Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Slavic Languages Division of the American Translators Association
September 27, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT
Held online via Zoom
Steven McGrath, Administrator; Natalia Postrigan, Assistant Administrator
Note: Text in red designates formal actions and decisions made by the group democratically.
SLD Annual Meeting Convened on September 27, 2025, 1 PM EDT
The Zoom meeting was opened at 12:30 PM Eastern. The Slavic Languages Division Annual Meeting was called to order by Steven McGrath shortly after 1 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Tom Fennell volunteered to be the Secretary of the Meeting.
SLD Annual Meeting 2024 Minutes
Having been duly circulated to the membership, the 2024 minutes were approved unanimously.
SLD Election Results
It was noted that over the summer, Steven McGrath was re-elected as Administrator and that Natalia Postrigan was re-elected Assistant Administrator, both by affirmation in the absence of other candidates. It was noted that both Steven and Natalia are term-limited in their current roles.
Reports and Decisions arising out of them
SLD Blog
Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya reported that the division’s website and blog now have full functionality after previous technical issues. She highlighted the restoration of the subscription function as an important step toward increasing member engagement with the Blog and encouraged all SLD members to subscribe to the blog as our main means of sharing information in the division.
Eugenia also requested volunteers to help coordinate conference session reviews for the blog, in particular, about the sessions of our distinguished speaker.
A motion arose out of the discussion of the report:
Decision to consider renaming the Blog
A motion was made to consider a new name over the next year. The motion was duly seconded, and after discussion, it carried unanimously. Suggestions were made to consider names such as Slavfile, Slavfile Online, or Proceedings of the Slavic Divisions, and a call was made for the members to supply further ideas. Paul Gallagher commented that increasing the participation and visitor traffic on the blog was of importance. Steven suggested that the leadership council gets involved in the discussion of the name.
SLD Webinars
Eugenia reported on the successful ATA certification exam preparation webinar, which had 22 participants. She stated that the webinar materials were available. A suggestion was made to explore the possibility of offering the webinar as a division member benefit, free to the SLD members. A suggestion was made to explore alternative formats, such as a workshop, and to try Canva to record presentations. Steven suggested surveying the members to find whether they prefer a webinar or workshop. David Stephenson suggested talking with the Spanish division about their experience conducting webinars and workshops as a division benefit.
Social Media
SLOVO – the SLD Podcast
The recent podcast episodes were reviewed, and it was noted that the current podcast administrator, Halla Goins, is stepping down.
LinkedIn, Facebook, X
Steven gave a brief report on SLD social media on behalf of the volunteer administrators. Facebook administrator Anna Livermore is stepping down. Steven mentioned that ATA had released a new guide for social media administrators that would be useful to potential volunteers, including on platforms where the SLD currently has no presence.
A motion arose out of the discussion of social media, and the attendees approved, without objections, to establish a social media committee, with Tom Fennell appointed as chair. The committee will manage the division’s social media efforts including the podcast, LinkedIn, and possibly other media. Tom indicated he would try to recruit fellow committee members.
SLD Banquet at Boston-2025
At the time of the annual meeting, the dinner registration was at 14-15 people, well below the target of 30-35 needed for the restaurant buyout. Natalia explained that the restaurant had a fixed price for groups of 30+ people, which included drinks and wine, and could not be prorated based on the actual attendance. The group discussed options including keeping the current reservation, negotiating with the restaurant about separate tables for smaller groups, or switching to a pay-as-you-go system similar to the one in 2021. Tom suggested continuing to work with the restaurant while preparing for a potential late registration surge, and Natalia confirmed that the restaurant would most likely agree to changing the arrangements.
Sourcing Candidates for the Division Leadership Positions
Steven stated that the new ATA handbook changed the process for nominating division officers. There will be no more nominating committees. Active SLD members interested in leadership positions may be self-nominated or nominated by any other member.
2026 San Francisco Conference
The group discussed potential topics and speakers for the future conference. One idea was a presentation on AI resources for Slavic languages, and it was suggested that Dmitry Beschetny might be able to help with this. Another topic suggested was alternative/supplementary career opportunities for translators and interpreters. Tom said he would consider doing a presentation on switching from translating to interpreting. Yet another potential topic for the 2026 conference was interpreting in Slavic languages. Eugenia noted that our division presentations tend to be heavy on literary topics and there is an interest in topics related to interpreting. Natalia Petrova suggesting a panel on the preparation for the Russian court interpreting exam. Tom Fennell shared his experience using AI to prepare for the Nebraska court interpreter exam.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega added in the chat that Nina Bogdan had moved away from translation, but that she had a book out about the Russian community in San Francisco, where the conference will be (Before We Disappear into Oblivion: San Francisco’s Russian Diaspora from Revolution to Cold War). She might want to do a presentation.
The participants also noted that the Slavic Languages Division will not have a distinguished speaker at the next conference in 2026, and that plans for future conferences remain uncertain.
Open Floor Questions and Feedback
A suggestion was made, and the attendees agreed to continue with the quarterly Zoom networking meetings.
Introduction of New Attendees
Yngve Roennike, a seasoned translator based in Washington, DC, shared his background in a broad number of European languages, especially Scandinavian ones, but also including Russian, and his interest in translation.
Adjournment
The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn, which was duly seconded, and was passed unanimously.
Please note that the original version of the minutes was reviewed and approved by:
Steve Mcgrath
Nora Seligman Favorov
Liv Bliss
Shelley Fairweather-Vega
Aleksandr Lukoff
Paul Gallagher
Yngve Roennike
Substantial additions and improvements were made by Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya, Dmitry Beschetny and Natalia Postrigan, many thanks for that! It just goes to show that “too many cooks do not always spoil the broth,” and that oftentimes instead “many hands make light work.”
Faithfully submitted,
Tom Fennell
SLD 2025 Annual Meeting Secretary
November 25, 2025
