Hyatt Regency Boston, Adrienne de Lafayette Salon, 8:30 a.m.
Board members present: Rita Bode, Trent University, Canada, President; Matthew Lessig, State University of New York, Cortland, Past President; Barbara Mabee, Oakland University, First Vice President; Simona Wright, The College of New Jersey, Second Vice President; Jason Haslam, Dalhousie University American/British Literature Directors:; Cecilia Feilla, Marymount Manhattan College, American/British Literature Director; Natalie Edwards, Wagner College, French Language and Literatures Director; Jennifer Harris, Mount Allison University, Popular Culture Director; Birgit Tautz, Bowdoin College, German Language and Literature Director; Daniela Antonucci, Princeton University, Italian Language and Literature Director; Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, Temple University, Comparative Languages and Literatures Director; Lisa Perdigao, Florida Institute of Technology, Women's Caucus Director; Donald Gagnon, Western Connecticut State University, LGBT Caucus Director; Elizabeth Anderman, University of Colorado-Boulder, CAITY Representative; Grace Wetzel, University of South Carolina, Graduate Caucus Representative; Laurence Roth, Susquehanna University, Modern Language Studies editor.
Regrets: Monica Leoni, Waterloo, Spanish Director
Non-Board members present: Elizabeth Abele, Executive Director, SUNY Nassau Community College: Adeline Soldin, Boston University, 2009 Convention Local Representative; Carrie McGrory, Boston University, 2009 Convention Local Representative.
Recorder: Clare Callahan, Convention Associate
President Rita Bode calls meeting to order at 8:38 am.
Adjustments and Approval of October Board minutes
Rita Bodes notes a typo under 3I; “turning your manuscripts into books” is already in place.; also notes a typo under II5;“contract” should be changed to “contact.” Motion to approve the minutes seconded by Barbara Mabee and Simona Wright; minutes approved.
Business Arising
Program and Future Conventions
Size of convention and standards for acceptance of session proposals
E.D. notes that every convention has been unprecedented in terms of size; this year NeMLA has close to 1500 people attending and a significant number of auditors; this may be a result of having sent out a poster last year for the 40th anniversary; Rita Bode suggests sending out a poster for Montreal and states that we can promote a Sept. 30th deadline for abstracts.
E.D. asks Board to consider how we feel about being a 320 session conference, a record for any regional MLA ever, and if Board wants to cap sessions. E.D notes that 2-3% of panels were rejected this year. In addition, the failure rate was actually lower than in previous years; rejection rate of submitters has also gone up. Rita Bode states that she does not think there will be more than 1500 for Montreal but we need to think about size and whether we want to have more stringent guidelines.
Simona Wright notes that from the Italian Studies perspective, NeMLA is becoming more prominent at the national level. Jennifer Harris asks how departmental slashing of adjuncts will affect CAITY membership. Laurence Roth asks if there won’t naturally be some growth inhibitors due to economy. Rita Bode suggests not allowing repeat panels every year. E.D. states she sent out an email saying we are looking for variation in sessions and that she will be sending out session proposals in each area for review.
Jennifer Harris inquires about capping sessions and still being able to run a 4-day conference. E.D. says currently we are completely full for each day; it would be difficult to be larger than 320 sessions. E.D. restates that the question is, if we have the ability to have 320 sessions, do we want be smaller; notes New Brunswick will be easy for many to attend. E.D. says managing 1400 participants was not significantly more difficult than managing 1100, but questions whether we would want convention to be any bigger. Laurence Roth asks about balancing collegiality and intellectual diversity. Jason Haslam responds we have to take into account actually fitting participants into hotels.
E.D. notes that some people don’t attend convention last minute, but absences are usually related to family illness and only a few are related to funding. Birgit Tautz asks if we could be more restrictive in terms of chairs who take extensions. Rita Bode notes that the organization wants to give chairs the extra time.
Matt Lessig addresses Jason Haslam’s point of limiting us to certain cities; New Brunswick has a limit on how many hotel rooms they can give. Elizabeth Anderman suggests 320 be the cap, that the convention start mid-day Thursday to mid-day Sunday, and that 20 concurrent sessions be the max. Rita Bode notes that we can still fit 1500 participants in Montreal. Elizabeth Anderman moves to cap sessions at 320. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur suggests not putting a cap on sessions because we do not know how many people will withdraw next year due to the economy. Jason Haslam notes a cap would take care of itself. Jennifer Harris verifies that the number of international participants will likely increase for a Montreal convention. E.D. notes that we have a higher number of participants on each panel and more chairs presenting on other panels. Lisa Perdigao suggests instituting a cap per area. Laurence Roth suggests we take into account members wanting to start new areas. Simona Wright suggests tabling Elizabeth Anderman’s proposal until the end of the conference. Rita Bode states it is easy to cut if we take into account quality and Daniella Antonucci proposes capping simply by being more demanding in quality rather than setting a number. Elizabeth Anderman’s motion is not passed; rather than setting an official cap, E.D. says that the cap should be treated as a preference and we should work for quality of sessions. Simona Wright seconds. All are in favor.
E.D. proposes forming a long-range planning committee; Rita Bode agrees that Board needs to start thinking about this. Matt Lessig, Simona Wright and Rita Bode volunteers; suggested that past president Carine Mardorossian and new Second Vice President Bill Waddell also be invited to join.
Executive Director’s Report, Elizabeth Abele
Finances
E.D. notes the cost of food has increased this year because the Hyatt Boston’s menu is more expensive than the Hyatt Buffalo’s, but the quality of food is good; we no longer have all day coffee service but 4 hours of coffee service a day for Friday and Saturday.
E.D. notes that she does not know whether events will have good or bad attendance due to local attractions. This year, Spanish has an extra event; Boston University brought in significant outside funding to bring in three poets from Spain. Similar food as last year’s was ordered but not as much. Wine and food reception with Roseanna Warren will be after reading. Sunday brunch may go as high as 150 people.
Convention
E.D. takes a break in her report and Adeline Soldin talks about local events; reports that 155 tickets were sold to ballet, opera and city tour; assistants will be working at registration desk; suggests some Board members may want to stop by registration desk to answer questions. Folders include local maps and brochures, fliers from various sponsors and for Montreal convention.
E.D. announces local events ran smoothly through Acteva. This is the first year NeMLA had an official auditor rate, $10 over price of membership; people who come and audit receive membership and are eligible to propose a session for Montreal
E.D. notes that Graduate Assistant program is working fine and that not all assistants do the same work, so some get more for hotel or a larger stipend.
Future conventions (report from Bill Waddell)
E.D. notes that for Montreal, hotel rate was negotiated down to $159 and the exchange rate seems to help. E.D. has already looked at their food menus and they are closer to the Buffalo rate. Asks that Board members take fliers to distribute and will send out a blanket CFP that can be tailored for their areas.
E.D. states that it will be at least $5000 more to have October Board meeting in Montreal; the other option would be to have the meeting in New Brunswick. Simona Wright states that $5000 with state of economy is over and above, and we can meet somewhere else. Rita Bode suggests meeting in the hotel we will be going to in 2 years. All in agreement that the fall Board meeting be held in New Brunswick.
NeMLA convention site prospects 2012. E.D. supports the model of having incoming second vice president, Bill Waddell, choose convention site. Bill Waddell will prepare report on site and has indicated to E.D. that there may be downtown construction that may not be completed until 2013 and that University of Rochester has not been a good supporter of NeMLA. Rita Bode notes that another prospect is Niagara Falls, Canada. Rita Bode pushes for Harrisburg. E.D. notes that airport access to Harrisburg is good and Harrisburg has increased Amtrak service. E.D. notes that recommendations for convention site can be forwarded to Bill Waddell. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur suggests looking into the Double Tree for Philadelphia for a future conference. E.D. notes that when she asked for bids for 2011/2012, convention rates for Philadelphia were all over $200. E.D. asks if the Board is still interested in Harrisburg; Board votes on Harrisburg first and Pittsburg second as a site recommendation. Rita Bode makes push for having convention in Canada again at some point down the road, including Ottawa or Toronto; both have cultural attractions. Jennifer Harris notes that Ottawa is inconvenient to get to via air. Donald Gagnon inquires about the situation with Providence. Rita Bode says we had a bid but it just hasn’t come back onto the radar and suggests adding Providence to list.E.D notes that Acteva is transaction based rather than membership based, and we can’t find a good way for membership information to talk to our registration information. E.D. has people looking at other options; there is a possibility of changing programs for next fall.
Officer and Committee Reports
President's Report, Rita Bode
Rita Bode formally expresses appreciate for Boston University for supporting the convention and thanks different directors for caucuses and special events; asks that as many people as possible attend the events; notes approximately 15 past presidents and executive directors are attending and have been invited for a glass of champagne just before the Keynote address. Rita Bode thanks outgoing Board members.
E.D. suggests forming a Diversity Committee. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur motions to form Diversity Committee and Donald Gagnon seconds; all are in favor of forming Diversity Committee; Donald Gagnon, Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, Lisa Perdigao and Jennifer Harris volunteer for committee. Rita Bode notes that contemporary work might represent diversity, especially in American writing.
Rita Bode raises issue of whether Board meetings should be open; supports being transparent but notes that opening up Board meetings might paralyze ability to discuss matters freely. Rita Bode suggests non-Board members may be invited to meetings but those who want to attend need to be put on agenda for a particular item; also notes that Board minutes are posted. Rita Bode states that she asked Rosemary Feal of MLA what they do and reports that MLA has a different structure but its Executive Council is closed to non-Board members. Laurence Roth suggests advertising the general membership meeting. Elizabeth Anderman suggests processing member concerns; E.D. notes we can have a conversation board, such as google groups, that operates more generally; Natalie Edwards suggests using a feedback form; E.D. notes we have done surveys in the past; Rita Bode suggests we include the issue of numbers in a post-convention survey. Rita Bode says she likes Laurence Roth’s suggestion of making brunch a business meeting for those who want to be more involved and notes that this is an Executive decision, not a Board decision.
Review of anti-discrimination policy. Rita Bode inquires if the policy is sufficient or if Board wants to include that NeMLA doesn’t tolerate any form of harassment. Lawrence Roth suggests we include religion; E.D. notes that current policy includes “creed.” Matt notes that “publication” should be plural “publications” on No. 1. E.D. notes we haven’t had any cases of sexual harassment, but there have been instances of volunteers who have been responsible for harassment but not sexually. Rita Bode notes that someone did complain that they were “kind of” sexually harassed and having something in policy makes it clear. Jennifer Harris and Donald Gagnon suggest we make an addition; Board discusses wording of new addition. Rita proposes, “NeMLA does not discriminate nor tolerate harassment based on . . .,” etc. and “NeMLA strives to be committed to a positive professional environment.” Rita proposes Board does not pass this now and works on getting the wording right. Board has affirmed that policy will be revised and formally presented to membership next year.
First Vice President’s Report, Barb Mabee
Barbara Mabee notes a change in her report to “after the convention.”
Montreal Convention. Barb Mabee does not currently have a name for a Keynote speaker, but committee is very close. E.D. notes that Board does not need to be involved in decision. E.D. also notes that we may need to budget more money to bring speakers in; we may also want to highlight works of Canadian scholars. Barb Mabee announces that she and pre-conference assistant associated with University of Montreal will be meeting tomorrow; assistant is also working with Wendy Owens. Notes that Director of Honors College at Oakland University is good friends with a professor at McGill who would be interested in participating at Montreal convention; Board notes she is an excellent contact. Announces Verena Stefan has committed to special event in German. Notes that it is important to remind respective chairs that a passport is necessary to go to Canada.
Second Vice President’s Report, Simona Wright
Fellowship Committee 2009. Simona Wright accounts that over 40 applications were received for summer fellowship award; a list of recipients was given on report; have invited all recipients to Sunday brunch; more or less 10 will be there; proposes making an announcement at brunch that checks will be received via mail.
Worked with Michael Connor to redesign front and back of NeMLA Italian Studies journal.
Nominations Committee 2010. Notes that E.D. sent out announcement for positions for next year; a few weeks after convention, Simona Wright will call for help in forming Nominating Committee; E.D. suggests she form it now. Natalie Edwards and Nilgun Anadolu-Okur volunteer; Rita Bode suggests Simona Wright also find a past Board member or non-Board member. Matt Lessig volunteers for Nominating Committee. E.D. says everything should be finalized by June 30th and elections should be run by early September.
Past President’s Report, Matt Lessig
Book Award. Received an unprecedented number of submissions, 15 submissions total. Does not know what can be expected for the future, though the growth would suggest a possibility of more. Reduced number of recipients to 5 in British American and 3 in Modern Languages; arrived at a preliminary ranking among manuscripts and submitted finalists for further evaluation to readers. Competition resolved itself through those evaluations. An honorable mention was given in each category. Winners will be announced at Sunday brunch. Rita Bode asks if hard copy letters will be provided; .E.D. suggests sending folders to each finalist. Rita Bode notes she will be chair for Book Award next year and suggests establishing formal committee now.
Discussion ensues regarding endorsing publication of manuscripts. Natalie Edwards suggests accepting manuscripts but noting that we cannot put forward for publication if manuscript is in foreign language. E.D. suggests finding another way we can support manuscripts written in a foreign language, such as an original language award. E.D. says that if language areas want to offer awards to their membership, then they should consider what they want to do independently. Rita Bode summarizes that the Board stipulate that the Book Award has to be written in English. The Directors should think about how they would like to support modern languages. E.D. also suggests using the reading process as a way to involve members. Rita Bode says she is hesitant to say we would recommend manuscripts for MLS. Laurence Roth disagrees; points out that to recommend does not guarantee publication.
By-law change proposal. Matt Lessig notes that we may need to change the language by-laws as per Rita Bode’s suggestion to reflect the new name of CAITY [Contingent Adjunct Independent (Scholar) Two Year (College) caucus from the original Two year College caucus but we do not need to make amendment; Board can just take a vote here to acknowledge that caucus has changed its name. Laurence Roth moves to change the Two-year College caucus to CAITY caucus. Jennifer Harris seconds. All are in favor. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned for break
Called back to order at 10:55
Modern Language Studies Report, Laurence Roth, editor
Laurence Roth announces a well balanced budget; the current balance does not include the printing bill. He notes that more members may mean more funding for journal. He announces that he was approached again by Blackwell, who seem very intent on selling their services; will inform the Board of updated offer.
Subscriptions. Reports on some fall off of institutional subscribers, probably resulting from downturn in economy. Foreign subscribers have gone up. We have a total of 1,733 subscribers; 1,950 were printed copies of 40th anniversary issue, the largest amount of printed.
Laurence Roth states that the next issue 39.1 has materials under evaluation and three book reviews. MLS is currently looking for primary materials like notebookes, letters, and interviews. Rita Bode asks how many submissions are received. Laurence estimates in a six month period, eight to ten submissions; in a year, twelve to fifteen. He is returning between two to four articles due to insufficient length. Rita Bode suggests making an announcement at Sunday brunch.
Language Director & Caucus Reports
British/American
American. Jason Haslam announces number of panels has almost doubled, but numbers need to be brought up in a few areas, including Latino/Latina. The American monies were given to support Comparative Literatures event. E.D. suggests that working with Antiquarian Society will build submissions. Jason Haslam notes there may be a membership desire for an African-American caucus and will raise issue with panelists.
British. Cecilia Feilla notes that panels have doubled since last year; from fall Board meeting to current meeting, the number of panels has stayed the same, but the area is heavy in 19th and 20th century novel; notes she would like to be more proactive next year in shaping section to something less traditional. Addresses question of renaming caucus and would like to propose it for next meeting. E.D. suggests that Board members be active in sponsoring sessions that are missing. Elizabeth Anderman suggests that Cecilia communicate to chairs that certain areas are underrepresented. Monies are being used to subsidize tickets for Endgame.
Italian — Daniela Antonucci
Daniela Antonucci notes that there are many sessions that cover different topics, including teaching the language, the newest topic added. A lot of quality submissions were received and so had to change some panels to seminars. Among proposals, there was a panel on Enrico Palandri; announces that she approached him as a guest speaker and he accepted. Daniela Antonucci notes that a way to gather interest in more sessions is to tell members to meet with her and discuss suggestions. She states that she sees a problem in keeping people at convention until Sunday.
Spanish — Elizabeth Abele for Monica Leoni
A faculty member from Boston University received funding for poetry session; she gave him two hours for the event, which is open to the public. Spanish section continues its association with Cultural Ministry.
German — Birgit Tautz
Birgit Tautz announces a special event co-sponsoring visitor Hansjörg Schertenlieb. She states that there will be 20 sessions as well as sessions that list German as a secondary area; hopes to encourage this trend in the future. Several sessions were reformatted as seminars.
French — Natalie Edwards
Natalie Edwards announces 24 panels. This year French has more 19th century, as well as medieval and 17th and 18th century panels; expresses hope that this will come back next year. A special session will be held by Jeff Kline on Saturday night, an interactive and interdisciplinary talk. Natalie Edwards states that, looking forward to Montreal, she would like to sustain the same panel number; does not want French to get too big and lose collegiality. States she would like to get a Renaissance and more Francophone panels and would like to introduce a Women in French panel, a national association that studies women’s writing; notes that Women in French have about 800 members and they sponsor a session at most other regional MLAs. E.D. notes that there would have to be a NeMLA member who sponsors the Women in French panel. Rita Bode suggests Natalie Edwards email department heads at Concordia and McGill to get French Canadian panel representation. Matt Lessig notes that the Book Award winner is at McGill and suggests we contact her. Rita suggests focusing on pedagogy as a good strategy.
Comparative Literature — Nilgun Anadolu-Okur
Nilgun Anadolu-Okur announces Bina Sharif will be delivering a dramatic monologue. 15 panels will take place. Nilgun asks what Board is planning on doing with title World Literatures; she has enacted 3 panels on World Literatures, one Russian, one Turkish, and one Arabic. Suggests keeping title. E.D. suggests keeping Comparative Literature and World Literature in separate categories. Rita Bode suggests looking at a Diaspora category. Nilgun Anadolu-Okur suggests in the future if there is interest, Board may want to create a caucus on Diaspora Literatures; suggests going to membership to say we are planning on creating a division and if membership is interested, to send papers. E.D. suggests creating an environment to encourage these groups to come forward.
Popular Culture — Jennifer Harris
Announces it makes sense to keep pop culture and media linked. Suggests having a page that panelists can check regarding instructions since some chairs do not pass on information to panelists. Jennifer Harris supports E.D.’s suggestion about having a $20 minimum for media projector requests. E.D. announces media requests this year were very high and costs went up to $10,000. Jennifer notes that a web page that explains the difficulty of having media could help address this. E.D. announces we now own 4 media projectors and a DVD player. E.D. suggests we can increase stipend for media assistant.
Women’s Caucus - Lisa Perdigao
Notes that there was no increase in numbers this year; notes that Women’s Studies does not exist as a distint category as much as a secondary area. She sees crossover with other sections; for example, Caribbean Studies has become an epicenter of Women’s Studies.
Graduate Student Caucus — Grace Wetzel
Paper prize winner was Christopher Schmidt. The room ride share board is on its second year and saw an increase in number of users if the board, but amount of messages remained the same. Announces that she had 54 graduate student travel grants. Caucus is formalizing election process this year; elections will be held shortly after convention. In a further effort to keep up momentum, caucus will be participating in Facebook.
GLBTQ — Donald Gagnon
The number of panels is consistent with last year’s; reports that we may have maxed out in terms of population of conference and GLBT representation and may scale back for next year. Suggests if we are not going to expand energy in terms of quantity, we need to do so in terms of quality. Caucus is co-sponsoring Roberto Gonzales with popular culture. Announces winner for caucus essay prize was Christopher Schmidt, as well, but went to second prize since Graduate Student Caucus claimed Christ Schmidt first. Donald Gagnon states he is looking for a panel of names to fill his position no later than April. Rita Bode notes that we did not confirm the change of name of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus to LGBTQ caucus. Jennifer Harris seconds motion. All are in favor. Motion passed.
CAITY — Elizabeth Anderman
Elizabeth Anderman notes that the travel grants were done late in the year and she would like to commit to doing it later in the season in the future. Announces she is going to formalize caucus to have elected leaders and already has names of people who want to run for President. Also notes that a lot of international scholars applied for travel grants.
A.O.B.
NeMLA binders. E.D. proposes going electronic and that Executive Board members can suggest what is useful in the binders to be online; will let Board members know that they are available. Notes that Executive Board must still keep binders.
Matt Lessig moves that meeting be adjourned at 12:31. Jason Haslam seconds.