Minutes of the Business Meeting
South-Central Renaissance Conference
6 April 2002
President Katherine Powers called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Her motion to approve last year's minutes as submitted was seconded and passed by acclamation.
The secretary-treasurer, James S. Baumlin, reported healthy increases in savings and revenues: including $1417 income from Explorations and $2050 in membership dues, the organization as of April 4, 2002, held $5063.02 in checking and bank accounts and $10,142.71 in certificates of deposit, totaling $15205.73.
J. Baumlin also reported a substantial increase in membership. As of April 1, the SCRC had 123 members in good standing, a figure that does not include memberships gained or renewed at our 2002 conference. In the future, letters for membership renewal will include options for 2- and 3- year payments.
To continue our organization's growth, J. Baumlin encouraged members to "bring a friend" to future meetings and to request their university libraries to subscribe to both Explorations and Discoveries. The Explorations editor, Tita Baumlin, reported continued success both in the number and quality of journal submissions. She encouraged members to submit expanded versions of their conference papers to Explorations. As an incentive to new institutional subscribers, T. Baumlin offered to sell sets of past issues of Explorations at a discount.
The Discoveries editor, Phoebe Spinrad, reported healthy submissions and an increase in library subscriptions; in addition, Discoveries will be listed in the next MLA Directory of Periodicals. She encouraged members to submit their reading-length conference papers to Discoveries.
Vice president George Klawitter reported that the second annual Hunter Essay Award was offered but turned down, due to the requirement that the essay be published in Explorations. Klawitter reminded potential contributors of this requirement, and urged SCRC members to compete for this prestigious $1000 award.
As chair of the nominations committee, past president Don Dickson moved the election of Jill Carrington and Paul A. Parrish to the executive board, replacing Nabil Matar and Ellen Longsworth. George Klawitter was nominated for president and Donald Stump for vice president. This slate of nominations was seconded and approved by acclamation.
Several announcements were made regarding future conference meetings. Raymond-Jean Frontain will serve as program chair for the 2003 meeting in New Orleans, where Susan Krantz will serve as local arrangements chair. Christine Getz will serve as the 2004 program chair in Austin. It was also announced that the SCRC will accept an invitation from Pepperdine University to host the 2005 meeting in Los Angeles.
Powers thanked past president Dickson and executive committee members Matar and Longsworth for their faithful service. Stump was roundly applauded for his fine work on the program, as was Powers for her strong leadership during the 2001-2002 year.
President Powers adjourned the business meeting promptly at 8:35 a.m., at which time Dickson and Powers led a roundtable discussion of the recent past and long-term future of the SCRC. Three subjects dominated discussion: possible name changes for our organization, the effects of meeting outside our historic region, and the development of competitive awards for graduate student travel.
It was noted that the executive committee voted this summer to change the name of our annual meeting to "Exploring the Renaissance 2002: An International Conference," thereby distinguishing the yearly conference from the name of our standing organization. The reasons offered for such a name-change were mainly economic: scholars receive less credit and financial support for presentations at regional conferences. Should the organization change its name as well, to reflect a more national and even perhaps international scope? Though some members argued for revising the organization's name, others opposed any such change, citing history and tradition. Though the question remains for future discussion, the organization continues to call itself the SCRC.
Historically situated within the South-Central United States (primarily Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee), the SCRC has met three times thus far outside its historic boundaries, twice in Saint Louis and once in Savannah. A 2005 meeting in Los Angeles will continue this trend, strengthening claims that the SCRC has grown into a national organization. Meeting in Los Angeles will attract new members from the West Coast, though some regular attendees (particularly those who drive to conferences) will likely miss the 2005 meeting. To minimize the impact on total membership, it is important that members identify with the standing organization and not simply with the annual conference. As a promotion strategy, the SCRC can encourage members to pay annual dues separately from conference registration.
Questions regarding the current status of the regional Central Renaissance Conference were raised. It will be the task of Donald Stump and other members of the executive committee to contact officers of the CRC and discuss the possibility of incorporating the CRC into the SCRC.
Discussion turned next to the costs of travel, particularly when meeting outside our historic region. As the SCRC encourages conference attendance by graduate students, some expressed concern that air travel (as opposed to driving) might make the 2005 Los Angeles meeting too expensive for students. Being a resourceful group, many graduate students have learned to obtain partial travel funding from their schools; if the SCRC provided "matching funds," these students might have greater leverage when requesting funds from their school administrations. Noting the $1000 left unspent for the 2002 Hunter Essay Award, Parrish and Dickson helped shape the following motion, which passed by a large majority: up to five $200 awards will be made available competitively to graduate students who submit papers to the 2003 meeting. It was suggested that these awards be "named" (like the Hunter Award) and, thus, treated as a formal honor. Aided by members of the executive committee, the 2003 program chair will work out the calendar and details for naming, announcing, promoting, and overseeing these awards. Please note that the motion covered only the 2003 conference; any decision to continue student travel awards past the 2003 conference will be made by the 2002-2003 executive committee.
Respectfully submitted,
James S. Baumlin
SCRC Executive Secretary-Treasurer