is perhaps a good time to ask yourselves: what kind of an organization do we want to have, not only to weather this storm, but heading into the future beyond it? The daily short-range tasks and the more long-range planning of the SFRA are carried out by the elected Executive Committee (comprised of the Immediate Past President, President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and two At-Large officers). At the start of 2026, we will be turning over two significant leadership roles on the Executive Committee: the President and the Secretary. Coming up later this summer into early fall, we’ll be holding elections. In the meantime, we are seeking any and all interested candidates, and if you are curious about either position, no prior experience is necessary. All we ask is for a candidate statement that outlines your interest in and vision for the position (previous candidate statements can be found here). We publish the candidate statements here in the SFRA Review in the summer and run the elections in the fall.
SFRA President (the President serves one three-year term and then a subsequent three-year term as Immediate Past President)
The President does a lot to shape the direction of the SFRA, as they are often setting the agenda and overseeing both short-term and long-term planning. I’m copying the official by-law language for the President below; however, as the outgoing President, I’d be happy to speak with anyone about the position in more detail:
“The president shall be chief executive of the association; they shall preside at all meetings of the membership and the Executive Committee, have general and active management of the business of the association, and see that all orders and resolutions of the Executive Committee are carried out; the president shall have general superintendence and direction of all other officers of the association and shall see that their duties are properly performed; the president shall submit a report of the operations of the association for the fiscal year to the Executive Committee and to the membership at the annual meeting, and from time to time shall report to the Executive Committee on matters within the president’s knowledge that may affect the association; the president shall be ex officio member of all standing committees and shall have the powers and duties in management usually vested in the office of president of a corporation; the president shall appoint all committees herein unless otherwise provided.”
After fulfilling their three-year term, each President then serves for another three years as the Immediate Past President (IPP), acting as a sounding board for the current president and helping to provide some institutional knowledge and continuity for the organization as a whole.
SFRA Secretary (the Secretary can serve one or two three-year terms)
The second position is for the Secretary, who helps keep the SFRA’s records, oversees the travel grant process, and manages relationships with the journals, among other responsibilities. I’m copying the official by-law language for the Secretary below:
“The secretary shall attend all sessions of the Executive Committee and all meetings of the membership and record all the votes of the association and minutes of the meetings and shall perform like duties for the Executive Committee and other committees when required. At any meeting at which the president is to preside, but is unable, and for which the vice president is unable to preside, the secretary shall preside. The secretary shall give notice of all meetings of the membership and special meetings of the Executive Committee and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Executive Committee or the president. In the event the secretary is unable to attend such meetings as may be expected, the Executive Committee may designate some other member of the association to serve as secretary pro tem.”
SFRA Review 