Announcements

The STR Leadership is saddened to learn of the death of Professor Sharon Oster.  Sharon was an economist who was the first woman to gain tenure and the first female Dean at the Yale School of Management.  Her research focused on business strategy, non-profit organization management, microeconomic theory and the economics of regulation and antitrust policies.  She was the recipient of the 2018 STR Irwin Outstanding Educator Award for Excellence in MBA/Executive Education.  Many of Sharon’s students have shared stories about the influence of her teaching on their lives, decades after taking her course.  She also received several teaching awards from Yale, in addition to receiving the 2011 American Economic Association's Carolyn Shaw Bell Award for furthering the status of women in the economics profession.  Our thoughts are with her family.  

Leading up to the annual August AOM conference, the STR Division has coordinated a number of virtual social hours.  These are open to all STR members – whether you are attending the AOM annual meeting or not (and please let us know if you are interested in hosting a virtual social hour in July around a theme you identify).  We also have an exciting debate scheduled for the end of June.  Please follow the links below to register for these events.

June Virtual Social Hours:

June 7:  Italian Virtual Social Hour, starting at 17:00 CET

June 17:  Bulgarian Virtual Social Hour, starting at 16:00 CET

June 21:  Job Market and Strategy Trends – Brazil, starting at 11am BRT

June 21:  French Virtual Social Hour, starting at 14:00 CET

June 22:  Scandinavian/Nordic Virtual Social Hour, starting at 16:00 CET

June 23:  Iranian Virtual Social Hour, starting at 17:00 GMT  

June 24:  Turkey Virtual Social Hour, starting at 3pm Turkish time (TRT, GMT+3)

June 29: Baltics Virtual Social Hour, starting at 15:00 CET

Debate:

Friday, June 24, 2022: 

STR Debate:  Do we need a new theory of the “international firm”? – June 24^th starting at 12pm (noon) ET.

Please join us for an exciting Oxford/Cambridge style debate will consider whether we need a new theory of the “international firm,” given all of the major changes in the world.  The “for” side include Peter Buckley (University of Leeds) and Alain Verbeke (University of Calgary) and the “against” side includes David Teece (University of California, Berkeley) and Jay Barney (University of Utah).  This debate is organized and moderated by Ilgaz Arikan (Kent State University).   

Please join us at one of our STR virtual events during the month of May.  These events include a new Meet a Method session focused on lab experiments, a new Meet a Theory session focused on firm resources and capabilities, a virtual symposium on competitive advantage in ecosystems and a teaching PDW that focuses on digital strategy. 

Zoom registration information is available in each of the links below. 

All the best,

Heather Berry

STR Division Chair

May 2022 Events:

Thursday, May 5, 2022: 

STR Meet a Method:  Lab Experiments – May 5^th starting at 11am ET.

This Meet a Method session will focus on using lab experiments in strategic management research with Giada Di Stefano (Bocconi University), Oliver Schilke (University of Arizona) and Regan Stevenson (Indiana University).  Tomasz Obloj (HEC Paris) will moderate this session and encourages participants to send any questions in advance of this event to him.      

Monday, May 9, 2022:

STR Meet a Theory:  Resources and Capabilities – May 9^th starting at 4pm ET. 

This Meet a Theory session will focus on resources and capabilities with panelists Connie Helfat (Dartmouth College), Aseem Kaul (University of Minnesota), Cathy Maritan (Syracuse University) and Ralf Wilden (Macquarie Business School).  Mahka Moeen (University of North Carolina) will moderate this event. 

Tuesday, May 10, 2022:

STR Teaching PDW:  The Rules and Tools of Digital Strategy – May 10^th starting at 10:00am ET. 

Please join three experts on digital strategy, including Vinod Jain, Lokesh Kumar and Sridharan Rangarajan, for a discussion of how “digital strategy” differs from “strategy” (regarding value capture and competitive advantage, for example), economic principles that underpin digital and Internet of Things business and why it is important to include digital strategies in strategic management courses. 

Monday, May 16, 2022:

STR Virtual Symposium – The Theory of the Firms and Competitive Advantage in Ecosystems – May 16^th starting at 11am ET

Please join us in this virtual symposium that will discuss how the ecosystem framework can help to address core issues in strategic management research, including competitive advantage and firm boundaries.  Panelists Olivier Chatain (HEC Paris), Rahul Kapoor (University of Pennsylvania) and Brian Wu (University of Michigan) will be joined by discussant Marvin Lieberman (University of California, Los Angeles).  Organizers Cameron Miller (Syracuse University) and Elena Plaksenkova (Ohio State University) will moderate this event.  (Please note - this is a two hour virtual event, with the last thirty minutes devoted to roundtables where participants can interact with the panelists and get feedback on their ideas or ask questions.) 

We have many different types of events planned for the month of April, including new Meet a Theory session focused on the attention-based view, a virtual symposium that focuses on the past and future of global strategy, a professional development event focused on research in academic and industry careers, a teaching event that focuses on incorporating research into teaching and a fun social virtual trivia quiz event.  

Zoom registration information is available in the links to each of the virtual events listed below.  

We look forward to seeing you at one of these virtual events in April!

Heather Berry
STR Division Chair

April Events:  

Tuesday, April 5, 2022: 

STR Meet a Theory:  Attention-based View – April 5^th starting at 10am ET.

The Meet a Theory session will focus on the attention-based view with panelists Nel Dutt (Bocconi University), J.P. Eggers, (New York University), William Ocasio (University of Illinois), and Richard Whittington (University of Oxford).  Luke Rhee (University of California Irvine) will moderate this event. 

Wednesday, April 20, 2022:

STR Virtual Symposium – The Past and Future of Global Strategy – April 20^th starting at 10am ET

Please join us at the virtual symposium that will analyze the past and future of global strategy, i.e., how managers guide their firms to address the opportunities and challenges of operating across countries in response to the continuous transformation in the global geopolitical, technological, and sociocultural contexts.  The panel consists of current and former associate editors and coeditors of Global Strategy Journal who will share their expertise on what we have learned in the past and especially what they think are the most interesting developments in terms of topics and theories to analyze in the field.

Thursday, April 21, 2022

STR Member Engagement Activity:  Virtual Trivia Quiz Social, April 21^st, starting at 11:00am ET

We are bringing back the virtual trivia quiz game for 2022!  Prepare to be challenged and meet fellow STR members in this purely social event which will be moderated by David Clough (University of British Columbia) and Dimo Ringov (ESADE). 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022:

STR Professional Development:  Research and Career Advancement Across Academia and Industry – April 26^th starting at 12:00pm (noon) ET 

Please join us for a discussion with Annamaria Conti (HEC Lausanne), Kevin Kniffin (Cornell University) and J. Muir Macpherson (AON) on the importance of research in both academic and industry careers.  Caterina Moschieri (IE Business School) will moderate this event.   

Friday, April 29, 2022:

STR Teaching Discussion:  Incorporating Research into Strategy Teaching, April 29^th starting at noon, ET

Please join Linus Dahlander (ESMT Berlin), Riitta Katila (Stanford University) and Brian Silverman (University of Toronto) for a discussion on synergies between teaching and research.  Andrea Contigiani (Ohio State University) and Cheng Gao (University of Michigan) will moderate this event. 

The STR Division is seeking applications for STR co-sponsorship of locally-organized and run conferences that will happen over the next year (including from April, 2022 to April 2023, but preferably not in August, 2022). 

The STR Division leadership recognizes the opportunity to support the strategic management field through additional conferences and gatherings that are distinct from the AoM Annual Meeting. Smaller and more intimate conferences offer the opportunity for more focused research discussions, to facilitate networking opportunities, and to allow scholars who are unable to attend the AoM Annual Meeting to engage in scholarly discussion. Our effort aims to extend and build on the success of conferences organized by the STR Division Global Representatives. We envision supporting locally-organized conferences that foster both in-person or virtual delivery.  While there is no restriction on the geographic location of the conference, the theme needs to relate to the field of strategic management. 

The STR Division aims to primarily support these conferences via co-sponsoring and branding. In addition, we may send one or more STR Division members (typically current or former members of the leadership team) to help with consortia, PDWs, panels or other research activities at the conference.  We are also open to STR leadership playing other roles.

Applications should be submitted (in English) to STR Division Chair Heather Berry at the email below.  Applications should clearly indicate the objective of the conference and its importance to the field of strategic management. In addition, applications should indicate the conference name, the names and positions/affiliations of the conference organizers, the local university/organization that is providing space (if there is one), the intended size of the conference as well as any currently committed participants.  Please specify the role that you envision for a member of the STR leadership in your conference.

Current elected officers of the STR Division will review submissions based on the anticipated contribution to the field and STR leadership willingness/ability to attend the conference. In this initial year, we propose covering the travel fees of the STR representative(s) for in-person conferences. 

Please send your questions and/or applications to Division Chair Heather Berry at aomstrheather@gmail.com 

We have several exciting events planned for the month of March, including new Meet a Theory (focused on real options), Meet a Method (focused on theory-empirics fit), virtual symposium (focused on neo-Carnegie scholars) and professional development (focused on research grants) events. 

Zoom registration information is available in the links to each virtual event listed below (in addition to being posted on the STR calendar).  When the speakers agree, we record these sessions and make them available on our YouTube and BiliBili channels and in podcast form for those unable to attend these events in real time.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed submissions for the STR Division for the August conference in the month of February – we appreciate your time and help.

Heather Berry

STR Division Chair

March Events:

Wednesday, March 2, 2022: 

STR Meet a Theory:  Real Options – March 2^nd starting at 9am ET.

The Meet a Theory session will focus on Real Options, with panelists John Chen (University of Florida), Tim Folta (University of Connecticut), Ronald Klingebiel (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) and Atul Nerkar (University of North Carolina).  Daniel Keum (Columbia University) will moderate this event. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2022:

STR Meet a Method  – Theory-Empirics Fit  – March 9^th starting at 11am ET

Join us for a discussion of theory-empirics fit in strategy research, featuring three prominent scholars who will also share their experience as journal editors, including Gurneeta Vasudeva Singh (University of Minnesota and Associate Editor at Academy of Management Journal) David Tan (Georgetown University and Senior Editor at Organization Science) and Maggie Zhou (University of Michigan and Associate Editor at Strategic Management Journal).  Tomasz Obloj (HEC) will moderate this event. 

Thursday, March 17, 2022:

STR Virtual Symposium – The Behavioral Theory at 10 Years:  The Neo-Carnegie Scholars’ View – March 17^st starting at 10am ET

We have invited four neo-Carnegie scholars who are the authors of “The Behavioral Theory of the Firm” (published in the Academy of Management Annals) to discuss this theory.  These authors include Giovanni Gavetti (Dartmouth College), Henrich Greve (INSEAD), Dan Levinthal (University of Pennsylvania) and William Ocasio (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).  Luke Rhee (University of California-Irvine) and Gwen Lee (University of Florida) will moderate this event.  

Thursday, March 31, 2022

STR Professional Development Event on Grants:  Basics, Best Practices and Learning Around the World  – March 31^st starting at 10am  ET.

This virtual event aims to discuss research grants – basics, best practices and learnings.  Donal Crilly (London Business School), Mercedes Delgado (Copenhagen Business School), Giada Di Stefano (Bocconi), and Kenneth Huang (National University of Singapore) will share their experiences getting and reviewing grants from the European Research Council (ERC) the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Research Foundation and the SRF Dissertation Fellowship, in addition to responding to questions from participants.  Lisa Tang (National University of Singapore) will moderate this event. 

Hello STR Members,

We have several exciting events planned for February, including the start of our Meet a Theory series, continuing Meet a Method sessions and our first debate.   In addition, we are offering events focused on teaching core strategy, the pros and cons of post-docs and writing reviews. 

We hope to see you at these events – Zoom registration information is available in the links for each virtual event listed below (in addition to being posted on the STR calendar).  We will also record these sessions and make them available on our YouTube and BiliBili channels and in podcast form for those unable to attend the events. 

To stay informed of these and future events, please visit our webpage calendar, and/or any of our STR social media accounts. 

Heather Berry

STR Division Chair

Thursday, February 3, 2022: 

STR Meet a Theory:  The Behavioral Theory of the Firm – February 3^rd starting at 10am ET.

The first of the Meet a Theory Series will focus on New Frontiers in Behavioral Strategy:  Exploring how Cognition and Structure Interact, with panelists Linda Argote (Carnegie Mellon University), Vibha Gaba (INSEAD), Songcui Hu (University of Arizona) and Dan Levinthal (University of Pennsylvania).  Felipe Csaszar (University of Michigan) will moderate this event. 

Friday, February 4, 2022:

STR Teaching Discussion  – Revisiting Core Strategy Teaching – February 4^st starting at 12pm ET

Join us for a discussion of best practices in the teaching of core strategy courses with Anita McGahan (University of Toronto) and Nicolaj Siggelkow (University of Pennsylvania) and Moderators Andrea Contigiani (Ohio State University) and Cheng Gao (University of Michigan). 

Wednesday, February 9, 2022: 

STR Writing Retreat:  Reviewing for Conferences and Journals – Best Practices  – February 9^th starting at 9am ET.

Following last year’s very successful iteration, join Catherine Maritan (Syracuse University) for a discussion on reviewing best practices for the first hour and a writing retreat for the second hour.  

Friday, February 11, 2022:

STR Meet a Method  – Difference-in-Difference Models in Strategy Research – February 11^th starting at 10am ET

This month, Evan Starr (University of Maryland) will host a panel discussion with Andrew Goodman-Bacon (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) and Jonathan Roth (Brown University) on what can go wrong in diff-in-diff and staggered adoption designs and what to do about it. 

Wednesday, February 16, 2022:

STR Debate: When Do Market Versus Non-Market Strategies Help Firms? – February 16^st starting at 12pm ET

The For team includes Helena Barnard (University of Pretoria) and Jonathan Doh (Villanova University) and they will argue that nonmarket strategies are necessary and sufficient conditions for competitive advantage.  The Against team includes Elizabeth Maitland (University of Liverpool) and Christos Pitelis (University of Leeds) and they will argue that any firm can outperform their rivals in any location if they strictly apply market mechanisms.  Ilgaz Arikan (Kent State University) will moderate this event. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2022: 

STR :  Post-Docs  – February 23^th starting at 9:30am ET.

This virtual event aims to discuss the pros and cons of post-docs.  Sinzi Dorobantu (New York University and post-doc at Wharton), Panikos Georgallis (University of Amsterdam and post-doc at Michigan), Louise Mors (Copenhagen Business School and post-doc at MIT), Leandro Nardi (currently doing a post-doc at HEC Paris) will share their post-doc experiences and respond to audience questions.  Joao Albino-Pimentel (University of South Carolina) will moderate this event. 

 

STR Reviewer Assignments & Deadlines

Louise Mors

STR Program Chair

Emails with review assignments were sent to volunteer reviewers on the 20th of January. Fortunately, we were able to assign three reviewers to each proposal submitted to the 2022 conference. The deadline to complete reviews is the 17th of February 2022.

Our next task is to ensure that the assigned reviews are fully and thoughtfully completed by the February 17 deadline. History suggests that a non-trivial percentage of proposals assigned to our reviewers are lost in spam folders or otherwise not completed. If you signed up to review, please check your spam folders to access any proposals assigned to you for review. If you have not signed up, there is still time to help your division by signing up as an emergency reviewer. My review team - Donal Crilly (London Business School), Metin Sengul (Boston College), and Elisa Alvarez Garrido (University of South Carolina) - and I will be working with reviewers. Our ambition is to provide three thoughtful reviews to each completed paper or symposia proposal that has been submitted to our division. Remember, the success of our program hinges on our ability to attract many hundreds of high-quality reviewers and thousands of high-quality reviews for the scholarly program.

The AOM review system is at http://review.aom.org/.  Your reviewer assignment will be based on the topic codes that you indicate to represent your areas of expertise. More resources for reviewers are available at http://aom.org/annualmeeting/review/.  

The strategic management field needs your input. The STR division needs your help. I appreciate your service. 

Hello STR Members,

First – congrats on getting your submission uploaded for the August Annual Conference.  (And please remember to sign up to review to help us create a fantastic program.)  

Now that the deadline for AOM conference submissions has passed, I want to highlight a couple of upcoming virtual events the STR Division has planned for January.  Zoom registration information is available in the links for each virtual event below, in addition to being posted on the STR calendar.  We will also record these sessions and make them available on our YouTube and BiliBili channels and in podcast form for those unable to attend the events. 

To stay informed of these and future events, please visit our webpage calendar, and/or any of our STR social media accounts. 

Heather Berry

STR Division Chair

Wednesday, January 19, 2022: 

STR Virtual Symposium:  Cooperative Strategies and Organizational Structure – January 19^th at 11am ET.

With Adam Kleinbaum (Dartmouth College), Deepak Nayak (Temple University), Neus Palomeras (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Trevor Young-Hyman (University of Pittsburgh), Discussant Xavier Castaner (HEC Lausanne) and Moderator Navid Asgari (Fordham University).

Monday, January 31, 2022:

STR Virtual Symposium – Scientific Approach to Strategic Decision Making – January 31^st at 10am ET

Join us for a discussion of the scientific approach to strategic decision making with Alfonso Gambardella (Bocconi), Sharique Hasan (Duke University), Elena Novelli (City University of London), Mu-Jeung Yang (University of Oklahoma) and Moderator Mahka Moeen (University of North Carolina). 

The Rotman School of Management will be hosting a virtual ceremony of remembrance to share and celebrate Will Mitchell's many professional contributions.  This event is being held on Monday, January 17, 2022 from 11am to noon ET.  The hosts welcome all who wish to attend and request that you sign up in advance here.   

Information about a virtual book of condolences, Will's obituary and a scholarship in his name at the University of Toronto that has been established to honor his commitment to student support can all be found here.

Happy new year from STR!

I am excited to receive your submissions for the annual conference in Seattle. And please also sign up to review. Do you know how many submissions the STR division expects every year? Over the last few years, our division has attracted close to 1,000 paper and symposia submissions. Given our goal to identify three reviews per submission, this implies a need for 3,000 reviews each year.

It follows that the success of our program depends critically on our ability to attract many hundreds of high-quality reviewers and thousands of high-quality reviews for the scholarly program. We therefore hope that you will join our reviewer team and help select the papers for inclusion in the program and provide developmental feedback to authors who submit their work to the division. In addition to being a part of your service to our field, reviewing offers you the opportunity to develop as scholars, to see and shape trends in our field, and to help ensure the field of strategic management continues to provide valuable and distinctive scholarship contributions.

I count on, and thank you in advance, for your willingness to volunteer and contribute to the program by providing thoughtful and timely reviews. The AOM review system is at http://review.aom.org/  and directs you to sign up as a reviewer.  The STR Division will ask you to review about three submissions starting after the January 11^th submission deadline. Your reviewer assignment will be based on the topic codes that you indicate to represent your areas of expertise. This ensures an efficient and productive experience when reviewing for STR! More resources for reviewers are available at http://aom.org/annualmeeting/review/

Please sign up to review for STR! The strategic management field needs your input. The STR division needs your help. I greatly appreciate your service. 

Louise Mors

STR Program Chair

Best wishes for a restful holiday break and a healthy and happy New Year!

-Your STR Leadership Team

It is with great sadness that the STR Leadership shares the news of the sudden passing of Professor Will Mitchell.  Will’s most recent position was Professor of Strategic Management at the Rotman School of Management and before that at Duke University and the University of Michigan.  Will was remarkable in his contribution to the field of strategic management and he was the recipient of two distinguished career awards from the STR Division, including the 2021 STR William D. Guth Distinguished Service Award and the 2009 STR Irwin Outstanding Educator Award for PhD mentorship.  He was a fantastic colleague who was an active member and thought leader in the strategic management community.  He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with his family. 

Hello STR Members,

I wanted to highlight some upcoming virtual non-conference events that the STR Division has planned for the month of December.  Please consider joining us for any of the following events (and zoom registration information is available in the links for each event below).  And if you are unable to attend these events, we will record these sessions and make them available on our YouTube and BiliBili channels and in podcast form. 

To stay informed of these and future events, please visit our webpage calendar, and/or any of our STR social media accounts. 

Heather Berry

STR Division Chair

Thursday, December 2^nd: 

STR Meet a Method:  Field Experiments in Strategy Research – December 2^nd at 9am ET.

With Vanessa Burbano (Columbia Business School), Sharique Hasan (Duke University) and Marieke Huysentruyt (HEC Paris) and Moderator Tomasz Obloj (HEC Paris). 

STR Career Path Initiative (3^rd Session):  Focus on Consulting and Academia December 2^nd at 11am ET

With Teresa Martin-Retortillo (IE U.), Phebo Wibbens (INSEAD), Jillian Chown (Northwestern U.), Olivier Sibony (HEC Paris) and moderator Caterina Moschieri (IE U.)

Monday, December 6, 2021:

STR Panel on Work Habits and Productivity – Insights from Recipients of the STR Emerging Scholar Award - December 6^th at 1pm ET

The STR Division gives out an Emerging Scholar Award every other year.  Join us for a conversation with Zeke Hernandez (U. of Pennsylvania, 2017 Winner), Seth Carnahan (Wash U., 2019 Winner) and Vanessa Burbano (Columbia U., 2021 Winner) as they discuss their work habits and productivity and balance lessons they have learned.  Tadhg Ryan-Charleton (Queen’s U. Belfast) will moderate this session.   

Wednesday, December 8, 2021:

STR Virtual Writing Retreat: “This is How I Write – Editors’ Perspective” – December 8^th at 9am ET

With Olivier Chatain (HEC Paris), Luis Diestre (IE Business School), Giada Di Stefano (Bocconi U.) and Caroline Flammer (Boston U.) and Aldona Kapacinskaite (U. Bocconi) 

Thursday, December 16, 2021:

STR Meet a Method:  Formal Models in Strategic Management December 16^th at 11am ET

With John Chen (U. of Florida), Arkadiy Sakhartov (U. of Illinois) and Phebo Wibbens (INSEAD) presenting and Michael Lenox (U. of Virginia), Felipe Csaszar (U. of Michigan) and Martin Ganco (U. of Wisconsin) discussing

Hello STR Members!

My name is Heather Berry and I am the STR Division Chair for the 2021-2022 academic year, leading a fantastic group of volunteers.  The STR Division has two long-standing goals.  These are: 1.) advancing the creation and dissemination of strategic management research, and 2.)  connecting members of the global strategic management community both to each other and to other scholars in related fields.  After taking the month of September as a break, we are back to planning events for the 2021-2022 academic year, including both the 2022 August Annual Conference and non-conference activities to achieve both of these goals. 

I want to highlight a couple of research, teaching and social activities that we are working on for this academic year:

• On the research front, we will be offering virtual panel discussions throughout the year of methods that strategic management researchers use (“Meet the Method” virtual panels).  EC Member Tomasz Obloj will be overseeing these and he will be using the STR Daily Digest to solicit member input on methods you would like included in this series (so look out for his survey). We will also continue to offer virtual research symposia within each of the eight STR Division Research Tracks.  EC Member Gwen Lee is overseeing these sessions and she has tapped into the STR Research Committee to develop these symposia.  In addition, we will be offering some experimental virtual research sessions this year, including “Meet the Theory” virtual panels on influential theories in strategic management and debates within and across research areas, in addition to other events that will be structured in a variety of ways.  EC Member Mahka Moeen will be overseeing these experimental virtual sessions.
• Our teaching committee is being run by Division Chair Elect Michael Leiblein this year and Michael and his team will be offering virtual teaching events open to all members, in addition to offering new content on the STR Teaching tab on the STR website.
• Our Global Reps have created two paper development workshops for the year, including an STR Paper Development Workshop in Brazil on November 26^th and an STR Paper Development Workshop for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean starting on January 10, 2022.
• On the social front, our MEC committee members will continue to offer sessions that not only connect our members but also help to develop skills.  They will be offering writing/reviewing workshops, productivity workshops (with all STR emerging scholar winners), cultural cafes, in addition to continuing their series on alternative career paths.  They also have an STR runner’s club you might want to check out.

Events will be posted to the STR Calendar as they are finalized (available on our homepage and easily added to your google calendar), in addition to being advertised using the STR Daily Digest.

The planning for the 2022 August Annual Meeting is underway and AOM has announced that the 2022 Annual Conference will take using a hybrid format.  While this hybrid format has not been finalized, it will likely involve a combination of onsite sessions and virtual only sessions (with some onsite sessions streamed live and accessible to virtual participants).  I will share information as I learn more about the format. 

I would like to encourage you to start thinking about nominees for STR teaching and career awards we will bestow at the 2022 Annual Conference.  Division Chair Elect Michael Leiblein and the STR Awards Committee will be seeking your nominations this fall (and will post more information about this year’s awards soon).     

And finally, this year we will be using an AOM tool called the “Announcement Widget” for your elected STR officers to communicate with members.  These announcements (like this one) will appear at the top of the STR Daily Digest under the title “Announcements” (above the normal “Discussion” threads that include all member postings).  I hope this helps to highlight STR leadership information in your inbox.

I look forward to seeing you at many STR events throughout the year!