Dear Members and Friends,
Thank you to all who attended our December 12 meeting and Holiday Fiesta. The event was a success, for we achieved the goals we set: social networking, professional networking, an opportunity for the members and the founding board to address each other directly and, among other things, having fun! Minutes of the meeting will be posted as soon as they become available.
We are already planning exciting events for 2010 and we look forward to seeing and working with all our members in the near future.
To those friends and members who, in solidarity and dismay, forwarded an email from Mr. Nabil Salem, our most sincere gratitude. We have received a message of support from
Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, Director of the Translation & Interpretation Program at Florida International University and are deeply grateful for his confidence, trust and unwavering support of our efforts.
With Dr. Camayd-Freixas’ permission, we reproduce his message below.
ATIF Founding Board
Giovanna Lester, Gloria Nichols, Maria Carolina Paraventi, Emmy Prieto, Elena Sheverdinova and Deborah Spector
♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦
December 12, 2009
Dear Mr. Salem,
As Director of the Translation & Interpretation Program at Florida International University, I have been an involved supporter of FLATA since 1998; I have been a member of the board; and have hosted numerous joint events at the university.
Those of us who have devoted countless hours to the promotion of the profession in our state mourned the dissolution of FLATA due to a momentary lack of volunteers to run it, and have been looking forward to the opportunity for regrouping and continuing such an important organization for the profession.
I was very happy to see FITA come into being, and was dissappointed to see it succumb to internal strife. Nevertheless, I applaud those sorely needed volunteers, many of whom were long-standing members of the original FLATA, who are giving their time and persevering in moving our professional organization forward.
Now that FITA “voluntarily dissolved,” as you say, it and its members can have no claim as to any other continuing efforts.
Be advised that Florida International University, through its T&I Program, recognizes, endorses, supports, and commends ATIF and its devoted volunteers for their continuing effort in assuring that our profession continues to have much-needed organizational representation.
We also regard any attempt to block the (re)organization of any professional association for translators and interpreters in Florida as a disreputable disservice to the profession as a whole.
Please remove my name from your listserve.
Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas