"The creation of the Distinguished Service Award marks a significant step in the history of the Academy. The unanimous selection of Susan C. Maclin, C.A. as the first recipient of the Award is only fitting, and reflects well upon the Academy.

"In all organizations there are critical moments and challenging events which demand the leadership of extraordinary individuals. Susan C. Maclin ably provided great leadership, grace under pressure, and enduring qualities of personal and professional excellence in the course of her long service to the Academy, culminating in her Presidency.

"The Academy benefited from her dedicated service and unwavering belief in the validity of the Academy’s purpose, and all of us who were privileged to know her are the better for it.

"To Susan C. Maclin, whose exemplary personal performance provided excellent leadership to our Academy, we are proud and pleased to present the Distinguished Service Award as a measure of the gratitude of her fellow Certified Archivists and so that future members of the Academy may continue to acknowledge her contributions.

"In the years to come the names of other truly dedicated members of the Academy will be recorded along with that of Susan C. Maclin. Today, however, she stands alone as the first and only member ever to achieve the Distinguished Service designation in the history of the Academy of Certified Archivists."

What follows is the text of the letter ACA President Jane Nokes sent Susan Maclin informing her of the award:

Please accept the congratulations of the entire membership of the Academy on being selected as the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award.

The Award, proposed and with a generous start-up donation by Martin L. Levitt, C.A., is an historic development for the Academy. In the unanimous opinion of the Distinguished Service Award Committee and ratified by the Board of Regents, you are the most fitting candidate to receive this reflection of the Academy’s enduring gratitude.

The Academy’s continued growth and success  are in no small part owing to your unwavering belief in it and steadfast service to it.

Your professional experience, from Curator of the Bartlesville, Oklahoma Area History Museum and Archives through to Director, Archives and Special Properties, American International Group, in New York, and your efforts on behalf of the Academy, the SAA, SSA and ICA put you in the forefront of the archival profession. Your exemplary personal performance provided excellent leadership to the Academy and, indeed, to the entire archival community.

The presentation of the Distinguished Service Award is a measure of our gratitude for your service and our determination to record and acknowledge that service forever.