Report of the Executive Committee Meeting, 28 October 2004. The fall meeting of the SCMLA EC was held in the Azalea Room, The Radisson Hotel, New Orleans, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. President Benjamin F. Fisher presided. Also attending were Frieda H. Blackwell, Violet H. Bryan, Cida S. Chase, Donald R. Dickson, Mary Anne Garnett, Mary Jane Hurst, A. Heidi Karriker, Marjean D. Purinton, Karin U. Schestokat, Grady C. Wray, Ede Hilton-Lowe (ex officio). Absent: Pamela Genova and Richard J. Golsan.

The minutes of the Spring 2004 EC meeting were amended to reflect the decision of 11 March 2004 (arranged electronically) to standardize the eligibility requirement for all SCMLA prizes. Henceforth “Nominees must be current members and must have been members for the previous two years.” This applies to all travel and research awards as well as the book prize.

Membership Committee:Karriker urged EC members to continue developing their own listservs to communicate with their constituencies and post the calls-for-papers for the convention on other listservs in their fields. Committee on Life and Honorary Membership: A nomination for Ede Hilton-Lowe for honorary membership was approved unanimously. South Central Review: Hawthorne reported that spring 2005 issue will be a special issue on Southern Literature/Southern Cultures: Rethinking Southern Literary Studies edited by David McWhirter. The 2004 Kirby Prize for Best Article Published in the South Central Review went to Elizabeth L. Constable, Univ. of California-Sacramento, for her article “Consuming Realities: The Engendering of Invisible Violences in Posy Simmond‘s Gemma Bovery (1999),” Winter 2002/Spring 2003 (19.4/20.1).

Executive Director: Dickson announced the results of the 2004 election: vice president, Donald Dickson (Texas A&M Univ.-College Station).); American literature representative, Eric Gary Anderson (Oklahoma State Univ.); French representative, Jennifer Forrest* (Texas State Univ.); at-large representative, and Dene Grigar (Texas Woman’s Univ.). The incoming executive director updated the EC on transition issues to the Univ. of Oklahoma. Wray reported that he had already moved into the new suite of offices and had arranged for phone numbers and an e-mail address scmla@ou.edu. The staff associate position would be filled in November. He expects to travel to College Station to pick up the records and consult with the current staff in early December. Wray also discussed options for investing the money formerly in the certificate of deposit in the Guaranty Bank of College Station (which money was liquidated on 19 September 2004 and deposited in the SCMLA checking account). After discussion the EC suggested about one third of the money be placed in a short term certificate of deposit and the rest be invested in government bonds and securities. Dickson reported on the early registration numbers for the New Orleans meeting and reviewed session attendance concerns. Dickson discussed budget issues and membership status. He reported that the change made this year to handle convention registration and membership renewal at the SCMLA office was working well. Both the number of renewals and voters was up this year. The duties of the conference treasurer on the Local Arrangements Committee are also much less onerous. Dickson reported that SCMLA was in good financial condition and that the transition to the Univ. Of Oklahoma will put us on even sounder footing due to the projected savings in supplemental salary that will no longer be paid to the staff associate from SCMLA coffers ($7500 annually). The EC chose 11-12 February 2005 for the spring meeting at the Warwick Hotel in Houston. Dickson announced that the Houston 2005 convention will be jointly sponsored by the Univ. of Houston and Rice Univ. Elizabeth Coscio of the Univ. of St. Thomas will be the chair of the Local Arrangements Committee. The Fort Worth 2006 meeting will be at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Fort Worth (26-28 October). Wray will begin the search for a convention site for Memphis 2007 convention when he assumes duties in January.

Grants and Awards Committee: Schestokat reported that both research grant recipients used their awards to fund substantial research trips (Perry Myers to Germany and Ben Robertson to the Folger Library), which resulted in profitable stays. All of the award winners were reading papers at the New Orleans meeting.

Program Committee: Bryan reported that the Program Committee had received more special session proposals than ever before and that the program was the largest in many years (120 sessions). The Program Committee had received and recommended a petition from the War and Literature special session for regular session status. The EC approved this decision unanimously.

Nominating Committee: Fisher reported that the Nominating Committee will make recommendations for candidates for the Spanish representative, for a Russian and other less commonly taught languages representative, and for a vice presidential candidate in a language other than English. Committee Assignments: Fisher proposed new assignments as follows: Book Prize Committee: Genova (chair), additional members to be announced; Grants and Awards Committee: Schestokat, (chair), Genova, Wray; Life and Honorary Membership Committee: Karriker (chair), Dorothy Brown (Loyola Univ.), Chase; Membership Committee: Hurst (chair), Anderson, Gregar, Wray; Nominating Committee: Fisher (chair), additional members to be announced; Program Committee: Blackwell (chair), Purinton, Hadlock.

New Business: After discussion the EC voted unanimously to change “Charter members” to “Sustaining Departmental Members.” The Membership Committee was charged with recruiting new Sustaining Departmental Members. The list of Sustaining Departmental Members will also be added to the website. The EC also recommended changing the membership form to allow contributions to the SCMLA general fund until we have a reserve equal to the income of an annual meeting.
*N.B. Because of professional conflicts, Jennifer Forrest has abdicated her position as French representative, and the EC offered it to Philip Hadlock.