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North American Patristic Society
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
August 18, 1999
Oxford, England
Attending: Susan Harvey (Pres), Joseph Lienhard (VP), John O'Keefe (Sec/Treas), Theresa Shaw (MatL), Rebecca Lyman (MatL), Maureen Tilly (MatL), James Goehring (Nom), Patout Burns (Ed), Elizabeth Clark (Ed), Ken Steinhauser, Joe Kelly, Dan Williams.
President Harvey called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM.
1. Approval of Last Year's Minutes
The Minutes were approved without emendation.
2. Report of the Secretary/Treasurer (O'Keefe)
The Secretary/Treasurer presented a financial statement. As the appended financial report indicates, the society is doing very well financially. He also mentioned the following:
Shortly after the 1998 meeting the society was contacted by the IRS. NAPS had neglected to file certain documents related to its tax-exempt status. The failure to file was based upon a misunderstanding of the nature of the money that came into NAPS accounts in years in which a conference is held. The Secretary/Treasurer, with the generous assistance of Creighton University's controller's office, filled all the missing forms for the tax years 1994-1998. Based upon this experience the Secretary/Treasurer recommended to that board that NAPS hire an accounting firm to ensure that this oversight does not happen again. The recommendation was approved unanimously.
The Secretary/Treasurer announced that he planned to change the society's fiscal year to Jan 1-Dec 30. This will help the society avoid some complex accounting issues that resulted from the previous fiscal year. This proposal met with no objection.
3. Report of JECS Editors (Liz Clark and Patout Burns) and the Patristic Monograph Series (Joe Lienhard)
Elizabeth Clark said she would like the society to increase its financial support of the graduate editorial assistant. She would like to shift more of this burden away from Duke University. She asked for $4000.00 annually. The board agreed, but said that the amount would have to be evaluated each year and would depend on the current resources of the society. The $4000.00 will be taken from the Journal's profits.
The main topic of discussion was the future of the Patristic Monograph Series. Joe Lienhard announced that the society will no longer be publishing with Mercer University Press. He placed two proposals on the table, one from The John's Hopkins University Press and a second from the The Catholic University of America Press. JHUP proposed to publish the monograph series electronically and to make each book available online to all NAPS members. Hard copies of the monographs could be ordered and printed on demand. CUA proposed a traditional, hard copy, limited run, monograph series.
The debate focused on the academic value of an electronic publication. The majority of the board members did not think that the technology was mature enough at this time to go with JHUP's proposal. The board voted to accept the proposal from CUA with John O'Keefe casting the only dissenting vote.
Joe Lienhard said that he would look in to the possibility of the society buying the remaining stock of monographs from Mercer.
4. Other Business
Some members wished to know if NAPS sold its mailing list. Patout Burns and John O'Keefe said that answer was yes, but that it was sold by The Johns Hopkins University Press. They were not certain of the fees involved. Burns agreed to check into it.
Dan Williams was appointed the new head of the publication committee.
Joe Lienhard said he would like to step down as editor of the monograph series if a suitable replacement can be found.
John O'Keefe's term as Secretary/Treasurer is up this year. Although the term is renewable once, he said he would not seek reelection.
The next meeting of the Society will held May 25-27, 2000 at Loyola University, Chicago.
Financial Statements:
Financial Report
North American Patristic Society
August, 1999
Submitted by John J. O'Keefe
Fiscal Year: May 1, 1998 – April 30, 1999
Revenue
|
Deferred Conference income |
30, 201 |
|
Conference Revenues current year |
4995 |
|
Investment Income |
1687 |
|
Dues |
6690 |
|
Journal Profits |
11086 |
|
Royalties |
3591 |
|
Dividends |
75 |
|
Total: |
58,325 |
Expenses
|
Total for year 13,687
Account Balances as of 04/30/99
North American Patristic Society
August, 1999
Submitted by John J. O'Keefe
ASSETS
Cash and Bank Accounts
|
Investments:
|
TOTAL ASSETS 68,661.65
TOTAL LIABILITIES 0.00
OVERALL TOTAL 68,661.65 (Includes unrealized capital gains)
Actually Cash value of Society 67,766.91