Minutes of Executive Board Meeting

March 6, 2003
Cambridge, Massachusetts

In attendance (EBM): Scott F. Stoddart, Executive Director; Laura Niesen deAbruna, President; Antonio Cao, First Vice-President; Michelle Tokarcyzk, Second Vice-President; Josie McQuail, in-coming Executive Director; Rita Bode (American/British); Marilyn Rye (Women's Caucus); Annette Magid (Two-Year College Caucus).

In attendance (BM): Scott F. Stoddart, Executive Director; Antonio Cao, First Vice-President; Michelle Tokarcyzk, Second Vice-President; Josie McQuail, in-coming Executive Director; Rita Bode (American British); Neil H. Donahue (German); Celine Philibert (Past President); Jason Haslam (Webmaster); Larry Roth (in-coming editor of MLS); Annette Magid (Two-Year College Caucus).

1. Welcome

• Introduction of the new Executive Director

At the Executive Board Meeting, Prof. Josie McQuail was welcomed to her position as Executive Director. She got quite an education during this convention in following Dr. Stoddart about, learning the "ins and outs" of the convention business. She will begin her duties officially on 1 April 2003.

• Introduction of the new Editor, Modern Language Studies

Prof. Lawrence Roth, Susquehana University, joined the Business Meeting on Sunday, and outlined some very exciting plans for re-vitalizing MLS. He brought with him the draft of a letter filled with new ideas; this letter will be sent to the membership and to subscribers, in an effort to not only solicit materials for the journal, but to provide information on what new directions the journal will be taking (see attachment to this memo).

President deAbruna informed the Board that Susquehana's President was awarding NEMLA a $10,000 gift to help manage the operating expenses of the journal.

2. Boston Convention (2003)

• Financial Report

NEMLA's financial situation prior to the convention was much stronger than last year. As of 5 March, memberships and subscriptions amounted to $32,000, with $8,000 in our reserve fund. The Board congratulated themselves and the membership for working together to bring our finances into shape.

During the convention itself, ED Stoddart and ED McQuail met with the Hyatt management team to assess the bill. Once more, NEMLA did not meet the contracted room block, which cost $22,000 - as of the end of the convention it remained at 79%. In addition, NEMLA was not meeting is contracted food and beverage quota either, roughly $13,000.

The Hyatt posed a solution to NEMLA that Stoddart and McQuail readily endorsed - because they are interested in hosting NEMLA in 2005, they said they would forget the room block. In addition, in an act of good faith, NEMLA hosted a buffet lunch on Saturday, which helped to meet the food and beverage expectations, lessening the penalties that could be levied.

Therefore, the cost of the hotel rental, food/beverage items (including the reception), the Board rooms and limited AV came to roughly $25,000 - substantially less than the Toronto conference, but still not enough to leave a sufficient fund after expenses.

• Convention program details

Many of the innovations at the convention proved to be rousing successes. The poetry reading by Louise Gluck and Frank Bidart, hosted by MIT, brought in 120 audience members. The presentation by John Anderson of his one-man Henry James show greeted 60 audience members, and the two other poetry readings, one: NEMLA Poets, and the other sponsored by the Women's Caucus, had nice audiences.

The lunch buffet hosted on Saturday afternoon was a rousing success. By the hotel's count, 560 people were served in the 2 hours, and the set-up seemed to foster a sense of community that all were truly excited about. The keynote address by Prof. Homi Bhabha was another success with roughly 320 in attendance.

• Specific roles for Executive Board Members

Dr. Stoddart would like to officially thank the Board for their time during the convention; everyone took turns working the registration desk, which made a dull task most enjoyable. President deAbruna served as the Chair of the Academic Department Heads panel, which had 14 in attendance, revealing that there is a strong interest in doing something like this again.

The Job Information Center was not set up this year; sadly, no one seemed to miss it. But, the Board decided that perhaps it would be a benefit to the graduate student members to host a panel on a related job-market theme at the Pittsburgh convention, as it is important to keep the needs of the student members in mind.

3. Pittsburgh Convention (2004)

• Local Chair

A call for a local host for the 2004 convention will be placed in the June newsletter. It was agreed at the Business Meeting that a small stipend would be offered as a bit of incentive.

• Contract: signed and sealed

The contract with the William Penn has been signed and sealed, the dates for the convention settled at 3 - 7 March 2004.

• AV Specifics: same as Boston?

No decision was made as to whether AV will be catered by NEMLA at this convention, or whether a similar moratorium would be in place for 2004. Céline Philibert, at the Business Meeting, agreed with Dr. Stoddart that it would be imperative for the 2004 convention to be profitable as well - and that would mean that members would have to shoulder costs for at least one more year.

• Registration Fee for Convention

It was decided that NEMLA needed to substantially raise the registration fee for the convention, to be more in line with other organizations. And, to avoid confusion, it was decided to raise it to a number different from the membership fee. However, an appropriate fee will be voted at the October Business Meeting, in time for the December newsletter.

4. Convention (2005)

• Site selection/possibilities

Because of the room block situation (mentioned above), Dr. Stoddart and Dr. McQuail agreed that the convention should be held once more in Boston at the Hyatt; the Board voted on this, and approved the negotiation of that contract.

• Local Chair

No decision on this position was made.

5. Report on Modern Language Studies

• New directions for the journal

See Dr. Lawrence Roth memo attached to this report for specific details.

6. Elections

• Board Members:

Second Vice-President (will oversee the 2005 Convention)
Director, Spanish Studies (Linda Materna)
Director, American/British (Rocco Marinaccio)
Director, Italian Studies (currently vacant)

At the Business Meeting, a motion was made by Antonio Cao that a separate Board position be accorded to each of the four predominant languages served by NEMLA; seconded by Neil Donahue, the motion carried. Therefore, in addition to the open Board positions, the Board will seek nominations for a Director of Italian Studies in addition to the positions listed above.

Members will be solicited for nominations in the June newsletter, and elections will take place with a separate mailing to the membership in early September, so elected members will be able to attend the October Executive Board Meeting.

• Caucus Representatives

Gay/Lesbian Caucus Representative (Tramble Turner)
Graduate Student Caucus Representative (currently vacant)
Women's Caucus (Marilyn Rye)

All three of the caucuses reported on voting that had taken place at their socials for the board positions. As of now, the following NEMLA members are on the Board:

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Caucus:
Michael R. Schiavi, New York Institute of Technology
Graduate Student Caucus:
Darcie Rives
Women's Caucus:
Ruth Anolik, Haverford College

7. Committee Reports

• Summer Fellowship Committee

Second Vice-President Michelle Tokarcyzk reported that the Fellowship Committee awarded $1,500 prizes to two NEMLA members:

Richard Fantina: who will travel to Harvard University
Jason Haslam: who will travel to the British Museum

They received 12 applications, in total.

• Book Award Committee

Céline Philibert reported that the Book Award Committee had received 7 manuscripts for consideration this year; after careful reading, it was decided to ask two finalists to revise and resubmit next year. No book award was awarded for this year.

8. New Business

• Payment for Web-masters

It was voted at the Executive Board meeting to pay Jason Haslam and Elizabeth Abele $500 each for their continued assistance with NEMLA's Webpage maintenance.

Stipend for Local Host

It was voted on at the Business Meeting to offer Ann Snodgrass a stipend of $500 in appreciation for her efforts in hosting the 2003 convention in Boston. This practice of offering a stipend for the Local Chair would become a routine expense.

9. Criticisms, Critiques?

Surprisingly, there were few criticisms brought to the Business Meeting concerning the 2003 convention in Boston; on the whole, there appeared to be a very enthusiastic response to the hotel and to many of the cost-cutting measures levied by the Board.

However, there were a couple of suggestions made:

· Annette Magid asked if consideration for assisting Board members to the October meeting and the convention could be reconsidered by the Executive Board. Those present argued that the Pittsburgh convention needed to be a money-maker as well, and that this was something that needed to be tabled for the near-future.
· Antonio Cao complained that the shuttles from the hotel were inconvenient and often unreliable. Dr. Stoddart had heard the opposite, and many there said they thought the shuttles were only inconvenient when there was a large crowd.
· Céline Philibert raised a concern about the foundation accounts, which NEMLA had to use to pay for the 2002 convention. It was suggested that the $10,000 from Susquehana be put into the foundation account, so that it would be only used for operating MLS - and that it could accrue more interest in the meantime. This motion was heartily endorsed by those present.