Welcome to our new website! As you'll see, our Board of Directors has been hard at work, monitoring public policy activities (at the state & national levels), organizing & scheduling the Spring Conference (being held May 4 at the Cuddy Center on UAA Campus), reaching out to members (have you been contacted for the 2012-13 ballot or member awards yet?), and putting together this fantastic newsletter & new website! Phew!

If you’re not already involved in AKDA, now is a great time to get involved! Our Nominating Committee has likely already contacted you regarding the 2012-13 Board of Directors Ballot. If you’re not interested in running for a position, but would still like to be involved, we have appointed positions and committee positions available as well! Please contact Shanna Moeder (shanna.moeder@kanaweb.org, President-Elect) or Young Fisher (young.fisher@hcahealthcare.com, Nominating Committee Chair) for more information.

In other news, this year’s Spring Conference is shaping up to be a great one! Some new & exciting things to look for: a shorter, one-day conference, to allow more people to attend without taking so much time off work; lower cost to attendees; coordination with UAA’s Dietetic Internship graduation, so more preceptors can attend; & more ‘Alaska’-specific nutrition information. We are VERY excited about this year’s conference, and look forward to seeing you all in Anchorage in May! Unable to attend in person? Last year’s webinar option was a huge success, so we plan to do it again this year!

Finally, do you know any great dietitians in the state? Of course you do! Please contact Kelly Keyes (kkeyes@nshcorp.org, Awards Chair) to nominate any & all of your fantastic coworkers for Young Dietitian of the Year, Emerging Dietetic Leader, and Outstanding Dietitian of the Year! For more information, go to the Member Awards section of the website.

Is AKDA meeting your needs? Think we should be doing more/different/better? Contact me any time at lmlopez@anthc.org. I hope to hear from you all soon!