March-April 2004
President's Letter
Joe Devney

No Attack Ads, Please
I hope you haven't sworn off election news after the primary season, because I have some more. The annual elections for STC chapter leadership positions are coming up. For this one, you may consider becoming a candidate, and not just a spectator or a voter.

If you are a member of the Berkeley chapter, you get to vote in the election. But you also can choose to run for office, and I encourage you to do so. As a chapter officer, you will have more of a voice in what happens in the chapter, and become more aware of what is happening with STC at the regional and national levels. There may also be a career benefit for you: a chapter leadership position is a good thing to add to your resume.

There are several elected positions in the chapter, including my own. You can run for any of them, but there are two in particular I would like to mention: Chapter Secretary and Vice President for Membership. The two men who currently hold these positions are moving on because of changes in their professional lives. David McCoard, our long-time secretary, is changing his focus from technical writing to other kinds of writing; Rob Peterson, our VP-Membership plans to go to Australia on a Fulbright scholarship in June. I appreciate their past contributions to the chapter and wish them both well, but I have to be concerned about replacing them on the chapter board.

In fact, we have an urgent need to find a new Secretary. I can appoint one to fill out the remainder of David's term, which goes through the end of June. If you would like to step in for a few months instead of or in addition to running for the office, please e-mail me.

Chapter elections will be held in May. You will hear shortly from Richard Mateosian, our Elections Manager, with details about the elections. The officers' terms begin July 1. I hope we have a lot of candidates: contested elections would add excitement to chapter business.