President’s Letter | December 2019

Greetings SSP Members and Friends:

We’ve now entered that weirdly obscure time called “the Holidays.” Starting from the Friday before Thanksgiving through New Years, we will all hear phrases such as “Let’s tackle that after the holidays.” Or, “With the holidays coming up, maybe we should delay….”

Anyone who works in an editorial office knows the fallacy of the “holiday slow down,” as many authors are desperate to get in one more submission before some important January 1 deadline approaches.

The problem with the “holidays slump” is that January hits us like a bucket of ice-cold water and we start to regret taking it easy for a few months. I am determined to use this time wisely to organize and move forward.

I enter this holiday season full of new energy and ideas from all the excellent SSP events offered this fall. Seminars, webinars, micro-conferences, and The Scholarly Kitchen panels have been organized globally.

SSP has been hosting regional meetings with events in DC and Durham, NC. Upcoming events are happening in Berlin, Boston, Philadelphia, and London. Be sure to see if there is an event near you.

Even with all of these opportunities, I still find myself visiting the videos from the SSP Annual Meeting last May, especially for sessions I was unable to attend. If you have a nice quiet day over the holidays, you should definitely grab a mug of hot cocoa and curl up with the speakers.

The SSP Board also has some big plans for the coming year. At our fall board meeting, we reviewed the strategic goals to see how we were doing and if changes were needed. I am proud to say that we have made great progress in several strategic areas. In the coming months, you will hear more about opportunities to support the Fellowship Program and other programs through our new philanthropic fund.

We are also continuing to talk about engagement with groups currently outside our membership including funders and scholarly communicators. Committees are also finalizing offerings for webinars and in-person events for 2020.

I want to thank you all for being members of this wonderful community. I wish you and your families a relaxing and joyous holiday season.

Best wishes,
Angela Cochran
2019-2020 SSP President