The holidays are upon us, and I wish you and yours the very best over this holiday season. As we look back on a busy year, I want to thank everyone for their contributions to CDS whether it was serving on the board, working on a committee, reviewing papers, participating in the conference and supporting CDS through your membership and contributions. It is all appreciated and important to the success of CDS. 2024 was also the first full year we contracted with Tammy Baxter to serve as our Executive Director. I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the value she brings to CDS. Much of our success in 2024 was due to her support and leadership. She had a remarkably effective first year. I am looking forward to what she will bring to CDS as we go forward into 2025.
2025 should be a year of growth for CDS. The conference will be in Geneva, NY at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. A part of the country CDS has not had a conference since it was at Cornel more than 20 years ago. Craig Talmage is leading the effort in NY and there are lots of ways that people can participate. Thank you to all those who have submitted an abstract for next summer. While we have nearly 90 proposals, we are extending the call through January 2024. There are several new wrinkles this year including a paper competition and the opportunity to sponsor a conference track. Please check out the conference site and make your plans to attend! https://cdsociety.org/2025cdsconference/
We will also be approaching some of our work a little differently in 2025. We have a revamped program committee that will provide leadership to the conference, webinars, awards among other things. The membership committee just completed a webinar where they shared the results of the member survey conducted earlier this year. The dialogue around the results generated many good ideas for how to make CDS more accessible and valuable to its members and the field. If you are interested in getting more involved, please contact me (chair@cdsociety.org) or Tammy Baxter (director@cdsociety.org). We would be happy to connect you to one of the many efforts currently being pursued in CDS that could use your talents. Enjoy the holidays and I hope to see you in the new year!
In service,
