Promise Community Health Center is so excited to announce our very own Michelle van Beek, the Behavioral Health Coordinator, as well as the Interpreting Services Coordinator was accepted to be on the Iowa Interpreters and Translators Association, Inc. Board of Directors for the 2020-2022 period. Michelle will be serving as the Board Secretary for the Association.
Michelle was nominated by current board members to serve on the board and accepted the nomination to be considered. Michelle accepted because she always wanted to be more involved in the development of the association and it seemed like the right time for her to get involved. Michelle is excited to be a part of a board that constantly looks to help and further advance interpreters and translators in Iowa. Her hope as a director would be to transfer the experience and skills she has acquired through her schooling and role here at Promise to serve the association.
Michelle is also hoping to gain knowledge and experience in leading others in the interpreting profession.
As the Promise Community Health Center’s Interpreting Services Coordinator here at Promise, Michelle hopes to integrate those skills here so that she can continually serve her patients to the best of her abilities.
Michelle graduated from Northwestern College with her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Translation and Interpreting in 2018. While at Northwestern, she received her medical certification for Spanish Interpreting through the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters. Michelle has been attending IITA since 2017 when she received the ITR Professional Scholarship that year. Michelle currently serves on the Library Board of Directors in Sioux Center, IA and she understand the duties as well as the responsibilities required to be on the board.
Part of Michelle’s current role as Interpreting Services Coordinator is to maintain interpreting standards, as well as support the training of the interpreters within the organization.
As Iowa’s premiere association of professional translators and interpreters, IITA serves our state’s linguistically diverse community through education, training, and promotion of our profession.
The Iowa Interpreters and Translators Association (IITA) is an Iowa non-profit organization. Incorporated in 2004, IITA has the following mission:
- to promote the recognition of the translation and interpretation professions in Iowa
- to promote the communication and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of Iowa’s translators and interpreters
- to formulate and maintain standards of professional ethics, practices and competence
- to stimulate and support the training of Iowa’s translators and interpreters
- to actively represent the professional interests of Iowa’s translators and interpreters before actual and potential users of translation and interpretation services
- to promote professional and social relations among its members
