The ATA Chronicle - November/December 2021 - 5

FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT
LAST ONE!
My last column! Finally! Of all the tasks asked of ATA's president, this
is the only one I truly dreaded and hated. I can talk about ATA and the
Board all day long, but writing this column was consistently a chore
that made me wish I were Tom Sawyer with a pail of whitewash. So,
I'm happy to see this come to an end. My other duties not so much, but
it's time to move on.
A
nd since this is my
last column, I'm
going to exercise
my editorial prerogative
and reflect on my service on
the Board and to ATA since
October 29, 2010.
It's hard to believe it
will have been 4,018 days
(11 years) since I was first
elected to the Board. There
have been a lot of changes
since then-for me, for ATA,
and in the translation and
interpreting (T&I) universe.
Among other things, ATA has
made major improvements to
its professional development
program, increased member
benefits, become much more
" interpreter-friendly, "
and (finally!) moved the
certification exam to a
fully online system. The
profession has grappled
with the rise of machine
translation and increased
automation in project
management and seen
explosive growth in (notso-)
new fields of T&I such
as audiovisual, transcreation,
search engine optimization
marketing, and remote
interpreting.
In my candidate statement
in 2010, I listed nine areas of
concern I wanted to work on,
www.ata-chronicle.online
of which all but two (really
one and a half) have been
accomplished.
Improve Communication
between Members and
ATA: While not intended
as a direct communication
channel to the Board, the
ataTalk listserv has served
to increase debate and
discussion among members.
The ATA Podcast also provides
members with information
about ATA happenings
and governance issues.
And I believe the Board's
communication to members
about policy and governance
issues is now much better
and more informative.
Offer More Business
Education: ATA's training
offerings of the business of
T&I is certainly far greater
and of much higher quality
than in the early 2000s.
Improve Cooperation with
the Association of Language
Companies: I not only
opened a dialogue with the
Association of Language
Companies (www.alcus.org),
but we have also cooperated
on several issues of common
concern, such as advocacy
efforts surrounding AB 5
and related independent
contractor issues, issues
arising from the pandemic
such as early vaccinations
for on-site health care
and legal interpreters, and
support for language access
by the federal government.
An attempt to develop a joint
model contract for use with
language services companies
did fail, but at least we made
the attempt in a friendly and
professional manner.
Increase the Use of
Electronic Meetings/
Balloting by the Board: I
changed my mind on this one
after learning more about the
legal issues surrounding board
meetings and seeing the effect
of having open meetings.
There have been a
lot of changes since I
was first elected to the
Board in 2010-
for me, for ATA,
and in the translation
and interpreting
(T&I) universe.
American Translators Association 5
TED R. WOZNIAK
http://www.alcus.org http://www.ata-chronicle.online
The ATA Chronicle - November/December 2021

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