Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
South-Central Renaissance Conference
4-5 April 2002
President Katherine Powers called the first meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. Present were George Klawitter, vice president and webmaster; Donald Dickson, past president; James S. Baumlin, executive secretary-treasurer; Donald Stump, 2002 program chair; Tita French Baumlin, Explorations editor; Phoebe Spinrad, Discoveries editor; David Hart, archivist; members-at-large Marguerite Tassi, Nabil Matar, Ellen Longsworth, Marguerite Tassi, Christine Getz, and Liana Cheney. As newly-appointed 2003 program chair, Raymond-Jean Frontain also kindly attended. Absent was Kate Frost.
After the president's welcoming remarks, J. Baumlin distributed copies of the previous minutes. J. Baumlin moved that the minutes be accepted as written; seconded by Phoebe Spinrad, the motion passed unanimously.
The secretary-treasurer, J. 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. As interest rates have recently plummeted (2.25% for our savings account, 2,4% for the CDs), J. Baumlin suggested that we combine all savings and CDs into a cash management trust fund, from which we can expect higher rates of return (4.5% or higher, based on current interest rates), and move a portion of our savings ($5000 was mentioned) into mutual funds. To debate the relative benefits and risks of such investments, Powers appointed J. Baumlin, Don Dickson and Raymond-Jean Frontain to an ad hoc committee, which will make a recommendation to the executive committee.
Membership has increased considerably. As of April 1, SCRC already had 123 members in good standing, including 106 members paid through 2002 (or 2003) and 17 emeriti. Once we add memberships gained or renewed at our 2002 conference, we can expect membership to reach record levels.
In the future, membership renewal letters will include options for 2- and 3-year payments.
The Explorations editor, Tita Baumlin, reported continued success both in the number and quality of journal submissions as well as a steady flow of income from library subscriptions. T. Baumlin noted that the expansion from one to two issues per year has increased revenues, though it has not dramatically increased the number of library subscriptions, as we had hoped; also, the continued skyrocketing cost of paper has made each issue increasingly more expensive to produce. So long as the English Department and College of Arts and Letters at Southwest Missouri State University continue their substantial financial underwriting, the costs of Explorations will be covered by annual membership dues and journal revenues.
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. Though some institutional funding was lost for this coming year (dropping from $2700 to $2200), Ohio State University remains a strong financial supporter of our newsletter; by cutting printing costs, Spinrad expects to continue publishing our newsletter at minimal cost to the SCRC.
Beginning with the 2002 conference, program chairs shall be instructed to give the Discoverieseditor copies of all essay submissions, some of which may be solicited for inclusion in our newsletter. This follows Spinrad's request, which met with acclamation.
SCRC members can do our organization a great, noble service by asking their libraries to subscribe to Explorations (cheap at $20 per annum) and Discoveries (even cheaper: free). As an incentive, T. Baumlin will sell SCRC members' libraries a complete set of remaining back issues at reduced prices.
Vice president George Klawitter reported that the second annual Hunter Essay Award was offered but turned down, given the requirement that the Hunter Essay be published in Explorations. Klawitter reminds potential contributors of this requirement, and urges SCRC members to compete for this prestigious $1000 award.
President Powers appointed Spinrad, Donald Stump, and Liana Cheney to an ad hoc committee charged with naming and determining strategies for promoting the annual SCRC essay prize.
2002 program chair, Donald Stump, reported on the conference's high attendance and prospects for a healthy profit, a portion of which will be returned to the SCRC. The executive committee responded with applause.
In his capacity as webmaster, Klawitter reported on increased "hits" or visits to our organization's internet web site during the months preceding our 2002 conference. The SCRC web sites (representing the journal as well as the organization) are increasingly important means of promotion. Though their URLs are lengthy, both can easily be reached via search engines, by entering the key words "South-Central Renaissance Conference."
President Powers announced that Paul Parrish and Jill Carrington will join the executive committee as its latest members-at-large, replacing Ellen Longsworth and Nabil Matar. Later at Powers' prompting, the executive committee applauded Matar, Longsworth, and outgoing past president Dickson for their faithful service.
President Powers announced that Frontain will be program chair for the 2002 meeting in New Orleans (replacing Matar), and that Christine Getz will be program chair for the 2003 meeting in Austin.
To facilitate promotion, the secretary-treasurer will serve as a clearinghouse for announcements to be sent to internet listservers in the various scholarly disciplines. Members of the executive committee will be responsible for posting announcements supplied by the secretary-treasurer and will make reports back to the same. By this means, we seek to ensure both the consistency and widest dissemination of our promotional materials.
Following our 2001 business meetings, members of the current SCRC executive committee began debating the question, "Should the SCRC change its name to reflect a more national and even perhaps international scope?" The reasons offered for such a name-change are unabashedly economic: as a rule, scholars receive less credit and financial support for presentations at regional conferences. In response, 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. But should the organization change its name as well? After some discussion, the issue of a name change was tabled.
By consensus, the executive committee agreed that SCRC members should be polled during the Friday morning 2002 business meeting, to determine whether changes in the meeting and/or organization name would benefit their careers and purses.
President Powers appointed Stump, Frontain, Getz, and Tassi to an ad hoc committee, which will explore possibilities of deepening our alliance with the Regional Central Renaissance Conference.
President Powers announced that Darryl Tippens, Provost of Pepperdine University, has extended an invitation to the SCRC to meet in Los Angeles in 2005. The executive committee approved and accepted the invitation by consensus. In subsequent discussion of future meeting sites, there was general agreement that the SCRC should meet in cities that have attracted large attendance in the past, such as Dallas-Fort Worth, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Saint Louis.
At 10:17 p.m. Frontain moved to adjourn until Friday noon; immediately seconded by all, the motion passed unanimously.
The executive committee reconvened at 12:00 p.m. Friday, April 5, at which time Katherine Powers called the meeting to order. Present were George Klawitter, Donald Dickson, James S. Baumlin, Donald Stump, Tita French Baumlin, Phoebe Spinrad, Marguerite Tassi, Nabil Matar, Ellen Longsworth, Christine Getz, Liana Cheney, and Raymond-Jean Frontain. Absent was Kate Frost.
The second day's meeting focused on the duties of the various officer positions and the need to develop strategies of promotion and marketing.
Acting upon a suggestion from J. Baumlin, Powers raised the possibility of splitting the current position of executive secretary-treasurer into two distinctive positions, secretary and treasurer. Discussion focused on the problem of dividing responsibilities. Powers charged J. Baumlin to study the problem and make a report to next year's executive committee; in addition, Powers agreed to gather information from officers of the RSA regarding their organization's division of officers' responsibilities.
Discussion turned next to marketing. In addition to their other duties, the executive secretary- treasurer, program chair, and webmaster currently bear the burden of promoting the conference and raising membership. The posters and other promotional materials prepared by the 2002 program chair were praised for their high quality and effectiveness; recognizing that future meetings would need promotional materials of at least an equal quality, Powers appointed an adhoc marketing/promotion committee consisting of Powers, Cheney, Klawitter, and Spinrad.
As a supplement to Frontain's two memoranda of March 2001, entitled "Some Guidelines for Hosting Meetings" and "Responsibilities of the Officers," Stump prepared a detailed description of the program chair's yearly responsibilities, entitled "SCRC Program Chair Calendar and Guidelines." This will be archived and distributed to subsequent program chairs. Baumlin reported that he had drafted a similar calendar and guidelines for the secrtary-treasurer, which he would make available shortly after the conference.
As the luncheon meeting wound down, Stump distributed posters as gifts to executive committee members. Powers again thanked Dickson, Longsworth, and Matar for their service.
Due to time constraints, Powers adjourned the meeting at 12:50.
Dutifully submitted,
James S. Baumlin
SCRC Executive Secretary-Treasurer