Minutes of the
Board of Directors Meeting
02 June 2005
Attending: James Goehring (Pres), Maureen Tilley (VPres), Clayton Jefford (Sec/Treas), Georgia Frank (MatL), Daniel Williams (MatL), Vasiliki Limberis (MatL), Richard Valantasis (MatL), Philip Rousseau (Ed), David Brakke (Ed), Elizabeth Clark (Ed), William Tabbernee (recent past Pres), Patout Burns (NAPS member)
Absent: Susanna Elm (Nominating Committee)
James Goehring called the meeting to order at 9:33 am.
1. The President welcomed the new Members-at-Large (Limberis/Valantasis).
2. The Board approved the minutes from the May 2004 meeting (held at Loyola University Chicago) without correction.
3. Report of Officers
a. Secretary-Treasurer (Jefford)
As directed by the Board at the 2004 meeting (see second motion of Minutes 2004 3.a.), The Johns Hopkins University Press (JHUP) was contacted about the possibility that the email addresses of all NAPS members be made available both on the Society’s website and on the list serv. JHUP indicated that website directory emails already were in place and that the automatic addition of emails to a list serv ‘was considered to be bad form.’ The addition of member emails to the current directory is based on an ‘opt in’ system.
A motion for Jefford to request that JHUP provide a line for the listing of email addresses and a box to ‘opt out’ on all NAPS membership renewal forms, as well as permission for NAPS officers to have full access to such a list of email addresses for the purpose of Society communication, was offered (Tilley), seconded (Valantasis) and approved.
Membership for the Society stood at 758 total members at the end of April 2005 (584 regular members; 174 student members), based upon the number of NAPS members who had paid their annual dues to date. Membership at the end of 2004 was 1385 total members, which exceeded the previous year’s membership figures by 55 members.
While the Society ran an operating deficit during 2004 for the first time during the tenure of Jefford, primarily due to the expense of hiring an outside agency to manage the annual meeting, the financial position of NAPS remains strong.
A motion to accept the financial report of the Treasurer was offered (Valantasis), seconded (Williams) and approved.
b. President (Goehring)
No progress has been made toward the compilation of a more complete handbook or Procedures Manual for the work of NAPS officers (see Minutes 2004 4.a.). Hopefully, some effort can be made in this direction in the coming year.
c. Vice-President (Tilley)
[written report on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
The 2005 NAPS annual meeting program contained 43 sessions, approximately the same as the previous two gatherings. As of 20 May there were 217 registrants. Of that number, approximately 30% of non-Chicago residents had chosen to stay off campus. Onsite room costs currently do not justify the choice of a campus stay in comparison to the luxuries of nearby hotels. This degrades from the meeting’s value as a stage for socialization among senior and junior faculty, and among faculty and students within the discipline. Unless future costs can be adjusted either through Loyola or our organizational agency, the Society will probably need to raise the registration fee for future meetings.
4. Committee Reports
a. Nominating Committee (Goehring for Elm)
The
Committee recommended that the following persons be offered to the Society for
Board positions during the forthcoming year: David Hunter of
A motion to accept these recommendations was offered (Tilley), seconded (Frank) and approved.
b. Journal of Early Christian Studies (Clark and Brakke)
i. Journal Report (
[written report on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
With
Brakke’s replacement of Clark as Editor of the Journal
of Early Christian Studies (JECS), all new essays for the journal
should be directed to
This past year the journal received over 60 essays, with four to five essays published each issue. A special issue on ‘orthodoxy,’ with Lewis Ayres as guest editor, is in process. There are now close to 1500 recipients on the journal’s distribution list, including 961 individuals and 483 institutions. JHUP has reported a 20% increase in journal distribution during 2004 due largely to a direct mail campaign by the Press in 2003.
The Board expressed its appreciation to Prof. Clark for her service to the JECS as Co-Editor during the recent years of the journal’s publication.
ii. Editor(s) Board Member Selection Sub-Committee Report (Williams)
The
sub-committee met at the SBL annual meeting held in
Two proposals were offered from that meeting: (1) that all future Editors of both the JECS and the PMS be appointed by special committee, which shall include the President, Vice-President, immediate past President, and two other NAPS members to be selected by the President, that each search be announced generally to the Society but that candidates be recommended by the committee, that the Editor of the journal serve for a period of five years with an option for a single five-year renewal period to be granted by the consensus of the Board of Directors; and (2) that the JECS fall under the direction of a single Editor who shall appoint six Associate Editors in consultation with the Board of Directors and with whom s/he shall work closely, that the Associate Editors be chosen according to the fields of expertise that are represented by the NAPS, and that the Associate Editors serve for a period of three years with the possibility of a single three-year renewal period.
Discussion followed in which it was advised that current Associate Editors be approached as to their willingness to continue serving under such a system. In addition, it will be necessary for the NAPS By-Laws (Section 2.4) to be rewritten to reflect this policy and approved by the NAPS membership.
A motion to accept the oral presentation of these amendments to the By-Laws was offered (Jefford), seconded (Valantasis) and approved.
c. Patristic Monograph Series (Rousseau)
[written report on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
A single manuscript by Rex Butler has been accepted for the series and currently is in the process of copy-editing. Two other manuscripts have been returned to their authors with favorable reports, while two others are with outside readers, and another needs extensive direction.
The first class of five editorial board members have reached the term of their appointment (Kevin Coyle, Sidney Griffith, George Lawless, William Tabbernee, Robert Wilken) and need to be replaced by new members. The Board selected five new candidates from among a slate of eight alternatives and approved their appointment to the extent that they were willing to serve. Otherwise, addition names on the list were considered acceptable for selection at the discretion of the Editor.
A recent volume of the PMS has been edited at the expense of the Society. The Editor suggested that a new contract be formed with the Catholic University of America Press (CUAP) to permit the Press to undertake the editing of future texts.
A motion that the incoming President of the NAPS (Tilley) be permitted to negotiate a new contract with the CUAP for copy-editing duties was offered (Tabbernee), seconded (Valantasis) and approved.
The Editor also suggested that a page or entry about the PMS, to be written by the Editor, be posted on the NAPS website and that the Series be advertised in professional publications through the collaboration of the CUAP. Both suggestions were welcomed by the Board.
d. Best First Published Paper Award (Brakke)
As selected by a committee of reviewers composed of David Brakke, David Hunter, and Lucas Van Rompay, the winner of this year’s award was Arthur Urbano for this paper "Donation, Dedication, and Damnatio Memoriae: The Catholic Reconciliation of Ravenna and the Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo," to be published in JECS 13 (2005): 71-110.
5. Other Business
a. Publications Committee (Williams)
Daniel Williams officially resigned as the Chairman of the Committee, an entity that was originally designed to help the NAPS in its acquisition of The Second Century as the backbone of the JECS and in its transition of the PMS from Mercer University Press to the CUAP. He recommended that the position not be refilled and that the Committee be disbanded, since it is no longer a necessary component of the Society.
The Board expressed its appreciation to Prof. Williams for his service to the NAPS as Chairman of the Committee.
b.
NAPS Representative to the
[written report on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
The Directorate of the Oxford Patristics Conference would like to have a NAPS President as a member of its Committee. After considerable discussion, Goehring recommended two options by which such a person may be identified.
A motion that the Vice-President of the NAPS who was selected during the year immediately prior to the year of the Oxford conference serve on the Directorate for a period of four years until the selection of the next Vice-President during the year immediately prior to the following Oxford conference was offered (Goehring), seconded (Tabbernee) and approved.
c. Future Conference Organization
i. Current Situation (Goehring)
While the association of the NAPS with GTP for the past two years has been helpful in organizing the annual meetings of the Society, it is clear that costs related to the venture have become prohibitively expensive for the Society. The primary problem is that there is no incentive for GTP to restrict costs for the meeting, since its primary income from the venture is dependent upon those figures.
ii. Alternative Possibilities (Valantasis/Frank)
[written report on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
There are a variety of factors that must be weighed in considering other possible options for the organization of the meeting. Primary among these are concerns for expense to the Society and to participants, the need for socialization among those who attend the meeting, and geographical ease of access for various attendees. Vigorous discussion ensued about the possibility of linking the NAPS annual meeting with other organizations, including the SBL and APA.
A
proposal by Kornelsen Associates, Inc. (KAI) of
[written proposal by Kornelsen on file in the office of the Secretary/Treasurer]
A
motion that Valantasis and Frank, in consultation with Tilley, pursue the
proposal by KAI with a preference for finding suitable accommodations in the
It was also noted that a sub-committee would be necessary to review the organization of future annual meetings.
d. Conference (Goehring)
i. Date and Venue
A motion that the 2006 annual meeting be held on 25-27 May 2006 (to the extent that arrangements can be made for that time) with a secondary date of 1-3 June 2006 was offered (Tilley), seconded (Tabbernee) and approved.
ii. Conference Organizer
The Board agreed that KAI would be offered the first opportunity to organize the 2006 meeting.
e. Annual Business Meeting Items
f. Other
The Board expressed its appreciation both for the work of Goehring in his role as President and for the work of Tilley in her role as Vice-President.
6. James Goehring adjourned the meeting at 12:06 pm.
(Addendum to the 2005 Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting)
Actions of and
Notifications to the Society
03 June 2005
1. A minute of silence was observed in memory of the death of two NAPS members during the past year: Richard A. Norris and Maurice Wiles.
2. The Society published its Membership Directory in the Fall of 2004. Recent editions of the Patristics newsletter were published in September 2004 and March 2005.
3.
The Board of Directors noted the
transition of the JECS leadership from Elizabeth Clark as Co-Editor to
David Brakke as Editor.
4. James Goehring noted on behalf of Philip Rousseau that the PMS series has several manuscripts in process and is healthy.
5. Daniels Williams offered a recommendation for the alteration of the NAPS By-Laws in order to incorporate changes to the process of replacing publication Editors and Associate Editors, as approved by the Board of Directors. After three suggested adjustments to the recommendation, the following written amendment was approved by the Society:
Section 4. Editors and Associate Editors. The appointment of editorial positions and terms of office shall be as follows:
A. The Editors of the Society’s publications shall be appointed by the Board of Directors upon recommendation of a nominating committee composed of the President, Vice-President, immediate past President and two other members of the Society as appointed by the President. The search for editorial positions shall be generally announced to the membership. Editors shall serve a five-year term, with the possibility of reappointment for a second and terminal term of five years. The Editors will be ex-officio non-voting members of the Board of Directors.
B. The Board of Directors shall appoint up to six Associate Editors of the Journal of Early Christian Studies upon the recommendation of the Editor. Associate Editors shall be chosen with the aim that they represent the various fields and methods found in the work of the Society’s membership. Associate Editors shall serve for a three-year term, which may be renewed once.
A motion that the amendment to the By-Laws be accepted was offered, seconded and approved.
6. The cost of annual NAPS meetings has begun to tax the financial resources of the Society and has necessitated a search for alternate plans. In light of this situation it is hoped that the Society can return to its normal meeting date of 25-27 May 2006, but may be forced to meet on 1-3 June 2006. Members will be notified of the final meeting date as soon as possible.
7. The Society was informed that the winner of the 2005 competition for the prize of ‘Best First Article’ was Arthur Urbano, for his forthcoming article "Donation, Dedication, and Damnatio Memoriae: The Catholic Reconciliation of Ravenna and the Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo," to be published in JECS 13 (2005): 71-110.
8.
The Board of Directors recommended that
the following persons be offered to the Society for Board positions during the
forthcoming year: David Hunter of
A motion to accept this recommendation as offered, seconded and approved.
9. Appreciation was expressed by the Society to Maureen Tilley for her work as Vice-President and to James Goehring for his work as President during the past year.
Respectfully submitted,
Clayton N. Jefford
22 June 2005