Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

Business Meeting Minutes

1987

October 31, 1987      

AGENDA
October 31, 12:30-1:30 P.M.



1. Call to order by Phillip Hammond, President of SSSR (Hammond)
2. Introduction of Meredith McGuire, President for 1988 & 89
Introduction of Council members joining Council in 1987
-- Anson D. Shupe, Jr., and Steven M. Tipton (Class of 1989)
Recognition of outgoing Council members--Reginald Bibby and
Thomas Gannon--and past-president going off Board--Jeffrey Hadden		 (Hammond)
3. Approval of minutes of business meeting of November 14, 1987 (Poloma)
4. Executive Secretary's Report: membership figures, sites, etc. (Nelsen)
5. Research Award Committee Report by President-Elect (McGuire)
6. JSSR Report by editors (Capps and Wuthnow)
7. Report of Council Action on new JSSR editors (Hammond)
8. Monographs Report by Monographs editor (Gaede)
9. Treasurer's Report (Mauss)
10. Report of Election Results by Nominating Committee Chair (Hadden)
11. 1987 Program Chair's Report (Umansky)
12. Media Report (Roozen)
13. 1988 Program Chair's Report (Adriance)
14. Other Business, including announcing new executive secretary (Hammond)
15. Invitation by President to attend Saturday night (7:00 p.m.)
session where announcement of Outstanding Book Award will be
made and winner of Outstanding Paper Award will be announced;
certificates will be presented to the new fellows of the SSSR.
Presidential Address. And reception hosted by the University
of California at Santa Barbara and the Pennsylvania State University. 		(Hammond)
16. Adjournment (Hammond)


1987 BUSINESS MEETING - MINUTES


The meeting was called to order by president Phillip Hammond at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. He introduced new council members and thanked outgoing ones.

The minutes of the November 14, 1986 business meeting were approved.

Executive Secretary's Report:

Hart Nelsen reported on the success of this year's Louisville meeting, with 350 registrants. The 1988 meeting will be at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago and the 1989 meeting will be in Salt Lake City. Contract negotiations will occur for a hotel in Virginia Beach. Bids were received from Cincinnati, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and D.C.

Nelsen noted the interest in the special Gallup Survey, the focus of a roundtable session. Jill Kiecolt and W. Clark Roof are SSSR representatives for this year's survey.

Membership continues to climb, from 1277 in 1982 to 1512. Library subscriptions remain constant, at 2744.

The Council, representing the Society, thanks Larry McSwain for his superb help as local arrangements chair.

Nelsen, who will be finishing his term as Executive Secretary on December 31, offered special thanks to Lorraine D'Antonio for her fine leadership as business manager. Jim Davidson is the new Executive Secretary. Jim Richardson moved a resolution (seconded and carried) to offer heartfelt thanks to Hart Nelsen for the work he has done for the Society.

Research Award Committee Report:

The Committee chaired by President-Elect Meredith McGuire made seven awards, ranging from $500 to $1500. Recipients were Robin Perrin, Eileen Barker, Merrill Singer, Nils Holm, Shannon K. Andrews, Georgiana Flight, and Janes Jacobs.

JSSR Report:

Armand Mauss was introduced as the new JSSR editor. Donald Capps, who finishes his term at the end of 1988, reported journal submissions to be up, with 146 manuscripts received Sept. 1, 86 -Oct . 15, 87. Mauss will begin the manuscript reviewing duties on June 1, 1988.

Monograph Series:

Hammond reported the recent publication of Stuart Wright's Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection. With no manuscripts presently in the pipeline, he encouraged members to submit potential monographs to Stan Gaede, the monograph editor.

Treasurer's Report:

Armand Mauss reported for the fiscal year just ended (August 31, 87).The SSSR is in excellent financial condition. The operating budget for the year ended in the black by almost $1,000, despite expenditures of a little more than budgeted. The budget proposed for 1987-88 is $8,000 higher than last year's, but $5,000 of this difference is earmarked for the Gallup project approved by Council a year ago.

Election Results:

Hammond announced the election of Donald Capps as president-elect. Mary Jo Meadow and Daniel Batson were elected to serve as members of the Council. The immediate past-president of the Society, Jeffrey Hadden, served as chair of the nominating committee

1987 Program Chair's Report:

Hammond expressed gratitude to Ellen Umansky for her work as program chair. Umansky reported that the program was consciously interdisciplinary in the make-up of its over 70 sessions.

Media Report:

Hammond reported that a thorough report was given to Council on media participation and planning by David Roozen who chairs these activities. Abstracts were sent out to the media for the meeting and three or four reporters registered for the meeting.

1988 Program Chair's Report:

Madeleine Adriance promised to work closely with RRA's Program Chair for the 1988 joint meeting. Adriance appealed to persons to organize sessions, offering the incentive of choice spots on the program to early session organizers.

Other Business:

Wade Clark Roof made an announcement about the SSSR/RRA sponsored 17-day trip to China that will be departing either in early June or early September. A flyer on the trip will be available in about 6 weeks.

Invitation by the President:

Hammond issued an invitation to attend the Saturday evening session where announcements of the Outstanding Book Award and the Outstanding Paper Award (student) will be made. Certificate will be presented to the new fellows of SSSR. Following the Presidential address, a reception hosted by the universities of the presidents of the SSSR and RRA will be held.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Margaret M. Poloma
SSSR Secretary