Registration open for the April meeting: We will be holding our annual conference this spring April 4-6, 2014, in Charlotte, NC. We plan to include project work discussions, a poster session, an art exhibit, and interactions with socially sustainable manufacturing businesses, in addition to case study presentations. We look forward to seeing you all! Register here for the meeting and to apply for travel funding.

Present a poster at the April meeting: This year, we’re planning one or two poster sessions so that people can talk about their work on social sustainability with each other. Abstracts are due January 15. See the webpage for more information about this opportunity for you or your students. .

Project wiki spaces: The INSS projects now have a space of their own. Using Google Sites, each project will be able to create wikipages to collaborate, share documents, and share updates. Project coordinators will be in touch about how each project will use the spaces, so keep an eye on your email for information about your project. See the projects webpage for contact information and updates, or fill out the form at the bottom of the page to indicate your interest in a project.

INSS blog this month: The INSS blog posts in September included posts by Frazier Benza on metrics used to assess social sustainability, and news that some of the videos from the 2013 meeting are now online. As usual, please enjoy the ideas of our network members and join the conversation through comments and your own posts.

Technical Challenges: We apologize for the problems with the September newsletter – as you can see, we’ve solved some of them. For those who missed it or wanted the full experience, the newsletter is now online, and this one will join it in the archive. Also, our webhost change last spring means that our website works a little differently – no need to log in anymore. There is a password for one page, with the 2013 meeting resources (the password is INSS, if you forget). Otherwise, you should be able to read and comment without logging in.

Coming Soon: We’re working on the meeting agenda, so stay tuned for updates about exciting tours of Charlotte manufacturing, sustainable food choices, and much more.

Finally, welcome to our new members, and thanks to those who continue to keep the network active and exciting!

Nicole Peterson