President’s Letter, 2018

Archaeology Society of Staten Island
PO Box 140504
Staten Island, NY 10314
August, 2018

Dear Friends:

Happy High Summer to all! I hope you are having a wonderful time traveling with family and friends and enjoying the outdoors. It is hard to believe that autumn is approaching, but here at the Society we have been planning since last winter. We are delighted to enclose information about our new lecture program for the coming year. There is an amazing amount of diversity in the lecture offerings, and much of this is a result of feedback from all of you! Thank you so much for your ideas; they have resulted in a great list of topics. Please share the information about our stimulating lecture program with your friends and acquaintances and encourage them to attend a meeting in the fall. Our Society, like so many like-minded organizations, is dwindling in size. I realize that you are busy with life and activities, but please keep archaeology in the mix so that we can continue to bring wonderful educational programs to the Staten Island community. Please help us grow our membership.

I am also happy to announce that we will be partnering with the Noble Maritime Museum and the JCC of Staten Island. We will have exciting activities at these partner locations that tie in with the lectures in February and April. They will be hands-on and will be enjoyable and educational for all of us as well as for younger scholars – middle school-aged and above. Please do all you can to attend and bring someone new. With that, I want to remind everyone about the importance of your membership in our organization. There are two ways you can become a member of our Society (ASSI):

• By joining the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and choosing Staten Island as your local chapter. (Single membership in AIA is $70 per year.). Membership in the AIA entitles you to automatic FREE membership in our Archaeology Society of Staten Island (ASSI) as well as to a subscription to Archaeology Magazine and to other activities and benefits. You can join on-line at www.archaeological.org. While we would love having you as a member of our local Society, the advantage of joining the AIA is that they provide us with world-class lecturers based upon the number of AIA members who have selected the Staten Island chapter in a given year.
• By completing the enclosed membership application and returning it with your payment. Please note that the suggestion donation for those who wish to pay “at the door” is $10, so it is clear that your membership ($30 per year for single membership) is very cost efficient, as well. There are eight lectures scheduled for the 2018-2019 year.
  Wagner College is working to make the Spiro lecture hall safer in the coming year, so we will continue to plan for our lectures to be held there. Please enter the lecture hall through the lower doors. It’s really the better option since you will be entering through the underground passageway, directly from the Spiro parking lot, thereby avoiding many extra steps and stairs. Please look for the signs posted in the parking lot.

Have a great August and stay cool!

Sincerely,
Sarah J. Scott, PhD
President