Martha Ndakalako and Patience Akpan-Obong
With 2023 now upon us, we are excited to announce new leadership on the Steering Committee and our community-building initiatives for the months ahead.
New Leaders
First, we welcome Patience Akpan-Obong as our new co-convenor. As the Women’s Caucus approaches an important anniversary in a couple of years, Patience is dedicated to planning ahead to celebrate this occasion, honor the Caucus’ forbears and document our history. Our lead co-convenor, Martha Ndakalako, will continue to work on expanding membership particularly through outreach to graduate students, and continuing to find ways to strengthen the Caucus’ financial infrastructure in partnership with our membership secretary, Beth Ann Williams, and treasurer, Tshepo Masango Chéry. This talented leadership team is committed to a facilitative, collaborative style of leadership, which we firmly believe benefits the Caucus as a whole. We will work together to enhance our recruitment efforts, fortify our financial procedures to ensure the longevity of our prizes and grants, and create a vibrant, visible space for our work at this year’s ASA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. We also wish to acknowledge two new members on our Steering Committee— Chipo Dendereand Ruth Opara—who have joined our existing team: Lynda Day, Deborah LaFond, Suad Musa, Emily Jenan Riley, and Marina Dikosso, our graduate student representative. And last but never least, the Steering Committee continues to benefit from the experience of last year’s lead co-convenor, Harmony O’Rourke, especially her dedication to maintaining the Women’s Caucus website.