Secular Student Alliance

The Secular Student Alliance (SSA), founded in May 2000, is an independent, democratically structured organization in the U.S. that aims to serve the needs of freethinking high school and college students. The Secular Student Alliance is based in Columbus, Ohio. The SSA was formed "to organize, unite, educate and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human based ethics".
The Secular Student Alliance is an educational nonprofit whose purpose is to educate high school and college students about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations. The SSA also offers these students and their organizations a variety of resources, including but not limited to leadership training and support, guest speakers, discounted literature and conference tickets, and thought provoking online articles and opinions.
Currently, the SSA has over 160 affiliates in North America and abroad, including groups in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.
==Events==
On August 7, 2009, the SSA organized a trip to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. 304 students, atheists, and scientists attended, in order to familiarize themselves with the museum. One notable name in attendance was PZ Myers, who also came to experience the museum firsthand. During the trip, Myers used the social networking site, Twitter, to keep worldwide followers updated.
==Conferences==
The Secular Student Alliance holds an annual conference.
Year	Theme 	Location
2000	 	Minneapolis, MN
2001	Kicking Ass for the New Enlightenment 	Columbus, OH
2002	Education Against Indoctrination 	Chicago, IL
2004	 	Washington, DC
2005	Connecting the Secular Movement with Other Communities 	Columbus, OH
2006	We're Not in Kansas Anymore 	Kansas City, MO
2007	Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy 30th Anniversary Gala/Symposium	Cambridge, MA
2008	World Humanist Congress 	Washington, DC
2009	 	Columbus, OH
==Communications==
In July 2005, the SSA created an online newsletter called the eMpirical. It currently has over 16,000 subscribers.
==Staff==
The SSA has two paid staff.
*Executive Director, August E. Brunsman IV 
*Senior Campus Organizer, Lyz Liddell
The SSA also takes on paid and unpaid interns and volunteers.
==Board==
As of October 2009, the SSA has nine board members. 
*Hemant Mehta, Chair, Board Member Since 2005
*Don Sutterfield, Vice-Chair, Board Member Since 2008
*Andrew Cederdahl, Treasurer, Board Member Since 2009
*Mary Ellen Sikes, Secretary, Board Member Since 2009
*John Figdor, Board Member Since 2009
*Joe Foley, Board Member Since 2009
*Matthew LaClair, Board Member Since 2008
*Shelley Mountjoy, Board Member Since 2009
*Ashley Paramore, Board Member Since 2008
== See also ==
* Freethought Association of Canada
==External links==
*The Secular Student Alliance
*A brief history of the Secular Student Alliance
== References ==
Category:Secularism organizations
Category:Freethought organizations
Category:Organizations established in 2000
Category:Organizations based in the United States
Category:Student societies
es:Alianza Secular de Estudiantes