2014 was a big year for the LSA. We hosted our 88th Annual Meeting, launched new sections of Language for "Public Policy" and "Teaching Linguistics", hired a new Director of Communications [ed. note: Hi!], started a legislative campaign to support revitalizing Native American languages, and much more.

Before we move on to 2015 completely, let's take a look at some of the LSA's most popular news items--as well as some of our biggest stories on social media. First, the news:

1) "2015 Linguistic Institute fellowship applications are open"

The 2015 Institute, a month of cutting-edge linguistics courses and community building, is only 7 months away. We're offering dozens of fellowships for students to attend--but the application deadline's January 15, so start yours today!

2) "House Bill Threatens to Cut Linguistics-Related NSF Budget Over 40 Percent"

This spring, Congress discussed passing the FIRST Act, which would have cut NSF funding for the social sciences by nearly 42 percent. The FIRST Act did not get passed before the end of this Congressional term, but challenges to social science funding remain. Keep an eye on the LSA website for updates on linguistic-related legislation.

3) "Article on asymmetry in affixation receives Best Paper in Language Award"

This year's Best Paper in Language Award winner proposes an explanation for why suffixes are more common than prefixes in the languages of the world. "Asymmetries in the prosodic phrasing of function words: Another look at the suffixing preference", by Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, appeared in our December issue.

4) "Humanities Departmental Survey highlights ongoing linguistics trends"

Linguistics departments are attracting more students, and tenured faculty are the majority of linguistics instructors--just two of the findings from the newest Humanities Departmental Survey, produced in part with data collected by the LSA.

5) "WSJ's Ben Zimmer receives first LSA Linguistics Journalism Award"

Ben Zimmer, language columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of articles including "No, a Drunken Australian Man Did Not Coin the Word Selfie", was a natural choice for the LSA's first ever Linguistics Journalism Award.

Now, the five most-Liked stories from 2014 on the LSA's Facebook Page:

1) "When Not to Speak Your Second Language to Your Children", New York Times

2) "Language Nerd", XKCD

3) "How to explain linguistics to your friends and family this holiday season", All Things Linguistic

4) "Our Language Prejudices Don’t Make No Sense", Pacific Standard

5) "Noam Chomsky to become new X-Factor judge", NewsBiscuit [satire]

Thanks again to all our members, conference attendees, committee leaders, Language assistant editors, and everyone else who helped make the LSA what it was this year! We hope you'll join us for 2015.