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Regional Officer Roles

For the presidential line and Chief Regional Officer (CRO) roles, we desire candidates who meet the following criteria:

• A doctorate in religion, religious studies, theology, or a related field.
• A history of demonstrated interest in the health of the SWCRS regional conference and the southwest region. At the very least, a candidate has attended SWCRS in the last five years.
• The ability to attend the SWCRS regional conference each spring, for the duration of the term.
• A teamwork mentality, including attending meetings (in person at the conference and via Zoom throughout the year) and a habit of answering emails within five business days.
• For CRO, we strongly prefer candidates with experience in regional leadership.

Candidates should understand that these roles are not ceremonial but require accountable work around firm deadlines. 

Specific duties in the presidential line (three year term, one year in each role) include:

• The Vice President (year one) is in charge of undergraduate programming. This role includes reading undergraduate proposals and forming panels, communicating with undergraduates and their mentors, reading full papers prior to the conference, and chairing undergraduate panel(s). The VP is also the liaison with Theta Alpha Kappa.
• The President Elect (year two) is in charge of conference programming (call for papers, proposal sorting, panel formation, etc.). This role includes writing the CfP in conjunction with the board and/or plenary speaker, migrating proposals into Notion (or other sorting software), creating panels, and emailing acceptance/nonacceptance decisions. The President Elect keeps minutes for the Business Meeting at SWCRS.
• The President (year three) is in charge of finding and caring for the plenary speaker. This role includes finding a plenary speaker, assisting with travel arrangements, and partnering with the speaker during the conference. The President runs the Business Meeting at SWCRS.

The CRO (three year term)

The Chief Regional Officer is the chief executive officer of the Regional Group. They are responsible for carrying out the day-to-day managerial functions, financial management and general operations of the Regional Group. The Chief Regional Officer serves as Board CEO and Treasurer for the regional group. Specific duties include:

• Oversees, delegates, and assists with all regional duties.
• Serves as treasurer.
• Maintains and manages online accounts (Truist, Paypal, Google, Mailchimp, GoDaddy, Zoom, etc), usually in conjunction with the Multimedia Coordinator.
• Writes and sends the regional newsletter, The Bridge.
• Liaisons with AAR National, including the Regions Meetings in November and June and various email conversations throughout the year.
• Submits reports at the end of the fiscal year.
• Liaisons with regional sister organizations, such as SWCRS, SBRL, and ASSR.
• Recruits and trains the presidential line.

The Student Director (two year term) should be a current graduate student in the southwest region who has attended SWCRS in the last five years and demonstrated interest in the health of the conference and the region. We especially seek Student Director candidates with new ideas for graduate student programming.

Interested in running for a position? Click here to submit an interest form, or watch for newsletters announcing elections each spring. To be considered, members must submit a short bio (150-200 words), a candidate statement (350-400 words) outlining regional investment, ideas for the region, teamwork and/or conference experience, etc., and a current CV.