It's that time of year where we ask for your nominations for SIG officers. Self-nominations are encouraged. We have a very active SIG, and we encourage you to consider being involved as a SIG officer. The SIG leadership is always a diverse, engaging group. The SIG Executive Committee meets twice a year via zoom - once prior to AERA and once just before NAGC. Attendance at NAGC is not required for SIG officers, but SIG officers are expected to attend and be active in the RoGCT SIG events at the AERA conference. Newly elected officers will transition into their role during the April 2026 Annual Meeting and begin their term at the close of the meeting. 

Eligibility: You must be in good standing with AERA and with the SIG. Graduate Student members may only run for the Graduate Student Representative position. Current officers may run for consecutive terms, with a limit of two consecutive terms in the same position. 

Positions:

• Assistant Program Chair (1 position, 1 year as assistant program chair, 2 years as program chair, 1 year as past program chair: 4-year commitment): The Assistant Program Chair will serve for 1 year as assistant program chair, 2 years as program chair, and 1 year as past program chair. This role is responsible for running the review process for the AERA proposals, generating the conference slate of sessions based on reviewer feedback, and working with AERA to address ROGCT's space needs during the conference. 
• Secretary (1 position, 2 years) - The Secretary shall serve for two years. The Secretary shall take minutes for all of the SIG meetings and provide minutes for approval at subsequent meetings, general organization for the SIG, and attend executive committee meetings. If they are not able to attend any SIG meeting, they need to identify another executive committee member to take minutes.
• Member-at-Large (2 positions; 2 years) - Members-at-Large shall serve for two years. There will be no more than four Members-at-Large on the Executive Board in any given year. There will be no more than two Members-at-Large elected to the Executive Board in any given year. Also, Members-at-Large are actively engaged in SIG initiatives including leading the one of the following subcommittees: Unconference, Awards, and Mentoring committees.
• Graduate Student Representative (1 position, 2 years) - The Graduate Student Representative shall serve for two years. The first year as the graduate representative and the second as the past graduate representative. The student member shall be a student in good standing in a graduate program terminating in either a Master’s or Doctorate degree. The graduate student representative shall be responsible for taking a collaborative leadership role in identifying potential venues and budgets for the SIG Social at AERA, working with other SIG leaders to choose and contract with a site for the SIG Social, and signing in attendees at the SIG Social. The student member is a non-voting member of the Executive Board.
• Chair Elect (1 position, 2 years as chair elect, 2 years as chair, 2 years as past chair: 6-year commitment). The Chair-elect will serve as chair elect, chair, and past chair for two years each (6 years total). The chair oversees all elected positions, committees, meetings, and conference programming (e.g., business meeting at AERA). 

If you wish to be considered for one of the positions listed below, please email me (rambohernandez@tamu.edu): 

• your full name,
• the office you wish to run for
• your email address
• your affiliation
• a maximum 200-word bio to appear on the ballot.

Please send me your information no later than Tuesday, September 30, to give me time to meet the AERA deadline. 

Karen E. Rambo-Hernandez, Ph.D.

You are invited to contribute items of interest to our membership for inclusion in the  ROGCT SIG newsletter. Submissions may include, but are not limited to:

• Reports from ROGCT committee chairs
• Information about other conferences/PD opportunities
• Awards
• Brief abstracts of recent publications or accomplishments of SIG members
• Interviews with notable people in our field
• Brief columns with recommendations and strategies for conducting and publishing research related to giftedness, creativity, and talent development

Please contact Liesel Lutz for more information. liesel_lutz1@baylor.edu

The Path Breaker Award is given in recognition of collaborative research by a scholar and graduate student who co-author an article related to giftedness, creativity, or talent that is published in a journal not traditionally or regularly focused on these fields. The Path Breaker Award is designed to reward scholars in our field for publishing in journals that would not traditionally include articles with a focus on gifted, talented, or creative populations. The article should be published in the last two years (2023-2025).

Selection Criteria (in the following order of importance, beginning with most important):

• Quality of the article (new data or analysis of existing data, strong methodology, etc.).
• Prestige of journal in which the article has been accepted.
• The compelling arguments of the submitted rationale.

Nominations for the Path Breaker Award should be sent by January 15, 2025 through the application portal here (clicking on the form will give more detail on selection criteria): https://forms.gle/dhY7CGFpQTMrodiy7.

For any questions, please contact the chair of the awards committee, Dr. Jonathan Wai (jwai@uark.edu).