AATSP Massachusetts Chapter
AATSP 2020 Chapter of the Year

The 2020 winner of the Chapter of the Year Award is the Massachusetts Area Chapter. The Massachusetts Chapter includes over 350 paid members. In addition, the Chapter is home to 12 Life Time members and 20 Emeritus members. The reach of the Massachusetts Chapter is all-encompassing and the Chapter has a local, regional, and national presence. Members take advantage of myriad opportunities to engage at conferences, for example, and this past year Chapter members presented at MaFLA, LASA, MLA, New England Conference on Latin American Studies, AATSP-San Diego, and other venues.

Beyond members traveling for conferences, the Chapter hosts numerous events in-state throughout the academic year; some of the highlights this year included a Día de la Raza event with the Consul of Spain, a film screening and discussion, the 35th Awards Ceremony Dinner for the AATSP National Spanish Exam achievement winners (including the parents and teachers of these high-achieving students), and a visit for members to the Museum of Fine Arts’ Frida Kahlo Exhibit (followed by a dinner at a local restaurant).

In addition to the many funding opportunities for Spanish and Portuguese teachers sponsored by the AATSP national office, the Massachusetts Chapter also has procured funding for over a decade from the Embassy of Spain to sponsor a teacher to carry out graduate work at a university in Spain. The Chapter provides a generous grant for transportation related to this scholarship. Additionally, the Massachusetts Chapter co-hosted with Wellesley College a Northeast AATSP regional conference in late September of 2019 in which approximately 100 AATSP members participated. Proposals centered on the topic “Justice for All: People, Animals, and the Planet” and the keynote was poet and activist Marjorie Agosín.

The Massachusetts Chapter offers a wide array of activities and programming for both members and students and dutifully upholds the AATSP mission statement; we congratulate them for this recognition and achievement!

Chapter’s President Acceptance Statement

During these uncertain times of tribulation throughout the entire world, caused by the Coronavirus, with concomitant destruction of human life, diminished income and emotional exigencies, we embrace our AATSP motto, TODOS A UNA, a beacon of hope. For, at whatever border alone, we are united together in a common mission of justice for all peoples, animals, and our global planet. More than ever, it is urgent for teachers of Spanish and Portuguese to maintain intellectual curiosity/diversity and inclusion/social outreach, as we move forward together productively.

AATSP-MASS is honored to be national Chapter of the Year. We organized the 12th Northeast Conference sponsored by AATSP, Spanish Embassy, Instituto Cervantes at Harvard, and Wellesley College: 100 educators, 50 students! We held: talks; a poster contest; performances; Annual Film Day; dinner for NSE school winners/families/teachers in MA; we co-sponsored a generous graduate scholarship given by the Spanish Embassy. Our lema: we strive & thrive.

Humbled and grateful, we declare: ¡Todos a Una!

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