ATI Elections are coming!

September 3, 2018 6:39 pm Leave a Comment

ATI Elections are coming!

Dear ATI Member,

You are the reason ATI exists! Everything we do is structured to support your career. The ATI Board is a totally volunteer group of individuals all with a connection to language. We provide support, access to educational information and other benefits but are only successful through the guidance and support of members who have the desire and passion to help others.

Our Board is comprised of (9) seats;

– Officers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer (4) and;
– Members at Large (5)

Each of these positions is important to bring ideas, talent and assistance to our members. We are an all volunteer board and each year, the board goes through a refresh by electing officers and members to replace those whose terms have ended. This year we are moving up the election process to coincide with the annual conference on September 29^th to give our members the opportunity to discuss and vote along with colleagues. The Board positions that will be decided this year are;

– President (Ken Anders)
– Interim Vice President (open)
– Secretary (Tom Walker)
– (2) Member at Large (Noel Salcedo, Jennifer Baldwin)

Although each of us currently filling these positions have agreed to run for another two years, we still need you! If you want to take on a more active role with ATI, give some thought to the opportunity and “throw your hat” in the ring or nominate someone you believe will help the ATI become the best it can be!

If you are interested in the one of the positions above, please contact me directly (president@atiinc.org) and I will explain the role and expectations of the position you are interested in. Once you decide to run Following that, you will need to send a current CV/Resume and a brief Letter of Intent (1-2 paragraphs) explaining what you can bring to the board along with a simple email “nomination” from another ATI member on your behalf.

I truly hope that you give some thought to the opportunity and can’t wait to hear from you! Even if you are not ready to run, I look forward to seeing you at the annual conference!

____________________________________________

Best Regards

Ken Anders

President – Arizona Translators & Interpreters, Inc.

Mid-Year Strategic Planning Meeting

August 14, 2016 12:34 am Comments Off

The board had its Mid-Year Strategic Planning meeting on August 13, 2016 at Claim Jumper to review all the progress achieved in 2016. We also discussed all the exciting presentations for our annual conference on October 1, 2016, at Maricopa Health Integrated System in Phoenix. We are very excited about the proposals we have received and look forward to seeing leaders in the industry presenting this year! Stay tuned!

The President’s Corner

May 19, 2016 5:40 pm Comments Off

Hello, ATI members!

The ATI Board got together in January during the ATI Annual Strategic Planning annual meeting and we are excited about the activities that we have planned for our members during 2016! This year, we will offer three workshops; one in the spring, one in the summer and one in the winter.

We held our first workshop of the year in stunning Prescott, Arizona at the historic Superior Court Building which was hosted by our new treasurer, Carlos Reyes, head of the interpreting department. The Spring workshop was held last weekend at Estrella Mountain Community College. Thanks to Karee Peigne, director of the medical interpreting program, for their hospitality and continued support of our organization.

This year, the ATI Annual Conference will be held in Phoenix on Saturday, October 1, 2016 at Maricopa Integrated Health Systems located at 2601 E Roosevelt St. in Phoenix, AZ.

Last year, we implemented a brand new benefit for our members is the ATI Member Directory. Language services providers will be able to search by several categories such as working languages, location, areas of specialization, etc. This tool will provide access to potential employers looking for translators and interpreters in Arizona. We hope to facilitate communication between LSP’s and freelancers/independent contractors. If you are not a member and would like to become one, register online and gain access to all of the benefits that ATI offers.

I would like to welcome Arizona Translators & Interpreters, Inc.’s newest Board members. Lucy Matticoli-Mason has joined the ranks as interim vice president. Lucy Matticoli-Mason has worked for over 16 years as a freelance translator concurrently with a full time position as a Translation Project Analyst with JDA software Group, Inc. Lucy is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian and holds a Certificate of Translation from the Department of Languages and Literatures at Arizona State University. She lives in Prescott and is a member of the American Translators Association. Flavia Lima joins the ATI Board once again but this time as secretary. She lives in Phoenix and is a member of the American Translators Association. Holly Holmes is a freelance Portuguese-English translator and researcher at Language Artisan with specialties in education, arts and entertainment, business, and government/non-profit. Holly has two degrees in music performance, and after a decade working as a jazz musician, arts administrator, and music professor, Holly is also completing a PhD in Ethnomusicology in 2016. She resides with her husband in Tucson, where she also conducts research for Lead Guitar, a non-profit arts organization that provides music education programming for schools in Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Last, but not least, is Carlos Reyes, our new treasurer. Carlos M. Reyes is the Senior Court Interpreter for the Yavapai County Superior Court. He has been a professional interpreter for the past 7 years and is an alumni of the National Center for Interpretation at the University of Arizona.

ATI takes pride in representing translators and interpreters from all areas of the profession. Feel free to contact any of us for additional information about our membership benefits or activities.

We look forward to seeing all our members throughout the year during our workshops and/or annual conference. Please feel free to contact any of us with your questions or inquiries about the association. We are here to serve!

Thanks again for your continuous support of ATI. See you soon!

Sincerely,

Francesca Samuel, ATI President

Letter from the President

February 6, 2015 2:07 am Comments Off

Hello, ATI members!

The ATI Board got together in January during the ATI Annual Strategic Planning annual meeting and we are excited about the activities that we have planned for our members during 2015! During the meeting, there were some changes as to what benefits are available to you with a paid membership. This year, we will offer three workshops; one in the spring, one in the summer and one in the winter.

On Saturday, April 11, 2015, Pima Community College Downtown Campus will host its third annual bilingual career fair. Tucson Speaks is free and open to the public. There will be language agencies and employers present who will present information regarding requirement to work as an interpreter or translator as well as the benefits of working in the language services industry. There will also be sessions dedicated to training interpreters in different settings. Immediately following Tucson Speaks, ATI will be offering its Spring Workshop . The workshop is free for all of our members. There will be vendors and professional development sessions available. We will post more information as soon as we finalize the agenda.

We will also hold the ATI Annual Conference on Saturday, September 26, 2015, at the beautiful Pima Community College Downtown Campus. If you are not a member and would like to become one, register online and gain access to all of the benefits that ATI offers.

Another brand new benefit for our members is the ATI Member Directory. Language services providers will be able to search by several categories such as working languages, location, areas of specialization, etc. This tool will provide access to potential employers looking for translators and interpreters in Arizona. We hope to facilitate communication between LSP’s and freelancers/independent contractors.

In addition, the ATI Board has decided to change the workshops’ format to a more training/on hands approach that will offer a more in-depth experience to our audience, members and non-members alike.

I would like to welcome Arizona Translators & Interpreters, Inc.’s newest Board members. Carmen King was recently elected as member at large. Millie Donaldson, former ATI treasurer, was elected vice president, and Monica Ferreira, past member-at-large, was elected treasurer. Dr. Jeff Gabbitas is now the ATI’s immediate past president. Rosemary Dann, former chair of the board of the National Assoc. of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, is ATI’s interim secretary until the 2015 election. Dr. Holly Silvestri, Ricardo Talavera and Tram Bui remain on the board as members-at-large. Thank you to all of you for your commitment and dedication on behalf of our members.

Perhaps the most notable change will take place during the annual conference in September. Elections will no longer take place via email by way of filling out a survey. To ensure member participation, this year elections will be held in person during the ATI Annual Conference on September 26, 2015.

As if this was not enough, ATI has entered into an agreement with Arizona State University to provide a series of bootcamp training sessions throughout the year. We hope that this will provide a higher level of professional development and a more in-depth training experience to our members. More information will follow regarding this new endeavor!

Thanks again for your continuous support of ATI. See you soon!

Sincerely,

Francesca Samuel, ATI President

Letter from ATI President – March 2014

November 22, 2013 8:42 am Leave a Comment

Hello my fellow ATI-ers,

I hope this letter finds everyone well. We have some very exciting events approaching towards the end of this month. Make sure you keep up with all of the events by visiting our calendar on the ATI website. In conjunction with our Spring Workshop this month, ATI will be sponsoring an event at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus called Tucson Speaks : The Business of Languages on Friday, 28 March 2014. This event will be Pima’s second annual bilingual career fair. Tucson Speaks is free and open to the public. There will be language agencies and employers present who will present information regarding what is required to get a job as an interpreter or translator as well as the benefits for working in the language services industry. There will also be sessions dedicated to training interpreters in different settings and in different delivery formats .

Immediately following Tucson Speaks, ATI will be offering our Spring Workshop . The workshop is free for all of our members. If you are not a member and would like to become one, register online and gain access to all of the benefits that ATI offers. As part of our Spring Workshop we have invited professional interpreters who work in hospitals, as conference interpreters, and in speech therapy to address us. Alfonzo Villaseñor, a well-trained and talented conference interpreter will speak to us about the basics of conference interpreting. Lizeth Silva-Carrazco, a full-time staff interpreter at Tucson Medical Center will speak to us about the need for face to face interpreters in hospitals. Heather Talag, a professional speech therapist and interpreter will address us regarding the terminology, strategies, and challenges encountered while interpreting during speech therapy sessions. This will be a wonderful event that every interpreter and/or translator in Arizona should attend. Also, the National Center for Interpretation will also be offering a workshop for beginning interpreters in a language neutral format. For more information visit http://nci.arizona.edu/.

I hope to see you there!

Best,

Jeffrey W. Gabbitas, PhD
ATI President

Letter from ATI President – May 2013

May 23, 2013 10:37 pm Leave a Comment

Hello fellow ATI-ers,

In the dead of winter in Germany, religious leaders met in a small chapel where the heater had stopped working. The leader who was conducting the meeting began by saying, “Many are cold, but few are frozen” drawing a pun from the commonly quoted scripture “Many are called but few are chosen.” Knowing that this pun would not translate well into German, the interpreter simply told the German speakers, “The president just made a joke that does not translate well. Please laugh.” The astute interpreter ingeniously accomplished the purpose of the original speaker by making everybody laugh.

Fortunately for all of us here in Arizona no one is cold or frozen. I hope everyone is gearing up for the summer, because ATI has an exciting event coming up 8 June 2013! We will be holding our Quarterly Workshop in Tucson, Arizona at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus in the Amethyst Room. See the information below and links in the sidebar for registration. More information will be added as it becomes available.

Our Summer Workshop will include three sessions of practical training dealing with simultaneous interpretation in a conference setting, consecutive interpretation in a legal setting, and translating with the CAT tool TRADOS. The aim of this workshop is to put theory into practice and allow interpreters and translators hands-on training. I hope you can join us on 8 June 2013 and bring your talents to the table as we refine our skills together.

Our Spring Workshop was a great success. Many thanks to the presenters and participants who joined us in Phoenix in March and to our host, Magellan Health Services. I personally want to thank everyone who works so hard to make ATI a successful and valuable organization.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey W. Gabbitas
ATI President

Letter from ATI President – Dr Jeffrey Gabbitas

February 2, 2013 10:36 pm Leave a Comment

Hello, fellow translators, interpreters and other members,

I hope you are all off to a great start this year! As the new President of ATI, I would like to extend a warm greeting to all of you and a welcome all those who may be new to ATI.
Please let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff Gabbitas and I was born and raised in Bakersfield, California but currently reside in Tucson, Arizona with my wife and six children. I currently direct the Translation and Interpretation Program and Pima Community College and thoroughly enjoy my work. That is enough about me;

I want to let you know what ATI has in mind for all of its members. The newly elected ATI Board has met and discussed the things that we can do to benefit all of the professionals engaged in the field of translation and interpretation. Our vision is to become a hub in our field by bringing together Language Service Providers (LSPs), educational and training institutions, certified and potential practitioners in training, project managers, agencies in need of translation and interpretation services and others.

To kick off this vision, we invite you to participate in a Bilingual Career Fair held at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus on February 15th, 2013 from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. (See attached flyer in the calendar section of this website.) ATI will have a table with information about the benefits of joining our organization as well as other information about other upcoming educational activities relating to our industry. It is free to all and will include valuable information for all involved in this exciting field. I hope to see you there as well as to all of the events that ATI will be hosting throughout the year!