Secretary-Treasurer's Report
Jennifer Tackett
Northwestern University
I am very happy to be serving ARP as the new secretary-treasurer, taking over from Jen Lilgendahl after her many years of service to ARP. I have to start by thanking Jen for all of the effort she has put into making ARP a stronger, more vibrant, and financially sound organization! She has done so much to champion ARP and we are much stronger for it.
My efforts thus far have primarily focused on transition. Jen has been incredibly helpful and organized in orienting me to the role. In addition to one-on-one assistance, Jen, Lynne Cooper, Rebecca Shiner, and I had an intensive transition meeting during SPSP in February. Transitioning the secretary/treasurer and the executive officer in the same year is certainly not ideal (it's best to always have at least one person who might know how things work), but everyone has been putting in effort to keep things going during this time. In an effort to ensure ARP is maximally flexible for its board members (and board members to come), we transitioned all of the ARP accounts to Chase this past year. This allows easier access and accounting from the various locations where we reside.
One of the major goals of ARP in the coming years will be continuing the impressive efforts led by Lynne and Jen toward improving ARP's financial situation. There are multiple efforts that make this possible, including encouraging members to sign up for 3-year memberships (to reduce membership drops during off-conference years) and adjusting our conference registration fees to be more comparable with other conferences. We are also working to increase the number of ARP-specific awards, alongside the awards committee, and considering various ways to fund such efforts.
Thanks to all of you who have helped us transition into these new roles, and to Rebecca, who has worked very hard to keep things running this year. I'm looking forward to continued efforts to help ARP grow even stronger in the years to come.