Dear Section Chair,
The ASA Committee on Membership Retention and Recruitment (CMRR) is working to facilitate members finding and feeling a personal connection within the ASA, something we believe is of great need and interest. With this in mind, we would like to ask for your help. Sections are a natural place for individuals to find a smaller community that is a professional home for them where they can interact comfortably and plug in to the latest happenings.
When a new ASA member joins, the ASA sends them a welcome packet as well as an e-mail welcoming them to the ASA. We would like to ask each section chair to write a brief welcome note to the individuals who have just joined their section. In the attached instructions, you can access the contact details for the new members of your section. Would you be willing to write a few paragraphs welcoming new members to your section? This brief note would need to be updated annually but otherwise could remain the same for a year. On a quarterly basis, you could send the welcome letter to new members who joined that quarter.
You could include a brief introduction of yourself and the section, with a few details about the goals of the section, annual activities, and opportunities for new members to participate. Attached is an example letter from the Section on Statistical Programmers and Analysts (SSPA). You may find this useful as you draft your note.
Thank you for supporting this idea by writing a note welcoming new members to your section. If you would like help writing the letter, please contact ASA staff Amy Farris or Donna LaLonde.
Sincerely,
ASA Committee on Membership Retention and Recruitment
Instructions to obtain a list of new section members
Sample message to new section members