Letter from MATI president Meghan McCallum

02/03/2023 4:27 PM | Kelley Salas (Administrator)

Dear MATI members,

On behalf of the MATI Board of Directors, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all MATI members a happy new year! May 2023 bring you many opportunities to connect with others in the translation and interpreting community while growing your skills as language professionals.

The 2022 MATI Elections marked the start of new terms for a few folks serving on the MATI Board, including myself. The 2022-2023 MATI Board is as follows:

President: Meghan McCallum
Vice President: Kate Breckenridge
Secretary: Laura Salcido
Treasurer: Kate Jankowski
Directors: Reme Bashi, Marina IlariKelley SalasAlexandra Wirth

Please join me in welcoming all new board members, and thanking this entire group for their dedication to serving our association!

In case you missed it, MATI held its 19th Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in September. We were delighted to once again bring together our local T&I community for a day of learning and networking—this was the first in-person MATI conference since 2019! A big thanks to our speakers: Daniel Tamayo (Keynote: A Successful Career in Translation and/or Interpreting), Robert Sette (Overcoming the Discomfort of Self-Promotion), Saul Arteaga (911 Telecommunication Interpreting), Allison Bryant (Taxes for the Taxed), and Daniela Guanipa (Navigating the Waters of Change) for providing this incredible lineup of educational sessions for attendees.

A number of MATI members also attended ATA’s 63rd Annual Conference, held in Los Angeles, California, in October. Again, this was a much-anticipated opportunity for our members to connect with other translators, interpreters, clients, educators, and more from the world of T&I. ATA’s Audiovisual Division was especially active, with several sessions bringing us into the exciting world of subtitling. We also saw an exhibitor table from the ATA Literary Division displaying many works translated by ATA members. The ATA Awards Ceremony recognized several colleagues for their various accomplishments in and services to the translation and interpreting professions.

If you are an ATA member, please be sure to indicate on your ATA membership renewal form that you are also a member of MATI, your local chapter. MATI receives funding from ATA based on the number of members that indicate their chapter membership. We appreciate your support and look forward to using this funding to continue serving you through educational programming, networking opportunities, and more throughout the year.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendars for MATI’s 20th Annual Conference, which will take place in Indiana in September 2023. Stay tuned for updates on the exact date and location. Event planning is underway and the MATI Board looks forward to sharing more details soon.

MATI’s programs and events are powered by volunteers, and there are plenty of ways you can participate! If you’d like to volunteer your time to serve MATI, whether it’s through social media support, writing for this newsletter, conference planning, hosting a networking event, or presenting a webinar, please get in touch with us and let us know you’d like to get involved. You can contact the MATI Board at matiemail@gmail.com.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2023,

Meghan McCallum

MATI President

meghan@fr-en.com