AFS Announces Candidates for 2023 Election

The AFS Nominating Committee (chaired by Sarah Gordon with members Carrie Hertz, Fernando Orejuela, and Guha Shankar) has announced its slate of candidates for the AFS 2023 election.

Executive Board (two to be elected to three-year, 2024-2026 terms):

• Betty Belanus (Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage)
• Ashley Minner Jones (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)
• Margaret Steiner (Indiana University)
• Ziying You (The College of Wooster)

Nominating Committee (one to be elected to a three-year, 2024-2026 term):

• Lijun Zhang (George Mason University)
• Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe (Los Herederos and City Lore)

We will post biographical summaries and platform statements from all candidates on the elections page of the AFS web site in October. 

We have invited all candidates to participate in a Candidates’ Forum in coordination with the 2023 Annual Meeting. Secure online voting will begin in November after the Annual Meeting and will continue through December 21. Those elected will take office on January 1, 2024. 

As described in the AFS Bylaws, Society members now have the opportunity to add names to this slate by petition. Here is the process:

No later than October 27, please submit the following materials by email to AFS Executive Director Jessica Turner ([email protected]): 

1. A petition signed by at least 10 current AFS members that names the candidate and the office for which s/he is being nominated (please submit as a PDF)
2. A statement from the candidate agreeing to run (please submit as a PDF)
3. A 100-word biographical summary for the candidate (please submit in .doc or .rtf format)
4. A 250-word platform statement from the candidate responding to the question “What are the most significant opportunities or challenges now facing AFS, and how as [President / a member of the Executive Board / a member of the Nominating Committee] would you respond to those opportunities or challenges?” (please submit in .doc or .rtf format)

The Executive Board thanks the members of the Committee for their work to assemble this slate, and all candidates for their willingness to serve the field and AFS.