AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2006
INTRODUCTIONS/CALL TO ORDER
The business meeting of the Council, Emory Elliott, presiding, was called to order at 9:00
AM.
Those present were Catherine Ceniza Choy; Philip J. Deloria; Susan Douglas; Emory
Elliott; president; Judith Halberstam; Karen Halttunen; immediate past president; Evelyn
Hu-DeHart; T.J. Jackson Lears; Curtis Marez; Editor of American Quarterly; Dana D.
Nelson; Miles Orvell; Editor of the Encyclopedia of American Studies Online; Paula
Rabinowitz; T.V. Reed; Vicki L. Ruiz; president-elect; Sonia Saldivar-Hull; John F.
Stephens; executive director; Kathy Stoker; Leti Volpp; and Susie Woo.
Also attending were Lisa Klose, Journals Marketing, the Johns Hopkins University Press;
Norma Smith, Chair of the 2006 Site Resources Committee; Claude Marks, Freedom
Archives; and Lakota Harden, Community Activist
Absent: Randy Bass; Masumi Izumi; John Carlos Rowe; Rosaura Sanchez; Rebecca
Sheehan
APPROVAL OF COUNCIL MINUTES
It was voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the business meeting of the Council
held on Approval of Council Minutes, November 3, 2005, in Washington, DC.
APPROVAL OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
It was voted unanimously to approve as amended the minutes of the business meeting of
the Executive Committee held on May 6-7, 2006, in Washington, DC.
APPROVAL OF THE FISCAL-YEAR 2007 ANNUAL BUDGET
It was voted unanimously to approve the fiscal year 2007 budget, July 1, 2006 to June 30,
2007.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2006 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
It was voted unanimously to accept the Financial Statements of the American Studies
Association, prepared by John Carman, Certified Public Accountant, for the fiscal year
2006, July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.
The financial statements were prepared in accordance with the ASA bylaws, which require
that "a public accountant at the end of the association's fiscal year shall review the
financial accounts of the association."
APPROVAL OF DUES STRUCTURE
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The Council unanimously approved the Finance Committee’s proposal to simplify the
dues structure as follows:
2007 Dues
Membership Category
$ 20.00
Student / Emeritus / Income under $12,000
$ 55.00
$12,001–$36,000
$ 75.00
$36,001–$60,000
$ 99.00
Over $62,001
APPOINTMENT OF STUDENT COUNCILOR
The Council named Susie Woo to complete the term of Rebecca Sheehan, student
councilor, who resigned.
APPOINTMENT OF ACLS DELEGATE
The Council reappointed Gary Okihiro as our delegate to the American Council of Learned
Societies, January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010.
APPROVAL OF BOARD AND COMMITTEES ANNUAL REPORTS FOR 2006
It was voted unanimously to approve the reports of the Editors of American Quarterly;
Editors of the Encyclopedia of American Studies Online; Crossroads Project Director and
Advisory Board; Committee on American Studies Programs and Centers; Task Force on
Graduate Education; Committee on Ethnic Studies; International Committee; ASA-JAAS
Project Advisory Committee; K-16 Collaboration Committee; Minority Scholars'
Committee; Regional Chapters' Committee; Students' Committee; Women's Committee;
and 2006 Site Resource Committee.
APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION ON THE IRAQ WAR
The Council unanimously approved a resolution in opposition to the Iraq War.
WHEREAS the American Studies Association is an organization dedicated to the
preservation of free academic inquiry for peoples the world over; and
WHEREAS the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the consequent stifling of civil liberties
threaten academic freedom and compromise scholarly integrity; and
WHEREAS the American Studies Association is committed to promoting education
opportunities for all students here and beyond our borders; and
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WHEREAS military recruiters are disproportionately enlisting working-class
students and students of color, and interfering with their completion of secondary
and higher educations;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the American Studies Association calls for
the end of the war and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.
The Resolution will be circulated together with the Statement on Intellectual Freedom in a
Time of War adopted by the National Council in March 2003.
APPROVAL OF REVISION TO THE BYLAW ESTABLISHING K-16 COLLABORATION
COMMITTEE
The Council unanimously approved revisions to the Bylaw for the K-16 Collaboration
Committee.
The association shall have as one of its standing committees the K-16
Collaboration Committee. The K-16 Collaboration Committee shall have as its
function to keep the Council and the association's membership informed of the
current interests, needs, and professional orientations of K-16 educators involved
with American Studies programs or curricula. The K-16 Collaboration Committee
shall be composed of at least six members of the association, one of whom shall
be the member of Council elected to the secondary educator's slot. The nonCouncil members shall be named by the Executive Committee with the approval of
the Council, following an open call to the membership for self-nominations and
suggestions. Each of these members shall serve three-year, non-renewable,
staggered terms. The majority of the K-16 Collaboration Committee shall be
practitioners in the field of K-16 education. The chair of the K-16 Collaboration
Committee shall be named from the committee's membership by the Executive
Committee with the approval of the Council and shall serve a single term not to
exceed three years. It is possible for the Chair and the member of Council elected
to the secondary educator's slot to be the same person. The executive director
shall, ex officio, be a member of the K-16 Collaboration Committee.
APPROVAL OF PERMANENT K-16 WORKSHOPS AT FUTURE ANNUAL MEETINGS
The Council charged the K-16 Collaboration Committee with organizing three workshops
for future annual meetings. These workshops would be designed to facilitate discussions
related to pedagogical issues and would provide an opportunity for more of the K-16
teachers brought to the meeting through the secondary initiative to engage in substantive
conversation of interest to all ASA members.
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APPROVAL OF COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE EDUCATION
The Council unanimously approved a bylaw to establish a Committee on Graduate
Education.
The association shall have as one of its standing committees the Committee on
Graduate Education. The Committee on Graduate Education shall have as its
function to keep the Council and the association’s membership informed of the
current issues affecting graduate education in American Studies, Ethnic Studies,
and other interdisciplinary graduate-level instruction; to act as a liaison between the
association and national organizations concerning graduate education in the field,
such as, but not limited to, the National Research Council; to act as a liaison
among association standing committees on issues concerning graduate education;
and shall have responsibility for special tasks involving the association’s
institutional members that have Ph.D. and M.A. degree granting programs
concerning graduate education. The Committee on Graduate Education shall be
composed of six members of the association named by the Executive Committee
with the approval of the Council, following an open call to the membership for selfnominations and suggestions. Each of these six members shall serve three year,
non-renewable staggered terms. They shall all hold appointments in an American
Studies, Ethnic Studies, or our other interdisciplinary departments or programs
which offer the Ph.D. or M.A. degree, and at least half of the members of the
committee shall be current or former Directors of Graduate Studies at their
respective institutions. The chair of the Committee on Graduate Education shall be
named from the committee’s membership by the Executive Committee with the
approval of the Council and shall serve a single term not to exceed three years.
Ex-officio members may be appointed from time to time to assist in the work of the
standing committee. The executive director shall, ex officio, be a member of the
Committee on Graduate Education.
APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION RECOGNIZING THE EDITORIN-CHIEF OF ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN STUDIES ONLINE AS AN APPOINTED
OFFICE
The National Council unanimously approved, and recommended that association
members ratify, amendments to Articles IV and V of the American Studies Association
Constitution, to recognize the position of the Editor in Chief of the Encyclopedia of
American Studies as an appointed office of the American Studies Association and to
establish ex officio a seat on the Council for the Editor.
The Council discussed the growing significance of the Encyclopedia, which is now
published by Johns Hopkins University Press and has become an online resource
available to ASA members as a benefit of membership. It is available to those outside of
ASA by subscription. The Encyclopedia, which is annually updated and expanded,
provides a scholarly base of great breadth to teachers and students in American Studies,
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with ever-increasing pedagogical value and versatility. The Council proposes that the
Editor of the Encyclopedia serve as an officer of the Association and ex-officio non-voting
member of the Council (paralleling the positions of the AQ Editor and Crossroads Project
Director), thus ensuring that the Association will take full advantage of this increasingly
important resource in the field of American Studies.
The amendments approved by the Council will be submitted to the members of the
association on the 2007 electronic ballot. Ratification requires a favorable vote of the
majority of association members voting.
If the proposed amendments are adopted, Article IV, Section 1, would be amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 1. The elected officers shall be the president and the vice president. The
appointed officers shall be the executive director, the director of the American
Studies Electronic Crossroads Project, the editor of the American Quarterly, and
the editor of the online Encyclopedia of American Studies.
Article IV, Section VI would be inserted to read as follows:
Sec. 7. The editor of the online Encyclopedia of American Studies shall be
concerned with the development and maintenance of the Encyclopedia and shall
insure that it functions as a resource consistent with the aims of the association.
Article V, Section I, would be amended to read as follows:
There shall be a Council, constituted as follows:
A. The president and the vice president;
B. The immediate past president, who shall serve a one-year term;
C. Fourteen members elected in a national election by the membership-at-large,
five to be elected every first and second year, and four to be elected every third
year, serving staggered three-year terms.
D. Two student members elected in a national election by the membership-at-large,
to be elected every first and third year, serving staggered three-year terms.
E. One member, who is a secondary educator, elected in a national election by the
membership-at-large, to be elected every third year, serving a three year term; and
F. The executive director, the director of the American Studies Electronic
Crossroads Project, the editor of the American Quarterly, and the editor of the
Encyclopedia of American Studies serving as non-voting members.
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APPROVAL OF RESTUCTURING OF EAS BOARD
The Council approved a proposal to clarify the responsibilities of the Editor of the
Encyclopedia of American Studies Online and to restructure the EAS Board and
reformulate some of its basic editorial functions.
Editor in Chief. The Editor shall have primary editorial responsibilities to expand and
update the contents of the EAS Online, including illustrations and ancillary online
resources associated with the work. The Editor will work with Johns Hopkins University
Press in planning editorial features and will serve as liaison to the American Studies
Association, reporting to the ASA Council and working with the ASA leadership to serve
membership needs. To facilitate these functions, the Editor will serve ex-officio as a
member of the Council subject to ratification by the membership at large.
Advisory Board. EAS Board will comprise nine members, representing as far as possible
the broad and evolving interests of the ASA. Board will meet annually at the ASA national
conference with the following responsibilities: review and help formulate editorial plans,
including new articles, new features, potential authors, and ways to enhance the
usefulness of the EAS to the ASA membership and to subscribers. Board will also be
available throughout the year to consult on editorial matters via e-mail. Board members
will serve for three-year terms, and will be nominated by the Editor in consultation with the
ASA Executive Council and with the approval of the ASA Council and JHUP.
APPOINTMENT OF 2007 PROGRAM COMMITTEE
The Council unanimously approved the members of the 2007 program committee. The
members were selected primarily for their interdisciplinary insights related to the
conference themes and issues articulated in the call for proposals. The central theme of
“América Aquí: Transhemispheric Visions and Connections” opens up introspective
spaces in which to explore the changing nature of American communities, cultures,
politics, economies, and identities across historical periods from the colonial/borderlands
era to the present. A sampling of the vital questions raised in the call include the nature of
American identity, the historical tracing of transhemispheric dialogues, the relationship of
Ethnic Studies to American Studies, the contours of community partnerships and public
discourse, and the impact of the arts in the formation of national and transnational
communities and cultures. In addition to their individual and collective strengths, the
committee members will draw on their academic, artistic, and public networks to foster a
range of thoughtful and engaging interdisciplinary conversations, the hallmarks of the
annual conference.
Transhemipheric Dialogues
Exploring the ways in which the United States embodies a geographical space that is
constantly bumping against and expanding into Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific
Rim represents a key conference theme. Lili Kim, Rodrigo Lazo, Ricardo Salvatore, and
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María Montoya provide critical expertise in this area from different disciplines and
locations.
Community Conversations
Linda Vo, a sociologist and Myla Carpio, a historian, bring both disciplinary training and
interdisciplinary research and teaching to their extensive involvement with non-profit,
grassroots organizations. As the liaison between the program committee and the site
resource committee, Richard Meyer will help coordinate activities and sessions that bring
Philadelphia to the conference, especially in the area of the arts.
Ethnic Studies and American Studies
As the former director of Latina/o Studies in the Program in American Culture at the
University of Michigan, María Montoya brings first-hand administrative experience with the
everyday tensions and possibilities. Furthermore, one-half of the committee members
have sole, joint, or affiliate appointments in American Studies or an Ethnic Studies unit
including Michele Mitchell, David Román, Myla Carpio, Matt Garcia, E. Patrick Johnson,
Rodrigo Lazo, and Linda Vo.
Historical Dimensions of América Aquí
To encourage submissions on an array of American Studies topics temporally situated
before 1945, the program committee includes scholars whose research focuses primarily
on people, texts, cultures, and landscapes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
David Shields is a colonial literary scholar while Michele Mitchell and Rodrigo Lazo focus
on communities of color in the nineteenth century. María Montoya and Ricardo Salvatore
bridge the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in their respective scholarship on
political, economic, and cultural imperialism.
The Arts
Program committee members David Román, Julia Bryan-Wilson, E. Patrick Johnson, and
Richard Meyer contribute their expertise in a range of aesthetics from photography to
visual studies to theater, to ethnographic performance to art history and cultural studies.
All share a profound understanding for the ways in which the arts have challenged or
sustained national ideologies of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and citizenship. Their
participation will ensure that the arts will be prominently featured at the Philadelphia
conference.
American Identities
The program committee represents a cross-section of ASA membership in terms of
demographics, regional affiliations, academic ranks, and research areas. From their
expertise in prescriptive narratives of American empire (David Shields and Ricardo
Salvatore), nineteenth century African American religion and culture (Michele Mitchell),
contemporary American Indian community building (Myla Carpio), Asian and Latino
diasporas (Lili Kim, Rodrigo Lazo, and Linda Vo), environment and labor (María Montoya
and Matt Garcia), queer theory (David Román, E. Patrick Johnson, and Richard Meyer),
and feminist art history (Bryan-Wilson), the committee members contribute particular
vantage points embedded in the call for proposals.
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As the brief biographical profiles reveal, the members of the program committee reflect
the inclusivity and intellectual energies that have marked the American Studies
Association over the past two decades.
Co-Chairs:
Michele Mitchell is an associate professor of History at the University of Michigan with a
joint appointment with the Center for AfroAmerican and African Studies as well an
affiliation with the Program in American Culture. Her work focuses on African American
history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a particular emphasis on
gender and sexuality. A feminist theorist, she also has interests in the Black Atlantic and
African diaspora. She is the author of Righteous Propagation: African Americans and the
Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction.
María Montoya is an associate professor of History at New York University. With a focus
on the U.S. West in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, she interrogates the
experiences of Mexican-Americans, especially with regard to the environment, labor,
empire, and the law. She is the author of Translating Property: The Maxwell Land Grant
and the Conflict Over Land in the American West, 1840 to 1920 and her next project is a
comparative study of western company towns.
David Román is professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University
of Southern California. A specialist in queer theory, his interests lay at the intersection of
minority discourses, theatre, cultural, performance, sexuality, history, the arts, and
literature. He is the author of Performance in America: Contemporary US Culture and the
Performing Arts. As a member of the 2001 ASA Program Committee, he brings
considerable logistical expertise and leadership to this committee.
Members:
Julia Bryan-Wilson is an assistant professor of Art History at the Rhode Island School of
Design. With a special interest in the 1960s and the avant-garde, her research focuses on
labor and antiwar visual studies and feminist art history. She is co-editor of the museum
catalogue and essay collection Work Ethic that interrogates the 1960s revolution in the
making, staging, and marketing of contemporary art.
Myla Vicenti Carpio (Jicarilla Apache) is an assistant professor in American Indian Studies
at Arizona State University. A historian, she writes about the lives of Americans Indians in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing on community preservation and mobilization. She
has also written on the sterilization of American Indian women. A scholar/activist, she has
worked with both the Jicarilla Apache Department of Education and the Native American
Community Organizing Project in Phoenix.
Matt Garcia is Associate Professor of American Civilization, Ethnic Studies, and History at
Brown University. He is the author of "A World of Their Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in
the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970," which was a finalist for the John Hope
Franklin Prize and the Lora Romero Prize. His research interests include US labor history,
American popular culture, and urban/suburbanization studies.
E. Patrick Johnson is an associate professor of Performance Studies and African
American Studies at Northwestern University. His research specialties include black
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vernacular traditions, queer performance, sexuality, and performance ethnography. His
one-man show “Strange Fruit” is an autobiographical mediation of race, gender, sexuality,
and regionalism. An artist and scholar, he is the author of Appropriating Blackness:
Performance and the Politics of Ethnicity.
Lili M. Kim is the Henry R. Luce Assistant Professor of History and Global Migrations at
Hampshire College. Her research focuses on interethnic relations, gender, U.S.
imperialism in Asia and the Pacific, and transnational migration history. She has a
forthcoming book on Korean Americans in Hawaii and California entitled Race War: The
Predicament of Korean Americans and Their Transnational Politics on the Homefront
during World War II. Her current research investigates Korean immigrants in Argentina.
Rodrigo Lazo is an associate professor of English and faculty affiliate of Chicano/Latino
Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests focuses primarily on
the intersection of Latino Studies in its hemispheric dimensions and U.S. literature and
culture. A nineteenth century literary scholar, he explores the intersections of American
textual inscriptions to cultural and military conflicts over territory. He is the author of
Writing to Cuba: Filibustering and Cuban Exiles in the United States.
Richard Meyer is the Sachs Visiting Professor in the department of the History of Art at
the University of Pennsylvania and faculty liaison to the Institute for Contemporary Art in
Philadelphia. His areas of research include twentieth-century American art, cultural
studies, sexuality, and the history of photography. He is the author of Outlaw
Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art. He
serves as the liaison from the Site Resource Committee.
Ricardo Salavtore is professor of History at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos
Aires, Argentina. His research addresses address historical and cultural aspects of
transhemispheric relations in the Américas and U.S imperialism in Latin America. He has
written several books including Close Encounter of Empire: Writing the Cultural History of
U.S.-Latin Relations and Culturales Imperiales. He also studies the criminal justice system
in Latin America.
A literary scholar of colonial British America and the Atlantic World, David S. Shields is the
McClintock Professor of Southern Letters in the department of English at the University of
South Carolina. His published works include Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, &
Commerce in British America. His research interests also encompass gender and
Southern Studies. His current research project focuses on the literature on the English
invasions of Spanish America from 1570 to 1806.
Linda Trinh Vo is an associate professor and Chancellor’s Fellow in Asian American
Studies at the University of California, Irvine. A sociologist by training, she studies race
and ethnic relations, immigration theory, gender, and social stratification and inequality.
She is the author of Mobilizing an Asian American Community. A scholar and activist, she
participates in a number of Orange County non-profits, including a mentoring project for
Vietnamese American adolescents.
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DISCUSSION ABOUT MARKETING ASA MEMBERSHIP AND PUBLICATIONS
The Council held a very productive discussion with Lisa Klose, Journals Marketing
Director, the Johns Hopkins University Press.
K-16 Marketing. It is unclear as to how many professionals from the K-16 segment exist
within the current ASA membership base. The Press will Investigate whether or not a
demographic field can be added to the ASA renewal form (paper and online) which allows
these individuals to identify themselves as affiliated with the K-16 segment.
ASA would like to expand both its membership within the K-16 market as well as develop
benefits (conference and membership) to retain them long-term. Lisa Klose is available to
the ASA K-16 Collaboration Committee to assist in crafting strategies, tactics and
promotional materials to attract new K-16 members.
Student Marketing. There was discussion on how to attract more students to ASA. The
Council discussed the idea of offering select student members, more specifically ABD
candidates, one free year of membership to ASA. To minimize the costs associated with
this offer, this membership would include access to AQ online only as well as access to all
other ASA member benefits.
According to the Guide to American Studies Resources, there are currently 168 U.S.
universities who offer American Studies and American Ethnic Studies programs.
Promotional flyers would be provided to the Chairs/Directors of these programs, who
could give the flyers to students who qualify for this offer. ASA will need to further define
qualifications for this special membership.
Should ASA choose to proceed with this student marketing activity, JHUP can assist in
the creation and dissemination of the flyers to promote the student offer as well as the
construction of a special Web page where these students can go to join online. (Example
– see website built for Beta Phi Mu members at http://www.press.jhu.edu/cgibin/bpm_portal_register.cgi .)
Affinity Programs. There was discussion about developing an affinity type of program that
would allow ASA members benefits such as discounts to bookstores (e.g. Barnes &
Noble, Amazon.com) as well as discounted admissions to historical sites/attractions
through out the US. It was suggested that ASA work through their regional chapters to
coordinate/negotiate the list of benefits offered through this new program. Once ASA sets
up the new affinity program, JHUP can assist in creating promotional materials to promote
it.
Other Points of Interest. The Council would like JHUP to look into the feasibility of the
following activities: enabling automatic renewals; allowing members the option to drop
their print component to their AQ subscription (thus, enabling member to receive AQ
online only); and using something other than ASA membership id # to log into the online
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renewal form (something more intuitive/easier to remember)? The points above will be
discussed among the relevant JHUP managers to discuss the feasibility of each.
DISCUSSION OF AMERICAN QUARTERLY EDITORIAL POLICIES AND PLANS
This past year, American Quarterly published a special issue, Rewiring the "Nation": The
Place of Technology in American Studies, and began work on another, Religion and
Politics in the Contemporary United States. AQ is currently planning a special issue that is
a hybrid of online essays and one essay in the journal. Marita Sturken cycled out as
Editor and Curtis Marez began his tenure as Editor in July of 2006.
New Board Members. The Executive Committee approved three new Associate Editors in
May: Avery Gordon (UCSB), James Lee (UCSB), and Lisa Lowe (UCSD); three new
members to the Managing Board: Ruth Bloch (UCLA), Fred Moten (USC), and Daniel
Widener (UCSD); and three new members of the AQ Advisory Board: Sharon Holland
(Northwestern), Maria Montoya (NYU), and Donald Pease (Dartmouth).
Special Issues. The September 2006 special issue is titled Rewiring the “Nation”: The
Place of Technology in American Studies, guest edited by Carolyn de la Peña (UC Davis)
and Siva Vaidhyanathan (NYU). It consists of 16 essays, including an overview of
literature in the field of technology studies and a review of electronic resources for
American Studies research. We are in negotiations with Johns Hopkins Press to turn this
special issue into a book for Spring 2007 release, as it did with the Legal Borderlands and
the Los Angeles special issues. Linking American Studies and technology studies in
fascinating and productive ways, we think this is an excellent collection of essays by such
scholars as David Nye, Susan Douglas, Andrew Ross, Rayvon Fouché, and Joel
Dinerstein, that should garner a good deal of attention. The September 2007 special
issue, Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States, is being guest edited by R.
Marie Griffith (Princeton) and Melanie McAlister (George Washington). The submissions
for this issue are now under review by an editorial committee of AQ editors and board
members.
Hybrid On-line Issue. We continue to work on a pilot project for a hybrid on-line special
issue, which would involve publishing an introductory essay in the printed journal and
posting the essays (to include new refereed essays and essays from the AQ archive) on
the AQ website. The pilot project will be an issue called Selling Race, guest edited by
Henry Yu (UCLA) and John Giggie (UT Austin). A call for papers has been circulated, with
an October 1 deadline.
Participation in the International Initiative. The Editors have been working with Andrew
Offenburger (of Safundi) and the ASA International Initiative to create a website for
international journals. This has recently been finalized (www.theasa.net/journals).
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Contract Renewal. Because the previous annual budget agreement between ASA and
USC about the journal was a three-year agreement, the Program in American Studies and
Ethnicity and has negotiated a new agreement with the USC provost and deans.
DISCUSSION OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (NRC) RANKINGS OF
AMERICAN STUDIES DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS
The Council held a spirited and thoughtful discussion on the NRC rankings. Some
members saw the inclusion of American Studies in the NRC rankings as a positive
development in terms of “mainstreaming” our discipline. It was noted that some chairs and
directors have already submitted their data to the NRC. Some chairs and directors
submitted only under administrative pressure, while others have stated that they would
refuse to participate when asked. All members expressed concern about the methodology
of the ranking process. How, for example, would faculty with appointments outside of an
American Studies department or program be counted? In addition, only four subfields are
represented under the general category of American Studies: how would those programs
that do not fit these categorical boxes fare in the rankings process? Indeed, how could a
diverse and eclectic interdisciplinary field be standardized?
The Council instructed the Committee on American Studies Programs and Centers to
confer with their constituents and to provide specific recommendations to the Council
regarding the association’s stance on the forthcoming National Research Council (NRC)
rankings of American Studies departments and programs.
STATUS REPORT ON THE ASA WEBSITE
The Executive Director, John Stephens, reported on the new ASA website.
The primary redesign goals are: to create order from informational and visual chaos; to
decrease duplicate and inconsistent information; to build community and connections
among ASA members; and to create the context for future growth.
We are assessing and organizing existing assets, keeping those with informational value
and currency; organizing assets around existing membership groups: committees,
programs, projects, chapters, events, etc.; creating new assets to facilitate interaction,
ranging from a viable site architecture through to contact buttons on bio pages; and
providing tools to encourage contributions from association members at all site levels, but
with a special focus on member bio pages.
The most drastic change (besides the visual redesign) will be the new approach to
information and membership. Currently most content on the site is available to anyone,
regardless of whether they are an ASA member, and there are no tools for ASA members
to find out about each other. The new site will create tiers of content: information for
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everyone, information only members can access, information only some members can
access.
Information for everyone: dissertation abstracts; projects list; ASA information, including
contact and info on joining; general news and announcements; informational articles;
search ASA Resources Guide.
Information only members can access: job listings; committee, program, project, chapter
and event pages; convention information; member directory.
Information only some members can access: update their own profile page; contribute to
committee, program, project, chapter and event pages of which they are a part.
The idea is information sharing, not information segregation. By putting tools for
contribution into the right hands, we can ensure that the information available is current
but not overwhelming. Members will be given multiple ways to contribute to the site, and
to build additional and more useful site content, beginning with their own membership
profile page.
The heart of the Web site is the membership directory. Each member profile will contain
(most, though not all, will apply to all members):
Member ID #
Name
Bio
Web site URL
Email address
Phone
Mailing address
Fax
Geographic location
Photo
Professional title
Institution
Department
Expertise areas
Areas of research
Degrees, with granting
institutions
Honors, awards
Past positions
Publications (books, articles)
Classes
Speech/talks
ASA position
Committee,
program, project,
chapter, event
associations
The structure and permissions for the site flow from these member profiles. For example,
a member who is also part of a committee – as indicated in the member profile – will be
able to update that committee page. Members who are not part of a committee can view
the committee page and leave comments, but cannot contribute content. The same holds
true for programs, projects, caucuses, chapters, and so on.
The membership directory will also be the primary tool for making connections between
existing members, allowing one to search the member data by any criteria one may need.
If a member is looking for someone to give a talk in their geographic region on a particular
area of research, the membership directory will be able to tell you who is nearby with
expertise on the right subject.
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APPOINTMENT OF AN AD HOC TASK FORCE ON COMMUNITY-BASED
MEMBERSHIP
During a spirited discussion with Norma Smith, Chair of the 2006 Site Resources
Committee, Claude Marks, Freedom Archives, and Lakota Harden, Community Activist
Norma Smith, it was noted that there is a strong and vibrant contingent of ASA members
who are involved in community collaborations and publicly-oriented work. Some council
members felt that there is almost no platform for that work within ASA’s institutional
structure, and that the ASA is doing a poor job making the Association a friendly space for
non-academic Americanists and activists. Other council members felt this work could
most profitably be conducted at the regional and local levels.
The President, Emory Elliott named council members Dana Nelson, T.V. Reed, and Judith
Halberstam to make a set of recommendations on how ASA might better serve the needs
and recruit the involvement of community based educators, researchers and activists.
The Task Force will consult with both academic ASA members involved in creating bridge
projects with community-based scholars and activists as well as our non-academic
colleagues. The Task Force may suggest ways in which public-oriented and collaborative
research and teaching are more fully represented and supported.institutionally and
programmatically and to recognize this longstanding and developing collaborative work,
important to academic members and community-based people alike.
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 3:00 PM
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