I am Dr. Susan R. Opas. Since being inducted in 1982 into UCLA’s Gamma Tau Chapter (089) as a “Community Leader,” I have been continuously involved and committed to Sigma. On induction day I signed onto my first of many chapter committee. Five years later I led Gamma Tau as president, I attended our Regional Assembly where I was asked to chair the Regional awards committee before the Biennium. At Biennium I connected with International officers, soon after being asked to chair the International Bylaws Committee. The following 1997-99 Biennium I served as the International Eligibility Committee Chair. This was the late 1990s, and I hit pause to earn my PhD but continued international involvement on the Charter Review Task Force-CRTF (2001-2010), along with serving in Gamma Tau leadership positions.
My first international elected office, 2019-2023, was Region 2 Coordinator (RC). During those biennia, the International Governance Committee made several bylaws revisions. As RCs, we helped our chapters understand the changes and adjust their bylaws accordingly. Currently I chair our chapter’s governance committee, returned to the CRTF committee, and am board member and treasurer for the Sigma Foundation.
For me, my past 35 Sigma years have held a major governance focus beginning with changes when chapters developed their own individual bylaws to a change to full adoption of chapter-level International bylaws. I will lend an historical perspective to governance, being at the forefront of Sigma chartering International chapters outside North America. Beyond Sigma, I am serving the American Nurses’ Association/California as treasurer, serve as a board member of the School Nurses of California Foundation’s (SNOCF) I and another member recently revised the organization’s 10-year-old bylaws, lead the University of Cincinnati’s Dean’s Advisory Council, and just recently was elected as a trustee for the University of Cincinnati’s Foundation where I serve on the trustee and bylaws committee. Through these additional volunteer positions, I have diverse bylaws perspective and experience in the nursing and academic world.
As Sigma continues in the transition from a 104-year-old Honor Society, to a more modern international professional organization I will be diligent in keeping the historical importance while being continually aware of the ethical and legal implications Sigma’s bylaws represent.