Attending: 55 persons
Meeting Convened: 5:05 p.m.
1. Minutes of Meeting, 7 January 2012. Peter Williams moved and Charles Lippy seconded the approval of the distributed minutes of the Business Meeting held in Chicago. Approved by acclamation.
2. President's Remarks. The President, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, welcomed everyone, particularly those members attending a business meeting for the first time. Maffly-Kipp thanked the Executive Secretary and his staff, and members of the standing committees for their work for the ASCH in the past year. The President also gave a special thanks to Hans Hillerbrand, who stepped down from chairing the Finance Committee after years of service on that committee and the ASCH in general, and Charles Lippy who is leading the efforts of the Endowment Committee.
Maffly Kipp introduced the former presidents who were present at the meeting: Elizabeth Clark, Richard Heitzenrater, Charles Lippy, Amanda Porterfield, Grant Wacker, Peter Williams, and Barbara Brown Zikmund.
3. Executive Secretary's Report. The Executive Secretary drew attention to the healthy state of the Society's finances. He noted that the challenge for the ASCH now was planning for its future, decided what kind of academic society it wanted to be and how it would disburse its funds from year-to-year and in the not so distant future.
The report was received without comment or questions from members.
4. Church History Editors' Report. Amanda Porterfield thanked members for their help with book reviews and thanked the associate editors Elizabeth Clark, Thomas Noble, Carlos Eire, Hugh McLeod, Dana Robert, and Enrique Dussel. John Corrigan drew attention to the fact that there had been 143 submissions to the journal in the past year, 51 from countries outside the United States, representing about 18 countries. Corrigan noted that the journal is in a healthy state financially and has been acquiring readership that it did not have previously. The editors also stated that they had met with representatives from Cambridge University Press to discuss ways to distribute the journal in South America.
Daniel Bornstein asked whether the editors were interested in receiving articles in languages other than English. Corrigan replied that the editors would consider such articles.
Corrigan concluded his comments by encouraging members to send suggestions for improving the journal to the editors.
5. Committee Reports.
A. Membership: Committee chair Peggy Bendroth asked members of the Committee to stand—Adrian Chastain Weimer and David Komline were present. Bendroth noted that it was difficult to know the exact number of members in the Society, but the number was probably about 1,000. The Executive Secretary explained that there were at least three ways to measure the membership: the numbers of members who had paid their dues for 2012; the number of members who had paid in 2011 and 2012 (approximately 1,500); the number of members who had paid their dues or attended an ASCH conference at some time in the last three years and thus were on the ASCH e-mail list. The Executive Secretary noted that the last number was substantially higher than the previous two numbers, over 2,300.
B. Nominations and Personnel: The Executive Secretary read the names of the members nominated for the standing committees and the new President-Elect. In place of the chair Barbara Newman, the Executive Secretary moved the acceptance of the slate of names nominated: Approved by acclamation.
C. Research and Prizes: Committee chair Anne Blue Wills commented on the work of some of the prize winners. Douglass Prize winner Sarah Adelman was commended for her research and contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century Catholicism in the United States. Brewer Prize winner Sarah Rivett's book was “a terrific [book] which challenges the notions that Puritanism was opposed to the Enlightenment” and the runner-up Molly Oshatz's book was “thought-provoking.” Outler Prize winner David Hempton had written a book “stunning in scope and imagination” and the runner-up Sarah Berringer Gordon's book was “very readable and very much needed.” Wills also thanked the Committee members for their hard work during the past year.
The Committee chair and the President presented the prizes to the award winners. Mead Prize: Bianca Lopez (Washington University in St. Louis), “Between Court and Cloister: The Life and Lives of Margherita Colonna.” [The prize was collected on her behalf by Daniel Bornstein.] Douglass Prize: Sarah Adelman (Framingham State University), “Empowerment and Submission: The Political Culture of Catholic Women's Religious Communities in Nineteenth-Century America” in Journal of Women's History 23, no. 3 (2011): 138–161. Brewer Prize: Sarah Rivett (Princeton University), The Science of the Soul in Colonial New England (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011). Outler Prize: David Hempton (Harvard Divinity School), The Church in the Long Eighteenth Century (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Anne Blue Wills also recognized Elissa Cutter (St. Louis University), one of the winners of the Graduate Student Award. [The other winners Han-luen Kantzer Komline (University of Notre Dame), Travis Myers (Boston University), Anneke Stasson, (Boston University), and William Yoo (Emory University) were not present.]
D. Finance and Investments: The Executive Secretary, speaking on behalf of the chair Hans Hillerbrand noted again that the finances of the Society are healthy. The question the Society needed to address was the use of the yearly surplus. The President stated that the budget could be amended in several ways in order to target certain objectives of the Society such as support for graduate students attending ASCH conferences. Frederick Gerbracht asked why the amount collected in dues was not listed in the budget line. The Executive Secretary explained that the total spending for 2012 had not been included in the budget but that amount could be offset by the amount collected in dues. Gerbracht wondered how the $9,000 already collected for the Endowment Fund would be used. The Executive Secretary stated that the money was in a savings account in Bank of America but that the money could not be used as an endowed fund until it had reached $15,000, the minimum amount needed to generate a sum of $500 without reducing the initial capital. Richard Heitzenrater expressed the hope that any surpluses would be used for the Society's efforts at internationalization, graduate students, and digitization. The President stated that the Council would discuss an amended budget with a targeted use of the surplus at the upcoming meeting in Portland in April. The 2013 budget was approved by acclamation.
E. 2012 Winter Meeting Program: Committee Chair Bruce Hindmarsh noted that there had been 51 panel proposals and 71 individual proposals with several addressing the specific themes of the conference. Hindmarsh thanked the Committee members for their hard work and particularly noted the efforts of his graduate assistant Danae Yankoski.
F. ASCH Representatives to the ACLS: In addition to his report Charles Lippy mentioned that three ASCH members had received fellowships from the ACLS in 2012—one of winners was Darren Dochuk (Purdue University)—and he encouraged members to apply for this year's fellowships.
6. Other Business.
A. Constitutional Amendment: Richard Heitzenrater presented the second reading of the amendment to the Constitution—that the graduate student representative to the Council become a three-year voting member. Approved by acclamation.
B. Guidelines for the Distinguished Career Award: Richard Heitzenrater, the chair of an ad hoc committee that discussed the matter, presented a set of guidelines for the Distinguished Career Award. He noted that these guidelines had been passed by the Council at its last meeting (on January 3, 2013). Heitzenrater explained that the process was designed to ensure that the award was given to members with exceptional careers who had made a contribution to the study of religion and culture and the ASCH.
C. Endowment Committee: Committee chair Charles Lippy named the other members of the Committee: Anthea Butler, Elizabeth Clark, Joel Carpenter, and Mark Noll. Lippy stated that the new endowment fund would be used to give graduate students stipends to assist them in their research. The President noted that the Business Meeting was the beginning of the formal launch of the campaign. Both Lippy and Maffly-Kipp encouraged members to give to the campaign.
7. In Memoriam. President Maffly-Kipp asked members to stand for a moment of silence to remember the passing of three ASCH members: Mary E. Coleman, Ralph Souther, and Fr. Pavel Georgiev.
Meeting Adjourned: 6:01 p.m.
