Leadership Links

Congratulations for having accepted the leadership position as your state/province membership chair. Your International Membership Committee welcomes you to this important link in the membership chain!
                    
Chapter Membership………….You…………International Membership
    
With LEADERSHIP as the international conference theme, training to prepare you for your position as membership chair will be “front and center” in Des Moines, Iowa, July 10, 2019.  We are planning and will be presenting specific information and strategies to assist you in carrying out your upcoming responsibilities. 

The topics on the agenda include,
 “All Membership Classifications: Active, Reserve, and Collegial,” “Ceremony of Life,” “Induction Ceremony,” “Chapter Climate,” “DKG Website,” “Go-To-Guide and Other Resources,” “Issues:
Dissolution or Merging of Chapters,” “Presentation and Communication Skills,” and “Recognizing and Developing Future Leaders.”
We welcome you to Iowa for your Leadership Training!

A New Look Is Coming!

In 1974, as the Society planned its GOLDEN Anniversary celebration, the idea emerged that a special fund – the GOLDEN Gift Fund – be established. The Society celebrated its GOLDEN Anniversary during the summer of 1979 using the theme: “We have defined our purposes; let us shape our destiny.” An ad hoc committee, formed in 1980 suggested creating the Leadership Management Seminar as a way to develop the leadership, communication and management skills of DKG members. The Leadership Management Seminar (LMS), supported by the Golden Gift Fund, is currently held during the summer of even-numbered years. Twenty-one seminars have been held since the first one in 1980 at Baylor. Subsequently, DKG members attending the 1982 International Convention in Atlanta voted to establish the Golden Gift Fund Committee as a Society Standing Committee.

The original vision behind the development of the LMS continues today. The 2018-2020 Golden Gift Fund Committee will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the LMS with “A New Look!” Be assured, the Golden Gift Fund is not going away. The LMS and our partnership with University of Texas will remain intact. Future blogs from this committee will highlight this new look as we share these topics:  “A New Name,” “A New Design,” “A New Application,” and “A New Experience.” A “New Look” is definitely coming!

RUMOR HAS IT #2

Here is another rumor the 2018-2020 Nominations Committee is addressing to keep DKG members “in the know” …

Rumor has it that if you submit an application you’ll get selected for something. The Nominations Committee is charged to select the best candidates possible for the elected positions in DKG and to put forth those names for election.  They solicit nominees for the positions by holding workshops at international conferences, publishing articles in the DKG News and the Collegial Exchange, and by blogging on the DKG website.

Once applications have been received for elected positions an intensive deliberation of all applications begins. Each applicant indicates on her form the position which she seeks. An assessment tool is used to evaluate and rank each applicant.

On occasion an elected position has received no applications. When that has occurred members of the Nominations Committee must then search for a candidate for that position. That is accomplished by looking through the applications to find an individual qualified for the open position. Only applications originally submitted to the committee are reviewed since they reflect members who have expressed an interest in serving at the international level. Also, information to use in evaluating their qualifications is readily available on their application. This process follows ISR 8.82. g. (3), “The committee reserves the right to place a name in nomination for a position other than that stated on the application.”

Many applications are received for the 20 to 22 positions to be filled. That means that not all applicants will be selected as a nominee.  Just because an application is submitted does not mean that applicant will be put forth as a nominee. That’s just a rumor!

New Avenues to Membership Now Available

During the 2018 International Convention the membership voted in changes to the Constitution and Standing Rules which allow for new membership options for chapters.  It is now possible to invite a woman to membership who left the teaching profession before retirement but is still very interested in education.

Another category of membership was created for women in the last two years of undergraduate or graduate level teacher preparation, the collegiate classification. This goes hand in hand with our international project of Supporting Early Career Educators. Below are some answers to questions about this classification.

• Collegiate members cannot serve as an officer in the chapter. They can only be appointed to serve as a parliamentarian 
•   Because of the prior bullet, there cannot be a collegiate chapter of all collegiate members
• Collegiate members are not eligible for international scholarships 
•  Collegiate membership will change to “active” membership upon graduation and employment in education
• If a collegiate member does not complete an education degree and become an educator, her membership will be dropped 
•  If you have questions about Collegiate Members’ dues and fees structure please contact your state membership chair who has received guidance on this written by the International Parliamentarian, Dr. Helen Popovich.

Remember these are new avenues your chapter can choose to travel or not depending on what your chapter decides but sometimes the “road less traveled” can bring the most exciting rewards!

Shafinaz

 

I come from Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh where I used to live with my family, parents and sisters and was engaged as a lecturer in the department of Architecture in a private University. I grew up observing my parents’ aspiration for education and their perseverance as government servants. My father retired from his service as the director of Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) this year and my mother is engaged as an associate professor in a public medical college. I am the eldest among my siblings and growing up in a family that prioritizes education. Three of us has developed an urge for higher studies and career success as well.

I graduated in 2012 from a public university in architecture which was situated in a different city and being distant from my family I learned to live by myself and cope with all the odds. Returning home upon completion of B Arch, towards the beginning of my career as an architect, I found myself ensnared in such a milieu where an average architect’s role was devoured into excessive commercialization of architecture unequivocally belonging to the aristocrats of the society. I realized, the scope to work for the wider community would be my salvation. I decided to remain in academic arena where I could engage myself in research to find ways to impact people’s lives. The challenge of housing scarcity in the context of growing population and climate change shaped my career interest greatly. I have observed that Bangladesh govt. and international organizations have funds for development but most of the projects often fail to address the long term betterment of people’s lives as it tend to expect immediate outcomes. Moreover,  both in personal and career life I have observed the challenges of women, and their invisible role toward our society has also influenced me to want to advocate for them. These realizations made me look for broader aspects of lives and provided me with an urge to step out globally to understand how the whole world is dealing with the struggles. This is when I decided to study urban planning and pursue higher degree abroad.

To aspire to follow own dreams for a woman from the global south is a challenge indeed and the Fulbright award has provided me the opportunity to live my dreams. My acceptance by the DKG world fellowship program provided me with not just financial assistances but more with high hopes and confidence to dare to dream and go for it. I am personally motivated especially for being accepted by a women’s organization as I look forward to represent world’s women. I aspire to stand by women of the world to empower them to live their dreams; I want to work for the world to become a place without disparity of race and gender; I dream of representing women, and the world fellowship program by accepting me as their grantee has incepted more confidence in myself by proving that I am worthy. At present I am a graduate student at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in department of Urban & Regional Planning where I am concentrating on the sphere of housing, race & gender, refugee settlements etc. I plan to pursue PhD following my master’s and continue teaching in the University as well as research endeavors back in Bangladesh. I dream of working the UN someday and continue to serve for humanity.