Message from the Chair
Dear Colleagues,
I hope that this message finds you well. I am grateful to have been reelected to the Board of Directors and honored that my fellow directors saw fit to select me as the Chairman for this term. I welcome the privilege of serving for the upcoming year. The time since our conference has been both busy and rewarding. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to interact with so many of you in Cambridge. By most accounts, the 2012 conference was a resounding success. A sincere thank you is in order to Rosemary Dann and Doina Francu our Conference committee Co-Chairs and to our administrative staff, Robin Lanier and Zalina Kotaeva. The entire Board of Directors joins me in thanking them and all of you who were in attendance.
I hope you found the conference enriching. We were so fortunate to have Dr. Roda Roberts as our keynote speaker. She spoke of the paradigm of interpreters helping to improve access with their services yet oftentimes failing to receive the necessary access to allow them to do that with which they are tasked. It was a very insightful and timely speech.
I would like to once again thank our outgoing Treasurer and retiring director, Dr. Peter Lindquist for his years of service and dedication. The Board of Directors presented him with a token of our gratitude during the annual meeting. I also would like to welcome our newest member to the Board of Directors, Bethany Korps-Edwards and congratulate our Secretary Kathleen Shelly on her reelection. I look forward to serving with such wonderful ambassadors for the profession.
At the annual meeting I also spoke about some of NAJIT’s activities, projects and accomplishments in the year since our conference in Long Beach in 2011. I was proud to present that report.
The interval since our conference in May 2011 confirms that we are living in exciting times for our professions of interpreting and translation. NAJIT continues to be a part of a collaborative effort that includes the leaders of the International Association of Conference Interpreters, the American Translators Association, the International Medical Interpreters Association, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, and The American Association of Language Specialists. We hope that other organizations of national scope and similar interests will join us as we continue to move toward more collaboration and coalesce around issues of commonality. This newfound resolve to work together across national organizations and disciplines will undoubtedly yield benefits to all of our respective members. I am happy to be a part of this effort as I feel strongly that in areas of shared interests and the common goals of advancement and professionalization, a unified national voice will carry substantial weight. I spoke briefly about this at the Interpret America summit in Monterey, California in mid-June and was met with enthusiasm from those in attendance. 
NAJIT has also begun to participate on an existing project to create a standard of practice model that can be accredited through the American Society of Testing and Materials, International. This committee, which is comprised of interpreters, users of interpreter services and language companies, aims to create national standards both for interpreters and for language companies. Much work lies ahead, but this project presents an incredible opportunity to possibly credential or accredit interpreters who work in areas where no accreditation or certification yet exist. It also aims to accredit language companies in such a way as to combat the type of unfair practices that we are all too familiar with. It is indeed an exciting and pivotal time for the interpreting and translation professions in North America. I hope to continue to bring you reports of progress as we work on the broad strokes and the finer details of our professions’ landscape. I am honored every single day to Chair this organization. I hope you enjoy the audio files from the Cambridge conference.
Sincerely,
Rob Cruz
Chair, NAJIT Board of Directors