Call for Nominees for the NITA Board of Directors

by NITA Administrator ~ January 20, 2010

NITA is an all-volunteer organization, set up according to its Bylaws as a professional association of and for translators and interpreters in the state of Nevada, to tend to and advance the interests of both its membership and the community it serves. The Bylaws also regulate its executive body, the Board of Directors, of which its members serve in (re-electable) two-year terms.

The NITA Board of Directors consists of four Officers (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer) and up to four Directors. The members of the Board of Directors are elected in alternate years by the members of NITA, according to Article Four of the Bylaws, such that the President, the Vice President and (up to) three Directors are elected in one year, and the Secretary, the Treasurer and remaining Director(s) are elected in the next year.

This year, the positions of Secretary, Treasurer and two Directors are open for election to serve a two-year term.

Given that our association serves its membership in a very large area, and to make the process as transparent and straightforward as possible, this year the nomination and the election process will see a change from previous practice: it will be entirely on-line – both nominations for election ballots and the votes themselves will be submitted / cast exclusively via the Internet.

To that end, NITA has now made available a special Nomination page with the information necessary to submit nominations; candidates can present themselves via the form provided on this page until the deadline of Friday, February 5th of 2010 at 8:00 p.m. PST. After that, the formal election ballots will be compiled and made available on (or before) Monday, February 22nd of 2010 to the membership, so that our members can commence voting, until the deadline for voting on Friday, March 5th at 8:00 p.m. PST.

The official results of these elections will be announced during the Annual General Meeting, on Saturday, March 6th of 2010.

Please keep in mind that while the general, informational part of the NITA Board Nomination Form page is publicly accessible, i.e. without logging into this NITA OnLine site, you must log in first in order to access, fill out and submit the form itself!

Of course, this same principle also applies to the elections themselves, as only members can vote.

Now that the more formal aspects have been clarified, this final observation: in the previous two years, since the formal inception of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association, we have made great progress; looking at the small but determined number of language professionals who generously volunteer their time “to advance and to elevate the quality and availability of language services throughout the State of Nevada” we have covered quite an impressive distance already. However, there is much and very important work that lies ahead of us:

• The promising initiatives that have been undertaken discreetly thus far to reach a point where there’s a formal framework for the various (and in some respects surprisingly different!) specializations to work well and responsibly in Nevada, with a reasonable measure of accountability and a minimum level of reliable accreditation, have to be pushed into practice. This requires a lot of work, and the Board of Directors of NITA strongly encourages you to consider taking a leading role in those efforts, by joining us in our efforts to better serve our community.
• Although the origins of NITA circumstantially have roots in the Reno / Sparks / Carson area, NITA is very much a statewide effort. Evidently, the metro area comprising Las Vegas has an enormous weight, not only because of sheer weight of population, but also due to the specific circumstances of a very large highly developed and urbanized area, contrasting with the peculiarities of more rural settings. If only for this reason, NITA would strongly encourage members from the Las Vegas metro area to consider their candidacy for the Board, where many exciting and challenging projects await your active participation.
• Being a young organization serving a very large area, NITA wants to ensure – independently from the previous point – that the growing number of professional development opportunities maximizes its potential and audience as widely as possible, not being overly focused on one particular demographic area or another. That is why the Internet – and also this site, NITA OnLine – plays an important role in developing and spreading our efforts. Therefore, we also and particularly invite members in areas outside the Vegas and Reno/Carson clusters to join the Board. So, if you’re in Elko, Ely, Winnemucca, Yerington, Tonopah or Beatty, that means you, too!
• Even though NITA has set for itself an ambitious agenda, we are making those efforts as spirited individuals with great sensitivity toward and appreciation for the human factor. That is why we go to great lengths to break down personality barriers: there is simply too much to be done, the professional diversity is too broad, and time available in too short supply to get caught up in those things. So, if you see yourself as a driven, professionally focused “people person” who likes results and keeps an eye on the larger picture – please join!

Click to go to the special Nomination page.