SAAdventures: Reston Board of Directors Edition (Professional Relations)

2019-2020 SAA Board of Directors

This blog post is part 2 of a 2 part series.

Day 2: Saturday, July 13

We began with a fun-filled morning of logistical planning and discussing general governance of the Student Academy of Audiology (SAA). This continued into Day 2 by learning more about the structure of the SAA as well as the available resources for the Board of Directors (BoD). As part of an interdependent organization of the Academy, we have access to two extremely important resources: the Student Academy of Audiology Advisory Committee (SAAAC) and the Academy staff. 

Each member of SAAAC is paired with an SAA BoD member to provide the following:  

• Support
• Guidance
• Oversight
• Mentorship in SAA initiatives
• Education on current issues and developments within the profession
• Enhancement of student-professional relationships

The current SAAAC Chair is Steve Madix, PhD, and will turn over to Ashley Hughes, AuD, when the new term begins on October 1. During one conversation, the BoD was discussing the importance of work-life balance. Dr. Madix made an important point that resonated with the BoD as current student leaders. It was something like this:

As you add and take on new responsibilities in life, your feelings of stress become your new norm or your new baseline. Eventually, these feelings dissipate as you adjust to the norm, but you also need to reflect on and appreciate the stress. If you’re not even a little bit stressed, you need to ask yourself, “is what I’m doing and saying even relevant?” In short, this forces you to evaluate your actions and revise as necessary.

Day 3: Sunday, July 14

To conclude our time in Reston, the BoD finalized goals for the year and developed action items for what we as the SAA would like to accomplish during the 2019-2020 term. As BoD members, our goals cannot be accomplished without our membership. We are still looking for additional volunteers, now is a great time to get involved. Complete an application for the SAA Volunteer Reserve on the Audiology Community.  

“If you need a reason to be pumped about Audiology, work with the SAA. See the future of our profession from the inspired and unjaded perspective of our future colleagues and you will work harder, advocate more, and push through to the next chapter of Audiology, which will be awesome!”

-Steve Madix, PhD, SAAAC Chair

“Volunteering with the SAAAC is so refreshing. It was great spending a weekend working with the SAA Board, and hearing how motivated and creative our future colleagues are.”

-Ashley Hughes, AuD, SAAAC Chair-Elect

Stephanie Tittle is a third-year AuD student at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is the President-Elect of the SAA. Her interests include pediatric aural habilitation, hearing assistive technology, and public health as it relates to hearing loss.

Amanda Demas is a second-year AuD student at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the Communications Chair for the SAA. Amanda is interested in educational audiology, ototoxins, and noise-induced hearing loss.