Program Committee Annual Report 2023
submitted by Carlos Peña
Current Roster
- Carlos Peña, Chair, 2025
- Rachel Smiley, Past Chair, 2024
- Ann Shaffer, 2025 Chair, 2026
- Sara Outhier, 2024
- Veronica Wells, 2024
- Lina Sheahan, 2025
- Tracey Snyder, 2026
- Becca Fülöp, 2026
- Sylvia Yang, Convention Manager (ex officio), 2025
- Sonia Archer-Capuzzo, Board Liaison (ex officio), 2024
- Margaret Corby, MOUG Representative (ex officio), 2024
- Brendan Higgins, Education Committee Representative (ex officio), 2024
- Michelle Rivera, Student/Early Career Representative (ex officio), 2024
- Kathryn Miller, Diversity Committee/EIS Representative (ex officio), 2024
List of Previous Goals and Progress Made
- 1. Conduct a successful national conference
- Successfully held the first hybrid national MLA conference, meeting on-site in St. Louis and online
- Created the conference program by soliciting, reviewing, approving, and scheduling all program sessions, business and interest group meetings, events, etc.
- PC chair served as co-chair of Conference Planning Task Force
- Reviewed post-conference survey results to inform future conference planning
- 2. Collaborate and hold joint conference with Theatre Library Association (TLA)
- Included a TLA representative on Program Committee and Conference Task Force
- Solicited and reviewed program proposals to include theatre-related content, resulting in TLA-focused plenary session
List of Future Goals
- 1. Conduct second successful hybrid national conference (in Cincinnati and online) by creating program, participating in all areas of conference planning as necessary, and assessing our work after conclusion of conference
- Include programming that reflects organizational prioritization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (goals 1.2 and 3.2), open access (goal 1.6), professional development (goals 2.1 and 2.6), mentorship and networking (goal 2.2)
- Mode of delivery, program scheduling, and dissemination of program content reflects our priorities of equity (goal 3.4) and accessibility (goal 3.5)