SIGEL Elections for 2023-2025
RESULTS OF THE NOMINATION PERIOD:
The nomination period for the 2023-25 SIGEL Executive Committee, during Oct. 17 – Nov. 14, 2022, has closed.
Six elected roles are being filled for a two-year period starting after January 20, 2023: President, Secretary, and 4 Members-at-Large. We received one nomination for the Secretary and 3 for (only) the Member-at-Large positions. Therefore, according to the SIGEL constitution, they will be declared directly elected to their positions.
The previous President, Antti Arppe, "shall remain a member of the Executive Committee for the subsequent term to provide continuity", according to the SIGEL Constitution.
Two nominations were received for President and an election for that position will be held (see section below).
The election will be open until January 20, 2023. The results will be announced by the current President after that time.
If you were a member of SIGEL at the beginning of the Voting Period, on Nov. 22, 2022, you should have received an email with the link to the election form.
ELECTION FOR PRESIDENT:
Two people were nominated both for the role of President and for the 4th (and last) Member-at-Large position. The Executive Committee decided to hold an election for both roles simultaneously. The person with the most votes for SIGEL President will take that position. The person with fewer votes for President will serve as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee.
Candidates for President and their candidacy statements
:| Candidate | What do you see as one primary concern of SIGEL in the next two years? | What is one goal or direction you would like to see SIGEL take over the next two years? |
| Sarah Moeller (University of Florida; (computational) linguist) | Engaging SIGEL community members in the leadership of activities and events, such as the Speaker Series and ComputEL | Organizing and "field testing" shared activities along the lines of a hackathon that are designed to optimally benefit NLP, linguistics, academia, and community language maintenance efforts |
| Lane Schwartz (University of Alaska Fairbanks; (computational) linguist) | I would like to see SIGEL take the lead within ACL in efforts to educate our peers within ACL on ethical and decolonizing methods in conjunction with NLP work involving Indigenous peoples and Indigenous languages, and the development of a set of ethical guidelines for the ACL community regarding those issues. | Shared task have been a fantastic mechanism for stimulating progress in many fields within ACL. I would like SIGEL continue to develop a new kind of shared activity based on community-based collaborative processes that could provide education and relationship-building opportunities for those already working with Indigenous languages and for researchers and Indigenous community members who may be just beginning to work in this space. |
How to vote?
All who were members of SIGEL at the beginning of the Voting Period, on Nov. 22, 2022, are eligible to vote, and should have received an email (from acl DOT sigel AT gmail DOT com) on that date with a link to the voting form.
If you were a member of SIGEL on Nov. 22, 2022, and you have NOT received the email with the link for voting, please contact the current President, as the presiding officer of these presidential elections: antti DOT arppe AT iki DOT fi
RESULTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
By the end of the Voting period on January 20, 2023, we had received 27 votes, of which 17 were cast for Sarah Moeller and 10 for Lane Schwartz. Consequently, Sarah Moeller was declared elected as President of SIGEL, and Lane Schwartz as the fourth Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee.
ELECTED OFFICERS
Subsequent to the above nominations and the election for president, the SIGEL Executive Committee, for the two-year period starting on January 20, 2023, will have the following composition (officers listed with their professional affiliation and the SIGEL member communities they primarily identify with):
- President: Sarah Moeller (University of Florida, Gainesville; computational linguist)
- Secretary: Aditi Chaudhary (Google; NLP)
- Members-at-Large:
- Hilaria Cruz (University of Louisville; language community member and (documentary) linguist)
- Jordan Lachler (University of Alberta; (documentary) linguist)
- Alexis Palmer (University of Colorado; (computational) linguist)
- Lane Schwartz (University of Alaska, Fairbanks; (computational) linguist)
- Past President: Antti Arppe (University of Alaska, Fairbanks; (computational) linguist)