Lisa Vallen

Southern Labor Archivist and Instruction Coordinator

Special Collections & Archives at Georgia State University

Biographical Statement

Lisa Vallen is the Southern Labor Archivist and Instruction Coordinator for Special Collections & Archives at Georgia State University. She stewards over 12,000 linear feet of archival materials in the Southern Labor Archives as well as manages oral history projects and three grant projects. Before becoming the Southern Labor Archivist, Vallen was the University of California Cooperative Extension Project Archivist working to establish the University of California Cooperative Extension Archive. In this position, she supervised the digitization of over 40,000 pages of material and led the development of an online digital collection. At the University of Illinois, Vallen also coordinated digital reformatting projects for the library’s brittle books and newspapers and was also the Preservation Collection Care Graduate Research Assistant. Ms. Vallen has eight years of experience in libraries and archives and has secured over $800,000 in grant funds throughout her career. Vallen has her B.A in Art History and Politics from Lake Forest College and her Master of Science in Library and Information Sciences with a Certificate in Special Collections & Archives from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

Candidate Statement

Lisa Vallen has been a member of SGA since moving to Atlanta in 2019. This past year Vallen has served on the Program Committee, where she enjoyed working with her committee members to select a hybrid conference theme and presentations that were inclusive, addressed SGA DEI goals, and spoke to our field’s current trends and issues. Vallen very much would like to continue her work on this committee as Assistant Program Chair.

Vallen has a strong track record of working towards an inclusive, equitable, and accessible field and workplace. At Georgia State University she served on the Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility Task Force and then serves the Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility Committee. She also served and co-wrote a report on Georgia State University Library Security Study Task Force in 2020. She has also served on UC Merced Equity Inclusion in Governance Committee from 2016-2019 as well as the UC Merced Chancellor Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (CACSW) and was chair of the CACSW Data Subcommittee. Vallen is currently the Co-PI to digitize the records of the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department for the Southeast and is creating an exhibit to highlight the intersection of the labor and the Civil Rights Movement. The Program Committee serves a vital role in leading our field forward on DEIA initiatives. Through the Program Committee, SGA can continue its work and push for our core values of community, leadership, diversity, lifelong learning, and sustainability.

Slate of Candidates

The Nominating Committee has slated the following SGA members as candidates for office in the 2023 special election:

Assistant Program Committee Chair

• Lisa Vallen,                               Special Collections & Archives at Georgia State University

Assistant Local Arrangements Committee Chair

• Paige Adair,
  The Portman Archives
• Angela Stanley,                                  Georgia Public Library Service

Assistant Treasurer

• William Hardesty,                           Special Collections & Archives at Georgia State University