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A Call for NACA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Formation

September 24, 2025 4:47 PM | Madhav Bhatta (Administrator)

NACA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Guidelines  

As an organization with membership from diverse academic fields, NACA encourages networking and collaboration among members within and outside with disciplines. Please consider forming a thematic  Special Interest Group (SIG) to promote within and among discipline collaborations. 

Objective: Focus on a defined and/or specific thematic topic of interest for members, ensuring alignment with broader vision and mission of NACA. The scope of each SIG needs to be clearly defined. SIGs may be formed by any NACA member with a formal application that will be reviewed by the SIG committee.

Membership: All members of a SIG are required to be a current NACA member. SIG membership is optional/additional to NACA membership. Each member can serve on a maximum of 2 SIGs and can choose SIG membership when renewing/joining. All SIG memberships are valid for the same period of time as the NACA membership, with options to change once a year.

Leadership: There must be 8-10 active NACA members to form a SIG. The initial Chair of the SIG is appointed by the SIG committee with consultation with the Executive Committee (EC). The SIG members will select a co-chair. The Chair will serve a maximum of 3 years and serve as a mentor to the co-chair, facilitating the co-chair's development and increasing their effectiveness in leading the SIG. Each SIG should have a fair and transparent governance structure, decided by the members that aligns with the NACA Constitution and Bylaws.

SIG Name: The official name of any SIG is “NACA SIG - XXX” (XXX is the thematic group name - e.g. NACA SIG - Population and Public Health Sciences)

Events and Activities: Each SIG will function independently with its unique characteristics and compositions but with transparent communication with other SIGs and EC.

Each SIG should:

  • Meet quarterly (minimum but can meet additionally as needed).

  • Conduct a minimum of one webinar presentation or panel discussion per year.

  • Include a mentoring component within their activities (eg. chair/co-chair mentoring, faculty-student mentoring, senior/junior researcher mentoring etc.). This mentorship can be part of a formal leadership development program or a less structured relationship.

  •  Work with NACA’s Communications Committee to create and maintain SIG social media and share information for NACA NewFlash.

  • Participate in organizing NACA conferences.

Communication within and between NACA: Any new event or program (including fund-raising) should be reported to the SIG committee. The SIG committee will present the details of the event to the EC as an information item. If the committee deems the event to be significant, the SIG leader will be asked to join the EC meeting for a presentation.

Evaluation and Reporting: Each SIG will submit a quarterly report to the SIG committee and an annual report on its activities to the EC that will be shared with all NACA members. 

For additional information or guidance about forming a SIG, please contact Dr. Sadeep Shrestha, Chair (sshresth@uab.edu) or Dr. Jyotsna Parajuli, co-Chair (jparajul@charlotte.edu), NACA Special Interest Groups Committee.


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