Moderator and Coordination Committee

Mission

The mission of the SEALS Moderator and Coordination Committee is to place moderators on SEALS panels. Moderators will organize the presentation of the panel, introduce panelists, help with time management, facilitate an effective discussion of the topic with members of the audience, and may also play an active role in the panel’s discussion.

Committee Members

Lucas Osborn (Campbell) (Chair) osbornl@campbell.edu
Margie Alsbrook (Mercer)
Thomas Folsom (Regent)
Natt Gantt (High Point)
David Hague (St. Mary’s)
Erica Kelsaw (Texas Southern)
Emilio Longoria (South Texas)
Erica McElreath (Charleston)
Eang Ngov (Oklahoma)
Pammela Quinn (Drexel)
Nancy Soonpaa (Texas Tech)
Carlota Toledo (Louisiana State)

Guidelines

Panel Moderators: SEALS Moderator Guidelines
New Scholars Moderators: Guidelines for Moderators of New Scholar Panels
Works-in-Progress Moderators: Guidelines for Moderators for Works-in-Progress Panels

Messages

If you would like to be added to our list of moderators, or to suggest a colleague, please contact the chair of the committee. In your e-mail, please give us your contact information (phone, e-mail, address) and the areas of expertise in which you would like to moderate.

Annual Reports

2023 Annual Report

The Moderator & Coordination Committee has secured moderators for all panels and workshops for the 2023 SEALS Annual Conference (except Discussion Groups, who designate one of their own to serve as moderator). Beginning in January, the Committee Chair reviews the SEALS program to identify panels that do not have moderators listed. The Chair sends the list of panels needing moderators to the Committee members, who then work through their networks to fill slots on a first-come, first-served basis. Chosen moderators adhere to the one-panel limitation of the SEALS conference. The Committee appointed as moderators people from diverse schools and with diverse backgrounds to be as inclusive as possible.

Beginning in March, at the direction of the chair, the Committee members contact every moderator to confirm participation and asks the moderator to confirm the participation of the respective panelists. The Committee also maintains and sends to the moderators guidelines tailored for moderating regular panels, Works-In-Progress panels, and New Scholars Workshops. In this process, each Committee member is assigned approximately four panels. The work is significant because many times the Committee member must follow up with non-responsive moderators, or the moderators must follow up with non-responsive panelists. (At times, Committee members may fail to timely reach out to their assigned moderators or may fail to follow up; this results in significant additional work for the committee chair.) The Chair sends all changes in moderators/panelists to the Deputy Executive Director and works collaboratively with the Deputy Executive Director and others to fill holes.

2021 Annual Report

The Moderator Committee successfully found and secured moderators for all panels and workshops for the 2020 SEALS Annual Conference (except Discussion Groups, who designate one of their own to serve as moderator). The moderators chosen adhere to the one-panel limitation of the SEALS conference (excepting Discussion Groups). The Moderator Committee appointed as moderators people from diverse schools and with diverse backgrounds in order to be as inclusive as possible.

Beginning in late May (delayed from the normal April timeline due to COVID-related uncertainty), at the direction of the chair, the Moderator Committee contacted every moderator to confirm participation and to ask them to confirm the participation of the respective panelists. The Committee also maintained and sent to moderators guidelines tailored for moderating regular panels, Works-In-Progress panels and New Scholars Workshops.

Like many committees, our work increased dramatically due to COVID-19 and each panel’s decisions about in-person, hybrid, or remote only. The committee attempted to communicate SEALS’s preference for in person attendance and stressed we cannot guarantee wifi reliability. Like all things COVID-related, the response was mixed, but overall we seem to have a great conference planned!

2020 Annual Report

Beginning around April, at the direction of the chair, the Moderator Committee contacts every moderator to confirm participation and asks the moderator to confirm the participation of the respective panelists. The Committee also maintains and sends to moderators guidelines tailored for moderating regular panels, Works-In-Progress panels and New Scholars Workshops. We have not experienced any issues or problems with our Committee work.

The transition to online only format due to COVID-19 went smoothly for our committee, thanks in large part to the herculean efforts by the SEALS administration, officers, and other committees. The vice-chair was available throughout the online conference to help with any moderator issues.

2019 Annual Report

The Moderator Committee successfully found and secured moderators for all panels and workshops for the 2019 SEALS Annual Conference (except Discussion Groups, who designate one of their own to serve as moderator). The moderators chosen adhere to the one-panel limitation of the SEALS conference (excepting Discussion Groups). The Moderator Committee appointed as moderators people from diverse schools and with diverse backgrounds in order to be as inclusive as possible. The Moderator Committee maintains and sends out to moderators guidelines tailored for moderating regular panels, Works-In-Progress panels and New Scholars Workshops. We have not experienced any issues or problems with our Committee work.

2018 Annual Report

The Moderator Committee welcomed new members to the Committee this year, which increased our breadth across institutions and enhanced our ability to find moderators for all of the panels. All members of the Committee worked hard to fill the needed slots. As has been the trend, many panels and practically all Discussion Groups had already chosen moderators for their panels. This year we also found moderators for all of the Mindfulness panels and the Works-in-Progress panels and will continue to do so. With guidance from the Works-in-Progress Committee, we added specific moderator guidelines for those panels, just as we have specific moderator guidelines for New Scholars panels. Our Committee continues to be an important contact point for discovering if listed panelists no longer plan to attend for any reason, as we ask moderators to reach out to their speakers months in advance.

2017 Annual Report

The trend this year continues as it has in past years that many panels and discussion groups have already found moderators for themselves. The Committee found approximately 40-50% of the moderators. Committee members find the majority of these moderators when they put the call out in their own institutions. However, more than in the past, we had to rely on a mass email from Russ Weaver to find additional moderators. We learned from some that as schools tighten belts, less faculty have the funds to come to the conference at all.

While in the past, we have left Discussion Groups to find their own moderators, we did have to nudge them this year to identify one (which meant emailing the entire group). It would be easier if in the future the organizer of the group were simply designated the moderator from the beginning.

We also strive to have the moderators contact the panelists as early as practicable as we have found this is a prime way to learn that panelists are not planning to attend. For all purposes, it would be helpful if the moderator committee had access to the list of persons who proposed panels or discussion groups as we have found that information could have been useful this year.

As in the past, we will have committee members on assignment at the conference to ensure panel moderators show up and have what they need for a successful panel.