Wondering what the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) has been up to for the past few months? Check out updates on a selection of our projects:
Liaison Program
To form a connected community of emerging conservation professionals, ECPN has an active liaison program that features regional liaisons throughout North America, as well as Graduate Program liaisons, and Specialty Group liaisons.
The Regional Liaisons represent pre-program students and post-graduate professionals from specific geographic regions. Anyone who is committed to serving as the voice for emerging conservators (EC) is welcome to become a regional liaison. The Liaison’s main responsibility is to act as the link between ECPN and EC’s in their area — to inform ECPN of EC interests and concerns, offer suggestions, and disseminate ECPN information. To help build their regional community, the liaisons are encouraged to organize local events. This year, ECPN has created a Regional Liaison Toolkit with examples of activities and advice on how to reach out to EC’s. These activities range from museum and conservation lab visits, to “Angel’s Projects,” to Happy Hours.
Liaison Activities
Regional and Specialty Group liaisons participated in the bimonthly ECPN conference call on March 12th. During the call, regional liaisons asked questions on behalf of emerging conservation professionals in their area, especially regarding the upcoming lunchtime networking event at the Annual Meeting. Several reported on activities that they have been holding in their respective cities, including happy hours, discussions about advocacy, and viewings of the film Monuments Men. Many liaisons utilize the active ECPN Facebook page to initiate and plan activities, while some have created their own regional pages. If you have not connected with your regional liaison, and if you are not on Facebook, please write to the ECPN Chair at the email address below to obtain information on your region.
2013-2014 Regional Liaisons:
Arizona (Phoenix/Tucson): Crista Pack, Skyler Jenkins
California (LA/Berkeley/San Francisco): Amanda Burr, Rio Lopez, Alexa Beller
Colorado (Denver): Courtney VonStein Murray
Florida: Kimberly Frost
Illinois (Chicago): Melina Avery
Indiana (Indianapolis): Rebecca Shindel
Iowa (Iowa City): Jessica Rogers
Massachusetts (Boston): Christian Hernandez, Mayasara Naczi
Minnesota (Twin Cities): Amber Kehoe
Missouri (St. Louis): Jackie Keck
New England (Burlington, VT): Emily Gardner Phillips
New York (New York City): Julia Sybalsky, Jessica Pace
Ohio (Cincinatti): Ashleigh Scheiszer
Pacific Northwest (Kirkland/Seattle, WA): Emily Derse Pellichero, Lisa Duncan Goedecke
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): Sara Levin
South Carolina (Columbia): Jennifer Bullock
Texas (Austin/Houston/Houston): Sarah Hunter, Erin Stephenson, Gabriel Stephanie Dunn
Graduate Program and Specialty Group liaisons serve as links between ECPN and the groups that they represent. They also keep us informed of emerging conservator interests and concerns, and help to disseminate ECPN information, but are not expected to organize events. Below is our current list of graduate program liaisons. Our list of specialty group liaisons currently is being updated.
2013-2014 Graduate Program Liaisons:
Buffalo State College: Christina Taylor
Columbia University: Melissa Swanson, Beata Sasinska
New York University: Desi Peters
Queen’s University: Samantha Fisher, Marie-Lou Beauchamp
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA): Currently no liaison
University of Texas School of Architecture (UTSOA): Sarah B. Hunter
University of Delaware (WUDPAC): Michelle Sullivan, Jacinta Johnson
The regional liaison list will continue to be updated throughout the year. To connect with your liaison, or if you do not see your region listed and would like to be a regional liaison, please contact ECPN Outreach Officers, Carrie McNeal (clinnmcneal [at] gmail [dot] com) or Saira Haqqi (haqqis [at] gmail [dot] com).
Public Relations (PR) Toolkit
A Public Relations Toolkit is being developed on the AIC Wiki to provide tangible resources for AIC members to use when speaking about and promoting conservation. These tools will offer information about direct communication with the public and the press, using both traditional and social media outlets. It is anticipated that these resources will assist AIC members working in institutions of all sizes and scope as well as those working in private practice in advocating for conservation and raising awareness of our field. This year, ECPN hopes to begin migrating information gathered on the AIC Wiki to downloadable documents that AIC members can easily access and use, and to continue to identify areas of development. This is a collaborative project and the final product will greatly benefit from participation from many different members of AIC. To see the PR Toolkit progress thus far, visit the AIC Wiki page on “Public Relations and Outreach Resources,” organized under the “Work Practices” category.
For more information or to share ideas, please contact ECPN Chair Eliza Spaulding (elizaspaulding [at] gmail [dot] com).
Mentoring Program
ECPN is working to develop a self-matching tool for AIC members through the new on-line Member Directory. This self-directed tool will allow both mentors and mentees to publish their interest in the mentoring program via their directory profile and to search potential matches according to shared professional interests, geographical location, and specialty.
Upcoming Webinars
ECPN currently is developing two webinars for the spring and summer, which are open to all AIC members. Stay tuned for details on the date and time of each program:
– Outreach and advocacy in late April: An introduction and overview of outreach and advocacy strategies for conservators at all stages of their professional development. Our scheduled speakers include three conservators who have engaged in this topic in unique ways: Teresa Myers, who participated in Museum Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill; Sarah Barack, co-chair of AIC’s K-12 Outreach Group; and Richard McCoy, who has created a number of innovative web projects that highlight the work of conservators.
– Pre-program experience in July: A conversation with representatives from the North American graduate training programs in conservation on making the most of your pre-program experience and representing them effectively during the graduate application process.
Recent Emerging Conservation Professional Discussions
In addition to providing a forum for emerging conservation professionals to connect, the ECPN Facebook page has also recently been a site for discussion of issues currently affecting post-graduate conservators. ECPN welcomes these discussions and invites conservators at all career stages to participate in them.
Questions about the mission of ECPN? Read our recently revised charge on ECPN’s page on the AIC website. ECPN also has a flier available for use at meetings and events that explains and promotes the network. To access the flier, please write to the ECPN Chair at the email address below.
Thoughts and comments about any of the above information can be sent to ECPN Chair, Eliza Spaulding, at elizaspaulding [at] gmail [dot] com.
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AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse
Former Blog of the American Institute for Conservation