Summit of Excellence Track Highlight: Professional Topics

Are you interested in turning your love of genealogical research into a profession? Curious about becoming an accredited or certified genealogist? We've got the track for you! Come and learn essential skills to manage your social media, engage your audience, publish your research, and launch your new career. 

Track Presentations

The following sessions run on Friday, September 17th:

Accreditation: An Overview of the Benefits and Process with Jana K. Greenhalgh, AG: The Accredited Genealogist®️ credential is awarded by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). This class will cover the various benefits available to Accredited Genealogists as well as an overview of the testing process.

Certification: My Journey to Earn the Certified Genealogist® Credential with Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA: In this session, Angela will discuss her journey to prepare a portfolio to submit to the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She will share personal advice on working to meet genealogy standards and tips for each portfolio element.

Career Paths for the Genealogist with Kelly R. Summers, AG: You want to develop a career as a genealogist? Genealogists are some of the most brilliant and creative people. They are skilled at problem solving and analysis. These skills combined with natural talents and interests can be the basis for a career in genealogy. In this class, we will introduce some of the many ways that a genealogist can bring their love of genealogy into a career.

A Genealogist's Guide to Social Media & Email Marketing with Anne Merrell: Learn how to connect with and grow your potential customer base through tested social media and email marketing techniques. 

Writing and Publishing with Tristan L. Tolman, AG: Learn tips for writing and publishing a family history, personal history, business history, or autobiography for yourself, your family, or a client. 

Public Speaking: Engaging with Your Audience at Home and In-person with D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS: Connecting with your audience as a professional speaker is essential. This session focuses on delivery, visuals, and other elements when making virtual and in-person presentations.

The full schedule of all presentations and links to presenter biographies may be found here. 

Join Us in September!

The 2021 UGA Summit of Excellence celebrates UGA's 50th year. This exciting virtual conference, held September 15-18, 2021, is a four-day event with multiple tracks offering a premier educational opportunity at an extremely reasonable price. Each track features a different record set or research area such as legal records, methodology, technology, or DNA. 

Learn more about the Summit of Excellence or register to attend. Questions may be directed to the registrar: registrar@ugagenealogy.org.

UGA Distinguished Service Award to Kelly Summers

 

The UGA Distinguished service award “is granted for outstanding service to the Association.” Tonight, we would like to present this honor to UGA’s current president: Kelly Summers.

Kelly has been a stalwart leader and advocate for UGA. In her role she has sought to participate in, enhance, and bring forward new UGA programs and educational opportunities. Kelly has championed better compensation to our webinar presenters and Crossroad’s magazine contributors. She envisioned and developed a new webinar series for aspiring professional genealogists, the Genealogy ProTalk webinar is now one of UGA’s month offerings. Under her leadership the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy has continued to grow and offer more expansive advanced education opportunities, including Kelly’s recent coordination of the Chinese Ancestry course.

Kelly has served on the executive committee for the past 5 years and has been president of UGA for the past 4 years. During her time, we have seen immense growth in membership and offerings. She has also demonstrated quality leadership and sound judgement. She has counseled with and guided the UGA board through tough discussions and challenging decisions and helped us to enhance the goal of offering premier genealogical education.

Beyond UGA, Kelly is an Accredited Genealogist through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists in the US Midwestern, US Pacific, Mexico, and Spain regions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Family and Community History from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in Instructional Design and Educational Technology from the University of Utah. Kelly designs curriculum and teaches university courses at Brigham Young University and Salt Lake Community College. Kelly continues to support genealogy education inside and out of UGA, and the board of directors is honored to grant her this distinguished award.