North
American Patristic Society
Minutes
of the Executive Board Meeting
Loyola
University, Chicago (Bremner Lounge)
24 May 2001
Attending: Joseph Lienhard (Pres), Rebecca Lyman (VPres), Clayton Jefford (Sec/Treas), Maureen Tilley (MatL), David Brakke (MatL), Paul Blowers (MatL), Elizabeth Clark (Ed), Patout Burns (Ed), Philip Rousseau (Ed), Ken Steinhauser, Dan Williams
1. The Board approved the minutes from the May
2000 meeting held at Loyola University in Chicago.
2. Report of officers
a. President (Lienhard)
In September 2000 the Board unanimously approved a
stylistic revision of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. These
documents are now available on the Society’s website.
In October 2000 the President authorized the Treasurer to
reimburse John O’Keefe in the amount of $70 for costs associated with the
registration of the Society under the web domain name of www.patristics.org. Prof. O’Keefe
currently maintains the site on behalf of the Society.
In January 2001 the Board unanimously approved an
increase in the size of the Journal of Early Christian Studies to 160
pages per issue. The increase will cost about $1000 more per year.
In April 2001 the Board, by a vote of 6 in favor and 1
abstaining, voted to give Andrew Jacobs the additional sum of $805 for his work
as editorial assistant with the Journal. This amount was offered as
reimbursement for additional taxes that Mr. Jacobs had accrued with the IRS
since the Society’s filing of a 1099-MISC form on his stipend for the 2000 tax
year.
b. Vice-President
(Lyman)
The 2001 Society meeting is the largest gathering of the
Society to date with 136 papers in 39 sessions. Some sessions were expanded
from 3 to 4 papers to accommodate the additional papers. The Society has
reached its capacity for papers unless a sixth session is added or the meeting
is expanded to Thursday morning.
A notice of the meeting was posted in the July and
January issues of the Patristics newsletter,
as well as on the Society website. The notice in the Journal did not
appear until January, so paper proposals were accepted from those persons who
missed the deadline. E-mail correspondence worked well for the majority of
paper correspondence. Transitions at The Johns Hopkins University Press made
the confirmation of memberships laborious.
A more formal process of paper selection is now desirable
in order to plan for future meetings. While an open and informal nature within
the presentations of the Society is preferred, a selection among papers clearly
will raise the issue of fairness. It was recommended that a committee of three
persons be created for the task of paper abstract review. This committee would
be composed of the Vice President, as chair, and the two continuing Members at
Large. A uniformed set of criteria would be published and made available to
those who choose to submit abstracts, perhaps on the website. It would be all
the more important to enforce the published deadline for paper proposals. A
motion to establish the committee was offered (Brakke),
seconded (Lienhard) and approved.
c. Secretary-Treasurer (Jefford)
In November 2000 a Membership Directory of the Society
was published and distributed to all those persons whose names were registered
with The Johns Hopkins University Press mailing list. Membership for the
Society stood at 626 total at the end of 2000 and 650 at the beginning of May
2001.
Issues of the newsletter Patristics
were distributed in July 2000 and February 2001.
The Society’s financial position remains strong. During
the 2000 fiscal year revenues exceeded expenses by $8,241.75. The balance of
Society holdings at the beginning of May 2001 was $93,558.34, an improvement of
almost $20,000 over the previous fiscal year.
d. Conference Director (Steinhauser)
At the time of the Board’s meeting, 219 persons were
registered for the 2001 Society gathering. The large number of persons who
registered for the reception and banquet (165) made it necessary to move the
event to the Rambler Room of Mertz Hall. While some members registered late, no
late fee was implemented.
It may be desirable to move the meeting in future years.
Some members have asked that the Society return to the Simpson Living-Learning
Center as a more comfortable environment. This option will be taken into
consideration.
3. Report of committees
a. Publications
Committee (Williams)
A formal welcome was offered to Prof. Philip Rousseau as
the new editor of the Patristic Monograph Series. The Board chose him for the
position from among 6 well-qualified candidates. The series has reached a good
moment of equilibrium for the transition.
b. Journal of Early
Christian Studies (Clark and Burns)
There are a total of 7 essays that have been accepted for
future Journal publication with 9 awaiting final review.
With the departure of Andrew Jacobs from Duke University
to UC-Riverside, Catherine Chin will assume his duties as editorial assistant
for the Journal at some time during the summer
months. The editors of the Journal suggested that the Society provide a
gift to Mr. Jacobs for his work as editorial assistant. A motion that the
Society pay for the gift was offered (Blowers), seconded (Brakke)
and approved.
The Journal currently has 1396 subscribers.
Profits for Volume 8 of the Journal (2000) were $48,850 for The Johns
Hopkins University Press, with half of that amount ($24,425) distributed to the
Society. This represents an increase of $5,566 over the Society’s profits from
the pervious year.
The question of how much to pay the editorial assistant
and under what title (employee or independent contractor) must be reconsidered.
The Board agreed to stay with the current payment of $7000 (plus a stipend to
cover additional taxes) for the editorial assistant for the coming fiscal year.
After some lengthy discussion, the Board agreed to pay Ms. Chin as editorial
assistant for the Journal during the coming fiscal year as an
‘independent contractor’. Prof. Burns offered to consult with The Johns Hopkins
University Press to see if the Press could pay the editorial assistant as an
employee with Society moneys thereafter. A motion to authorize Prof. Lyman, as
the new Society president, to issue a document certifying Ms. Chin as an
‘independent contractor’ for one year, to be drafted by the President in
cooperation with one the Journal editors, was offered (Brakke), seconded (Lyman) and approved.
c. Patristic Monograph
Series (Lienhard)
A new list of 10 PMS board members was recently
reorganized and will be published in the newest volume of the series.
The series currently has 8 volumes in print, with the
most recent publication being that of William Tabbernee’s
volume on Montanist Inscriptions and Testimonia (1997).
Prof. Rousseau raised questions concerning the board of
the series and the responsibilities of the editor. Though there currently is no
time limit for service on the board, a staggered system of 3-5 years was
recommended. Advertisements for authors in specific areas of research was
considered, with advertisement possibilities on the Society website, in the Journal,
and among the publications of the Catholic University of America. The inclusion
of young scholars is to be encouraged, as well as an invitation to include
volumes on early patristic themes, and not simply on historical figures.
Questions of the amount of money that will be paid to manuscript reviewers and
methods of reimbursement were raised and discussed.
d. Nominations Committee
(Lienhard for Kelley McCarthy Spoerl)
The committee recommended that the following persons be
recommended to the Society for Board positions during the forthcoming year:
William Tabbernee of Phillips Theological Seminary as
Vice-President; Karen Jo Torjesen of the Claremont
Graduate School of Religion as Member at Large; and, Jane Merdinger
of the Catholic University of America as Member at Large.
e. Best First Article
Committee (Lienhard)
There were five submissions for the prize of ‘Best First
Article’. No decision had been made at the time of the Board meeting, but would
be decided and announced at the time of the Society business meeting on Friday
25 May 2001.
4. The
next annual meeting of the Society will be held at Loyola University in Chicago
on 23-25 May 2002.
5. Unfinished
business
Consideration was given to a proposal by Prof. John O’Keefe
that the Society acquire a corporate credit card. After some discussion it was
decided that the need for such a card, which was severely limited, did not
outweigh the inherent risks.
Consideration was also given to a proposal by Prof. O’Keefe
that the Society accept credit card payments for attendance at the annual
meeting. Questions arose as to whether this would increase the cost of the
meeting. Further, the members of the Board agreed that while this would ease
payments for some participants from abroad, it undoubtedly would complicate the
situation for the Conference Director and Society Treasurer. The Board welcomed
Prof. O’Keefe to make a formal presentation to the Board on this issue so that
further consideration might be made.
6. New
business
The increase in Journal profits makes the use of the
Society’s money a rising consideration for the future. Questions were raised concerning
whether the money could be used in some profitable way for the needs of the
Society and its members. Suggestions included money for travel to the meeting,
a ‘first book prize’, resources for someone to provide instructional assistance
to Society members at the annual meeting through workshops on specific themes,
and the employment of a person to assist Prof. O’Keefe in the maintenance of
the Society website.
The 2001 annual meeting featured book exhibits by 18 publishers
with 11 representatives, a significant increase over the 14 publishers of the
previous year. Questions were raised concerning whether exhibitors at future
meetings should pay some sort of fee to the Society.
Respectfully
submitted,
Clayton
N. Jefford
03
June 2001
Corrected
23 May 2002