Gina Nichols, Candidate for Regent for Examination Administration

In what ways, if any, would you advocate or initiate collaboration between the Academy and SAA, especially in regards to the topic of educational coursework?

Sometimes collaboration between organizations takes a bit of effort to find common ground. The Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA) and Society of American Archivists (SAA) both support professional and student archival training, and should collaborate their efforts and work towards shared goals.

The cornerstone of this relationship would be creating a Joint Working Group on Education (JWG-E) between the ACA, SAA, the SAA Education Committee, and any other pertinent groups to outline the educational needs of our community and create a strategic plan to reach defined goals. The JWG-E could outline main educational challenges, collaborate to find common ground, and develop solutions to big picture issues. This would create consistent academic content, additional educational opportunities, and professional development.

One approach could be for the JWG-E members to synchronize the eight ACA domains with all currently offered SAA courses and work in tandem to develop and provide training opportunities for any areas insufficiently offered. The group could encourage conference workshops and virtual lectures in all domains to educate the entire archival community.

Another area of interest is working to increase the number of online workshops, lectures, and conferences allowing everyone to attend, not just to those with the means and ability to attend onsite. Prior to the pandemic, online training opportunities were limited which, in turn, limited who could attend and expand their education. This is the perfect opportunity to not only continue the current programs, but increase the depth and breadth of offerings. 

Through this partnership we will support professional and student archivists across the community to expand educational opportunities at a time of rapid changes in archival education. This relationship would encourage training, testing, and certification to thrive across the archival community.

 

Professional Experience:

• Manager, Collections Department and Supervisory Archivist; U.S. Navy Seabee Museum: 2016-Present.
• Archivist; U.S. Navy Seabee Museum: 2004-2016.
• Lecturer – Department of History; California State University Northridge: 2009–2014.
• Project Archivist - San Fernando Valley History Digital Library Project; California State University Northridge: 2003-2004.

Education:

• MLIS, San Jose State University: 2016
• MA, History, California State University, Northridge: 2006
• BA, History, California State University, Northridge: 2002

 

Professional Activities:

• Academy of Certified Archivists: Member, 2010-present.
• Society of American Archivists: Committee Member, Committee on Public Policy: 2021–present.
• Society of American Archivists: Steering Committee Member, Government Records Section: 2019–2022.