SOUTH-CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
MARCH 20, 1997, Austin, Texas
Present: James Baumlin, Tita French Baumlin, Lester Brothers, Liana De
Girolami Cheney, Megan Conway, John Ford, David Hart, Craig Kallendorf,
John Mercer, Elizabeth Skerpan, Phoebe Spinrad
1. Elizabeth Skerpan, SCRC president, called the meeting to order at 9:05
p.m. in the Omni Hotel in Austin.
2. John Mercer, secretary-treasurer, presented the minutes of the 1996
executive committee meeting, and they were approved. Mercer reported that
the organization had 168 dues-paid members in 1996, up from 125 in the
two previous years, and that the mailing list had 734 names.
3. Mercer presented the treasurer's report for fiscal year 1996-97, which
showed a balance of $3184.02 (a gain of almost $400 over the previous
year) in the checking account and $8051.31 in a certificate of
deposit.
4. The board voted to bestow the title Member Emeritus on three longtime
members who have retired or are retiring this year: Robert Collmer,
Albert Fields, and Herbert Turrentine.
5. Phoebe Spinrad reported on her first year as editor of Discoveries. At
her suggestion, the board agreed to change the publication dates of the
two issues to October (with a deadline of late June) and April (with a
deadline of midJanuary). The board discussed the possibility of reducing
costs by not sending Discoveries to anyone who has not joined SCRC in the
past ten years.
6. The board agreed to form a recruitment committee, composed of people
from various disciplines from the full membership, to increase membership
and participation. One suggestion was to do a large, one-time mailing to
targeted groups.
7. Tita French Baumlin, editor of Explorations, reported that her dean at
Southwest Missouri State University has decided to fund the journal for
$2500 each year. The secretary-treasurer will write a letter of thanks to
the dean on behalf of SCRC. Tita French Baumlin also reported that she
has increased subscriptions for EIRC and published a page for the journal
on the World Wide Web, beginning June 1, 1996. The board congratulated
the editor on her first two volumes.
8. Craig Kallendorf, chair of the nominating committee, nominated James
Baumlin for president, Liana De Girolami Cheney for vice president
(one-year terms), and Raymond-Jean Frontain, Nabil Matar, and Donald
Stump for the executive committee (two-year terms).
9. Elizabeth Skerpan appointed John Ford program chair for next year's
meeting.
10. The board discussed possible meeting sites for 1998 and the need to
have sites set three years in advance.
11. It was announced that Fred Wharton has begun work on establishing a
Web site for SCRC.
12. The board discussed the desirability of mailing in advance the
program of the upcoming conference. Suggestions included publishing the
program on SCRC's Web site and making hard copy available on request, or,
alternately, mailing an abbreviated program to all paid members.
13. The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John M. Mercer
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
South-Central Renaissance Conference