SUSAN ACKERMAN’S “PRESIDENT’S VALEDICTORY”
The 2019 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA, was Susan Ackerman’s last meeting as presiding president. The following are remarks that Dr. Ackerman gave at the Members’ Meeting on November 22, 2019, where she was awarded the Richard J. Scheuer Medal for outstanding service to ASOR.
President’s Valedictory
by Susan Ackerman
My first message to the ASOR community was a letter from me, the then “new president,” published in our online e-newsletter News@ASOR in January 2014. In that letter, I wrote, as I thought a president should, about some recent ASOR accomplishments and especially about some recent fund-raising successes. But after spewing forth that requisite presidential verbiage, I went on to say that, “however notable the accomplishments and strengths of ASOR that I have outlined, our greatest strength is, as always, you: our members.”
I was not lying when I wrote that: indeed, one of my guiding principles as ASOR President has been always to tell the truth when speaking with the ASOR membership. But what I did not realize, when I wrote about our members in 2014, is how true my words were, as what I have come to understand profoundly over the course of the last six years is how deep-seated, far-reaching, and heartfelt our members’ dedication to ASOR truly is and the true extent of the ways that each and every one of you contributes — in so many different ways — to support and sustain our organization.
For example, ASOR members give untold hours of their time to ASOR. Let me give you just one example, again related to a News@ASOR story — one we ran a few months ago, seeking volunteers to serve as new members on the Program Committee.
Now, many of us work at colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education where we have lots of committees, and if you are like most of my colleagues at my university, you spend a large part of your life trying to avoid service on your institution’s manifold committees. Indeed, I have colleagues at my university who should win an award — if there were such a thing — for their expertise in dodging committee assignments. But after the News@ASOR solicitation appeared, seeking three volunteers to serve on the Program Committee, thirteen people wrote, asking us for the opportunity to serve. When does this ever happen?!? It is truly extraordinary — and ASOR thrives as an organization because of the dedication of its member volunteers.
Not only, moreover, do you generously volunteer your time; you give generously from your wallets. Indeed, we estimate that roughly 25% of our members makes a charitable donation to ASOR every year, to support our fellowship programs, or the ASOR Annual Fund, or, most recently, our fund-raising efforts that allowed us to purchase ASOR’s fabulous new and permanent headquarters, the James F. Strange Center in Alexandria, VA. And that 25% of you who give to our fund-raising efforts do so on top of paying your membership dues and your registration fees for the Annual Meeting. To have that kind of support from almost a quarter of our membership is an extraordinary percentage; just so you know, the average membership giving rate for other learned societies is about 5%. ASOR members’ generosity and their willingness to offer their support to our organization is literally off the charts.
Which brings me back to the observation with which I began: I wasn’t lying when I wrote, back in January 2014, that you, our members, are ASOR’s greatest strength, but what I have come to realize, over the last six years is how superficially I understood that statement compared to the way I understand today how much each and every one of you does for ASOR. In short: while I have always spoken truthfully about our dedicated and committed membership — again, always to tell the truth her been one of my governing principles as ASOR President — it has taken me six years to learn the depth of that truth, and to know the depth of your dedication and commitment in ways I only glimpsed dimly back in January 2014.
There is a second principle that has governed me as I have served as ASOR President, and that is “never miss a chance to say thank you.” Now, truth me told (always tell the truth!): when it comes to this principle, I have screwed up over and over and over. There are so many times I should have said thank you to one of you individually, for some effort you made on ASOR’s behalf, or some donation you gave, or some action you took to make ASOR a better organization. But I just somehow didn’t get around to it. There are likewise so many times when I should have said thank you to some of you as a collective — to some ad hoc committee that had taken on some thorny issue on ASOR’s behalf, or to some working group, or just to some self-constituted body that brought me some idea or some insight on how to do things that would, again, make ASOR better and stronger. But, again, somehow, I just didn’t always take the time, or make the effort, to say thank you properly.
But while I can’t go back and fill in all those blanks — I can’t go back and say all the thank yous I should of said then — let me not miss this one last opportunity to extend my gratitude. I am truly and profoundly grateful for everything that each and every one of you has done over the past six years, and continues to do, to nurture, support, and sustain ASOR. Equally, I am truly and profoundly grateful — I cannot tell you how grateful — for everything each and every one of you has done over the past six years to nurture, support, and sustain me. My work as your president has been one of the greatest experiences of my professional life, and I thank you, so much, for giving me this opportunity. It has been an honor, and a privilege, to serve.
