main graphic

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting of
The South-Central Renaissance Conference, 18 March 2010

Members Present: Jill Carrington (President), Chris Baker, Les Brothers, Meg Lota Brown, Irving Kelter, Catherine Cox, Dave Reinheimer, Patricia García (Secretary-Treasurer), Frances Malpezzi, Brian Steele (Vice-President), Nicolas Van Maltzahn.

Members absent: Raymond-Jean Frontain

Guests: Sean McDowell, Carole Levin.

All additional reports are included at the conclusion of these minutes.

  1. The executive committee minutes from 2009 were approved.
  2. To accommodate our guests’ evening schedule, we began with the first item agenda under “Old Business” which were statements by the representatives of the affiliated societies concerning representation on the executive committee. Jill Carrington proposed three amendments to consider on this issue (attached in her “president’s report”). Each of the societies presented the following information:
    1. Carole Levin, president of the Queen Elizabeth I Society, noted that since their inception in 2001, QEIS has presented strong panels at the conference, usually in every time spot. The QEIS values its relationship with SCRC and endorses representation on the executive board.
    2. Sean McDowell, president of the Andrew Marvell Society, noted that since their inception in 2001, they have also presented strong panels at the conference, usually between 2-4 sessions. The Marvell Society also appreciates the visibility provided by the SCRC, especially with the rotation of the Martz Lectureship invitation provided to the societies. One of the challenges for the Marvell Society is that the bulk of Marvell scholars are outside the south-central region. As a way to alleviate this problem, they have recently been invited to be an affiliate society with the RSA. The Marvell Society also values its relationship with SCRC and endorses representation on the board, although no specific option was endorsed.
    3. Jill Carrington, representative for the Society for Renaissance Art History, noted that since their inception in 2005, they have also presented strong panels at the conference, usually between 3-5 sessions. They also value the rotation of the Martz Lectureship invitation among the affiliates and endorse representation on the board as presented by Option A.
    4. Debate followed concerning the costs, precedents set for new affiliates, programming issues, affiliates as a method of attracting new members and upcoming scholars.
    5. Option C, to add three affiliate representatives to the executive committee, was moved for adoption and approved with the included amendment concerning membership terms. Once established, these members will serve 3-year terms. The first three members will be added to the 2010-2011 board members in staggered terms as follows: QEIS—3 years; Marvell Society—2 years; Society for Renaissance Art History—1 year.
  3. Reports: please see reports included at the conclusion of these minutes. Additional discussion on the reports is listed below.
    1. Secretary-Treasurer report: Approval was given to keep a smaller amount of funds ($5000) in our checking and move the majority of our funds into a higher interest savings account.
    2. 2010 Program Chair report: The issue of papers given in absentia was discussed, and Irving Kelter asked that we set a policy on the matter. In order to ease conference planning details and to foster communication among our scholars, we approved a policy disallowing papers to be read in absentia. In addition, we set a formal deadline for issuing conference registration refunds of 2 weeks prior to the conference start date.
    3. EIRC: Frances Malpezzi asked that all members encourage their university libraries to subscribe to the journal. She also advised that we re-consider subscription rates for international subscribers.
    4. Discoveries: Dave Reinheimer would like to see more submissions from disciplines outside literature such as music or history. Discoveries' agreement with EBSCO to archive materials and reviews is now in effect.
    5. Website: The SCRC website, run by webmaster Arlen Nydam, is now on an independent server rather than UT Austin.
    6. Nominations: Chris Baker thanked Les Brothers and Susan Silver (who had to resign her board position early) for their service to the executive board. The nominations (see attached report) were approved, with the revision that Charles Beem will now be the QEIS representative rather than an at-large member. Kate Gartner Frost was elected to emeritus status.
  4. Old Business
    1. 2011 Conference: The 2011 Conference will be held in St. Louis, MO, on March 3-5, 2011. The local hosts are Don Stump and Thomas Madden of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at St. Louis University. The program chair will be Sean Benson. Sean's nomination as 2011 Program Chair was put before the EC and unanimously approved.
    2. 2012 Conference: We have yet to secure a site for 2012. Many universities are in difficult financial situations at this time, so to help encourage sponsorship for 2010, we approved the following:
      1. For the 2012 conference, SCRC will contribute up to 50% (up to $2000) of the local host institution’s cost of sponsoring the conference.
    3. EIRC editorship: We reviewed and approved the sole candidate for the position, Thomas Herron from East Carolina University. Both Malpezzi and Herron feel that SCRC needs to address the issue of raising membership dues. We have placed this on the agenda for next year’s meeting.
  5. New Business
    1. RSA affiliate representation: Liana Cheney is currently the SCRC representative for the RSA. We nominated and approved Irving Kelter as an representative for a five-year term, beginning 2010. Anyone interested in submitting an SCRC panel to RSA should contact either representative.
  6. The meeting adjourned at 10:10 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Patricia M. García
Secretary-Treasurer


Executive Committee Meeting
South-Central Renaissance Conference
Thursday, March 18, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Omni Corpus Christi Hotel Marina Tower, Corpus Christi, Texas

President’s Report

III. Old Business

D. Site of the 2011 conference

On June 15 I announced that Don Stump and Don Madden of the Center for Medieval and Ren Studies at St. Louis University will host the 2011 conference on March 3-5. These dates are clear of other professional meetings. Up to the time of Don Stump’s offer we were scrambling to locate a site.

Planning for the Sixtieth Anniversary in 2011

We need to appoint a planning committee to solicit suggestions for anniversary events and implement events with Program Chair Sean Benson, Local Arrangements Chair Don Stump and Don Madden at St. Louis University.

E. Hosts sought for 2012 and future conferences

Define policy if we are unable to find an institution willing to provide the usual financial support of c. $4000 to host the conference.

Suggestions offered during 2009:

  1. Host would fund the keynote speaker and split other costs with SCRC, costing the host institution c. $2500 and SCRC c. $1500. In his case, we would revisit the policy on profit sharing policy with the host institution. (Note: effective in 2010 the host splits any profit greater than $2500 50/50 with SCRC.)
  2. SCRC funds the conference and offers the funding to the host institution in the form of scholarship(s).

Sites discussed in 2009 for 2011, 2012, 2013

Austin

George Klawitter suggested that I contact two Ren historians at St. Edwards: Christine Wilson and Mity Myhr. “I bet the two of them could jointly host SCRC in Austin, especially if I am looking over their shoulders and giving advice.” It’s a long-shot because they are not well connected with SCRC, but worth pursuing.

Dallas/Fort Worth

We lack members there who could host the conference. Don Dickson wrote: “I would reiterate what I said in Hot Springs: SCRC should step forward and pay the $3000 needed to host a meeting and simply decide to go to a hotel in Dallas (or Irving near DFW) and forgo institutional support during this financial crisis.” (03/23/2009)

Lake Charles

Jake Blevins tentatively offered McNeese State University as a host. There is commuter air service from Lafayette but availability of ground transportation to Lake Charles has not been checked. Attendance was low at the 2000 meeting in Lafayette.

Lubbock

Brian Steele tentatively offered Texas Tech University as a host. Served by major airlines and large planes. Site might be attractive with entertainment.

Omaha

I have communicated with Matthew Averett, a young, energetic art historian at Creighton University, whose dean has been very supportive of hosting the conference. Matthew continues to be interested. However, the frigid weather and snow in March would be unattractive. Airline service is good.

Nashville

Several EC members favor this site. Mikey Wadia said Austin Peay State University is unable to offer any financial support; he is willing to serve as local arrangement chair if SCRC would foot the bill.

New Orleans

Several EC members are enthusiastic about meeting in this city. Catherine Loomis at the University of New Orleans might willing to host the conference, but like Austin Peay, UNO would be unable to offer financial support. The prospect of SCRC funding the conference in New Orleans would be a one-time situation and not necessarily establish a precedent for the future because the city attracted our largest attendance in 2003 and the its recovery from Hurricane Ike proceeds slowly.

Seattle

Don Stump wrote: “I think your idea of Seattle is promising. The Pacific Northwest Renaissance Society runs a small conference in late March/early April. Perhaps a joint meeting with them would work. Since somewhat fewer in our traditional base go when the conference is out of area, it's well to be sure that there's another group involved in the collaboration, and one would need to see how the economy is doing before committing, since travel budgets are really tight. (Might be a good to poll the SCRC membership before signing on for anything out of area.) But if SCRC rebuilds in Texas next spring, Seattle would at some point be a good follow-on to Savannah and Malibu. It's a wonderful place to visit.” (3/23/2009)

Tuscon

Meg Lota Brown wrote she is willing to “renew my efforts next year for a 2012 conference [or 2013], I'll be happy to; even if the university budget hasn't improved much by then, at least administrators will have a better view of the near future. At the moment, nobody knows what money is available and what's to be rescinded.” (3/30/2009)

F. EIRC editor candidates

I failed to act on a number of nominations for editor that SCRC members sent me last fall while I was occupied with securing proposals from presses to publish and distribute EIRC. There were no self-nominations until after Pat emailed a request to membership in November. A number of individuals who expressed interest in the job were unable to secure financial support from their institutions. The EC was going to review the CV and recommendations of Susan Anderson of Spelman College, but Wednesday she withdrew her candidacy due to lack of institutional support.

The sole candidate is Thomas Herron, Department of English at East Carolina University;

Suggestion by Frances Malpezzi:

Appoint a business manager to oversee institutional subscriptions.

Search for a press to assume printing and distribution of EIRC

After repeated promises to deliver a proposal by the final deadline I set for January 22, 2010, none of the three presses I initially contacted were able to deliver a proposal. The presses were: Texas Tech University Press, which Jake Blevins recommended; Truman State University Press; and Maney Publishers, whom we had approached in the past.

Taylor and Francis, who publishes over 500 journals, including ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, edited by Raymond Frontain, responded to my inquiry with a costly proposal that Frances Malpezzi and I quickly ruled out. They wanted $6000 from a guaranteed 200 individual subscriptions at a rate of $30, would raise institutional subscriptions to $90 with a 5% annual increase thereafter and would keep the institutional subscription money. The cost to SCRC would be closer to $4400 including the $1000 editorial honorarium and 10% honorarium from non-member revenue that was part of the proposal. They would also provide ScholarOne either in 2011 or 2012 to prospective authors for online manuscript submissions, which would assist the editor in the review process.

Options to consider for the future:

a) Online publication
b) Open access

Offer from Rick Clement of Utah State University and its Press to publish EIRC as an open access journal: “We have software that we provide to the editors free of charge to put the whole editorial process online and make it as easy as possible. In fact we charge nothing at all. On the other side the journal makes no money.

We have just launched a new open access journal here at Utah State, which will give you some idea of what EIRC might look like. (This journal does not bear the imprint of the Press, but we could easily rectify that.) By the way, a Print on Demand option can also be built in to give the editors and others a number of hard copies.” (10/31/2009)

IV. New Business

A. Sponsor panels at the RSA conference, or benefits of RSA associate organizations

Dr. Sheila Rabin, the 2010 Hunter Lecturer, chairs the RSA committee on associate organizations and clarified SCRC’s relationship with RSA. We are an associate organization of RSA and considered active because a designated contact, namely Liana Cheney, attend the RSA Council meeting at least once in two years.

There are notably two benefits of associate status:

1) The opportunity to sponsor panels at the Annual Meeting. Panels are automatically accepted if they come from associate organizations. Someone other than the official contact may propose panels on behalf of the organization, but the official contact is generally the point person for getting action started.

Dr. Rabin strongly suggests that someone who is active in both the SCRC and RSA be appointed as an official contact in addition to Liana Cheney, who also represents the Association for Textual Scholarship in Art History and arranges panels at the RSA conference on its behalf. Many organizations have more than one contact.

2) The official contact of an associate organization automatically has a voice on the governing council of the RSA, which meets every year at the annual meeting. The governing council reviews decisions by the executive board and elects members to the nominating committee.

RSA emails an invitation to the SCRC President every year to attend the governing council. I was invited to attend in 2009, and in 2008 President Chris Baker asked me if I wanted to attend in his stead.

Dr. Rabin states: “No representative has more than one vote regardless of how many organizations that person represents.” This is all the more reason to appoint a second official contact to vote on behalf of SCRC, since Liana Cheney also represents the Association for Textual Scholarship in Art History.

Options:
Appoint or elect official contact
Term of office
Renewable term

B. Work with Arlen to update the website

Seeing errors on the website and aware that no one had been charged with the task of making sure the information on the website is correct and up-to-date, I have checked the SCRC part and SRAH affiliate part of the website informally since 2007 and ask Arlen to make the changes, which he does immediately and cheerfully. In particular the website needs to be updated every year after the conference. I recommend we appoint someone to perform this task for the SCRC part of the website.



Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws of the S-CRC to Include Affiliates and Clarify Responsibility for the Plenary and Keynote Lectures. from Jill Carrington

During the past year I consulted Sean McDowell, President of the Andrew Marvell Society and Ellen Longsworth President of the Society for Renaissance Art History about the proposal Don Stump presented at the 2009 Executive Committee meeting on behalf of the Queen Elizabeth I Society and the other two affiliates. The two presidents agreed that the affiliates should be represented on the Executive Committee (EC) to ensure good relations and effective communication. Neither had a particular preference for designating the representation among the following three options that I presented to them provided that their affiliate is represented on the EC. They were not concerned about the possibility that the person nominated by S-CRC from the affiliate could be a person who might not be involved in leadership or know the plans of the organization.

Options to ensure affiliate representation on the EC:

  1. Designate least one member from each of the affiliates among the six at-large members or six officers;
  2. Designate three of the six at-large members as representatives from each of the affiliates;
  3. Add three affiliate representatives.

Issues with each option.

  1. The length that individual affiliate members would serve on the Executive Committee will vary from three, four and five years to indefinitely, the latter in the case of the editor of Discoveries. Consequently, the number of affiliate candidates for membership would vary from year to year. The past president, who heads the nominating committee, would have to be aware of the societal affiliations of retiring and current members as well as those of nominees.
  2. This option gives the affiliates half the at-large memberships and greater proportional representation on the EC than non-affiliated S-CRC members, which is not justified by the number of panels they sponsor at the conference, which is generally considerably fewer than half. (In 2010 the affiliates will sponsor thirteen of the thirty-six panels; in 2009 they sponsored twelve of the twenty-seven panels; in 2008 thirteen of the thirty-four panels; in 2007 thirteen of the twenty-eight panels.)
  3. Enlarging the size of the EC may make the decision-making process more unwieldy and is not justified by the number of S-CRC members and conference presenters.


Option A

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws of SCRC

1) To include Affiliates as members of the Executive Committee.

2) Clarification of responsibility for the Plenary and Keynote Lectures.

Article 5. Board of Directors/Executive Committee

The "board of directors," alternatively known as the "executive committee," shall be composed of the president; vice president; executive secretary-treasurer; the immediate past-president, who shall automatically be a member for the year following his or her term of office; the editors of the SCRC journal and newsletter and six additional members. At least one of these twelve members shall be a representative of each of the independent scholarly organizations approved to meet annually with S-CRC, alternatively known as “affiliates.” The representative shall be a present or immediate past officer of the affiliate or a member named by the president of the affiliate. Representation by the affiliates shall be confirmed by the nominating committee as set forth in Article 6.4.

The latter six additional members shall be elected on nomination by the nominating committee or from the floor, and serve for terms of three years, so staggered that two members shall be elected annually. Not more than three of the members of the executive committee, including officers, shall represent one institution of learning. This committee shall have the power to determine the time and place of the annual meeting and to authorize the president to conduct any corporation business that may require action between annual meetings, including the power to fill offices that may become vacant.

Article 6. Other Committees

2a. The program chair shall be appointed annually by the president and shall serve for one year. In consultation with the local committee, with the president of each affiliate and with appropriate readers in the various disciplines, the program chair shall prepare the scholarly program for the annual meeting. The program chair shall attempt an equitable distribution of places on the program among the several disciplines, affiliates and institutions represented in the association. Papers offered for reading at the annual meeting will be submitted to the program chair or his or her designate by a date to be announced by the chair, which shall not be later than thirty days before the annual meeting.

2b. The program chair names the William B. Hunter lecturer. The honorarium is paid by S-CRC.

2c. The program chair invites the president of the appropriate affiliate to name the Louis L. Martz lecturer in accordance with the following rotation: Society for Renaissance Art History in 2011 and every third year thereafter; Queen Elizabeth I Society in 2012 and every third year thereafter; the Andrew Marvell Society in 2013 and every third year thereafter. The honorarium is paid by S-CRC.

3. The local committee shall consist of a suitable number of members appointed by the inviting authority. They shall serve for the meeting at which their institution is host to the conference. After consultation with the president of the SCRC and the program committee, the local committee shall select and invite a principal speaker for the conference if one is desired by the local committee and its host institution. It shall house the conference's meetings and make all arrangements on the program other than scholarly papers, discussions, and panels. The host institution shall defray such expenses of the annual meeting as exceed the registration fees collected, including honoraria the honorarium for the principal speaker and the printing of the program. The local committee for the annual conference may collect from members attending whatever registration fee is necessary to defray the cost of the items pertaining to the conduct of the meeting.

4. The chair of the nominating committee shall be the immediate past president, who shall appoint two other committee members. The nominating committee shall prepare a slate of nominees for all elective posts that fall vacant and take care to ensure that each affiliate be represented by at least one member of the executive committee. The committee shall invite the presidents of the affiliates to suggest representatives to the executive committee, as set forth in Article 5. If the nominating committee deems a representative from an affiliate unsuitable, it invites the president of the affiliate to suggest another. The term of this the nominating committee shall be for one year after its appointment.

Option B.

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws of SCRC

1) To Include Affiliates as three of the six At-Large Members of the Executive Committee.

2) Clarification of responsibility for the Plenary and Keynote Lectures.

Article 5. Board of Directors/Executive Committee

The "board of directors," alternatively known as the "executive committee," shall be composed of the president; vice president; executive secretary-treasurer; the immediate past-president, who shall automatically be a member for the year following his or her term of office; the editors of the SCRC journal and newsletter, one representative from each of the independent scholarly organizations approved to meet annually with S-CRC, alternatively known as “affiliates,” and three additional members. Representatives from the affiliates shall be designated the official representatives of their organization even if other members of the executive committee are officers or members of the affiliates. Representatives of the affiliates shall be named by the president of each affiliate and confirmed by the nominating committee as set forth in Article 6.4. Representatives of the affiliates and the three additional members and six additional members.

The latter shall be elected on nomination by the nominating committee or from the floor, and serve for terms of three years, so staggered that two members, one representative of each affiliate and one additional member, shall be elected annually. Staggered terms for official representatives from the affiliates shall be instituted in 2011 as follows: the inaugural representative from the Society for Renaissance Art History shall serve for one year; the inaugural representative from the Queen Elizabeth I Society shall serve for two years; and the inaugural representative from the Andrew Marvell Society shall serve for three years.

Not more than three of the members of the executive committee, including officers, shall represent one institution of learning. This committee shall have the power to determine the time and place of the annual meeting and to authorize the president to conduct any corporation business that may require action between annual meetings, including the power to fill offices that may become vacant.

Article 6. Other Committees

2a. The program chair shall be appointed annually by the president and shall serve for one year. In consultation with the local committee, with the president of each affiliate and with appropriate readers in the various disciplines, the program chair shall prepare the scholarly program for the annual meeting. The program chair shall attempt an equitable distribution of places on the program among the several disciplines, affiliates and institutions represented in the association. Papers offered for reading at the annual meeting will be submitted to the program chair or his or her designate by a date to be announced by the chair, which shall not be later than thirty days before the annual meeting.

2b. The program chair names the William B. Hunter lecturer. The honorarium is paid by S-CRC.

2c. The program chair invites the president of the appropriate affiliate to name the Louis L. Martz lecturer in accordance with the following rotation of affiliates: Society for Renaissance Art History in 2011 and every third year thereafter; Queen Elizabeth I Society in 2012 and every third year thereafter; the Andrew Marvell Society in 2013 and every third year thereafter. The honorarium is paid by S-CRC.

3. The local committee shall consist of a suitable number of members appointed by the inviting authority. They shall serve for the meeting at which their institution is host to the conference. After consultation with the president of the SCRC and the program committee, the local committee shall select and invite a principal speaker for the conference if one is desired by the local committee and its host institution. It shall house the conference's meetings and make all arrangements on the program other than scholarly papers, discussions, and panels. The host institution shall defray such expenses of the annual meeting as exceed the registration fees collected, including honoraria the honorarium for the principal speaker and the printing of the program. The local committee for the annual conference may collect from members attending whatever registration fee is necessary to defray the cost of the items pertaining to the conduct of the meeting.

4. The chair of the nominating committee shall be the immediate past president, who shall appoint two other committee members. The nominating committee shall prepare a slate of nominees for all elective posts that fall vacant. The committee shall also invite the presidents of the affiliates to name representatives to the executive committee, as set forth in Article 5. If the nominating committee deems a representative from an affiliate unsuitable, it invites the president of the affiliate to name another. The term of this the nominating committee shall be for one year after its appointment.

Option C.

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws of SCRC

1) To Include Affiliates by adding three Members to the Executive Committee.

2) Clarification of responsibility for the Plenary and Keynote Lectures.

Article 5. Board of Directors/Executive Committee

The "board of directors," alternatively known as the "executive committee," shall be composed of the president; vice president; executive secretary-treasurer; the immediate past-president, who shall automatically be a member for the year following his or her term of office; the editors of the SCRC journal and newsletter; one representative from each of the independent scholarly organizations approved to meet annually with SCRC, alternatively known as “affiliates”; and six additional members. Representatives from the affiliates shall be designated the official representatives even if other members of the executive committee are officers or members of the affiliates. Representatives of the affiliates shall be named by each affiliate and confirmed by the nominating committee, and shall serve for terms of three years, so staggered that one representative shall begin a term annually. Staggered terms for official representatives from the affiliates shall be instituted in 2011 as follows: the inaugural representative from the Society for Renaissance Art History shall serve for one year; the inaugural representative from the Queen Elizabeth I Society shall serve for two years; and the inaugural representative from the Andrew Marvell Society shall serve for three years. The six additional members of the executive committee latter shall be elected at the annual meeting of SCRC on nomination by the nominating committee or from the floor, and serve for terms of three years, so staggered that two members shall be elected annually. Not more than three of the members of the executive committee, including officers, shall represent one institution of learning. This committee shall have the power to determine the time and place of the annual meeting and to authorize the president to conduct any corporation business that may require action between annual meetings, including the power to fill offices that may become vacant.

Article 6. Other Committees

2. The program chair shall be appointed annually by the president and shall serve for one year. In consultation with the local committee, with the president of each affiliate, and with appropriate readers in the various disciplines, the program chair shall prepare the scholarly program for the annual meeting. The program chair shall attempt an equitable distribution of places on the program among the several disciplines, affiliates, and institutions represented in the association. Papers offered for reading at the annual meeting will be submitted to the program chair or his or her designate by a date to be announced by the chair, which shall not be later than thirty days before the annual meeting. The program chair shall invite the president of the appropriate affiliate to name the Louis L. Martz lecturer in accordance with a rotation of affiliates established by the SCRC executive committee. As determined by the executive committee, reasonable travel expenses and honorarium for the Martz lecturer shall be provided by SCRC or by the local committee.

4. The chair of the nominating committee shall be the immediate past president, who shall appoint two other committee members. The nominating committee shall prepare a slate of nominees for all elective posts that fall vacant. The committee shall also invite the presidents of affiliates to name representatives to the executive committee, as set forth in Article 5. If the nominations committee deems a representative unsuitable, it shall invite the president of the affiliate name another. The term of the nominating committee shall be for one year after its appointment.



SCRC Secretary-Treasurer’s Report 2010
Fiscal Year 2010

  1. Budget report: Our beginning balance on 1/1/09 was $32,712.14. Our ending balance and net worth for the year is: $34,696.07.
    1. Checking account balance: $14,304.90
    2. Savings account balance: $20,391.17
    3. Revenue
      1. Membership dues: $670
      2. Conference revenue: $5294.601
      3. Gifts: $2952
      4. Interest: $39.333
      5. EIRC Revenue: $1238.10
    4. Expenses
      1. Awards: $28154
      2. Gifts: $0
      3. Business expenses: $0
      4. EIRC Subvention: $1500
        1. EIRC Reprint Payments: $1238.10
  2. Tax Update: Our Form 990-N has been filed and accepted by the IRS.
  3. Membership
    1. Current membership (2009 or later, including lifetime and emeritus members) is 163, down 21 memberships from last year. This does not include any renewals sent with in with conference meeting registrations for 2010.
    2. I have purged and updated our email address list. The total number of current and previous members on our distribution list is now 302.
  4. General comments and conclusions.
    1. CD rates over the last year have plummeted due to the economic recession. Capital One CD rates are currently at .8%. Currently, our savings account earns .15%. On the advice of the banker I spoke with, I have changed our savings account from a “Tower Gold Super Savings” to a “Business” class account that offers a 1.15% interest rate. Currently, we keep about $20,000 in savings and about 14,000 in checking. Looking over our monthly expenditures, I believe that we can keep a smaller amount in our checking ($5000) and move the rest to the interest earning savings account. We would be able to do up to 6 transfers a month if necessary from one account to the other. I would ask the board to approve such a shift in funds.
    2. Capital One does offer credit card services to its business customers. The start-up costs for setting up credit card authorizations (meaning that we could accept credit cards for payments) would be a few hundred dollars. Is this something that we think is worth pursuing? I have not received any requests for credit card payments the last three years of my tenure. As for conference registration fees, that money needs to go directly to the local host institution so that funds are immediately available, so this wouldn’t be an efficient way to collect conference registration fees.
    3. Our accounts remain healthy, although membership is down slightly. I believe this is due to the smaller number of participants at our 2009 conference (approximately 81 participants versus 125 participants at our 2008 conference). Since most people join when they attend or participate in our conferences, we should continue to pursue desirable locations for future meetings.
    4. We should encourage more people to join at the “Angel” level and to give to the graduate student travel fund. EIRC is our largest expense, but I would defer to its hardworking editor Frances Malpezzi for any other suggestions regarding operating costs.

Footnotes:

  1. Revenue from 2008 conference. Revenue and dues from 2009 conference is pending ($1310 dues; $831.79 additional revenue) and will be included in next year’s report.
  2. Gifts to Graduate Student Travel Fund
  3. Annual interest rate is .15%.
  4. Hunter and Martz Lecture $2000; Graduate Student Travel Awards $600; Reimbursement to Martz Lecturer for conference expenses $115; Fields Award $100.

Respectfully submitted,
Patricia M. García
Secretary-Treasurer



Program Chair Report: Tentative

Based on the current program (as of 3/15/10) the statistics are as follows:

Total of 108 presentations (the program is still in flux and three more presenters have recently sent messages that they cannot attend. As they have not yet been removed from the program, and as they may have their papers read in absentia, I have not reduced the number to 105).

SCRC = 72 (+ Hunter and Keynote) = approx. 66% (at least two of these papers are currently scheduled to be read in absentia)

Marvell Society = 11 (+ Martz) = approx. 10%

SRAH = 11 = approx. 10%

QEIS = 14 = approx. 13%

The tentative program had approx. eight more presentations for a total of 116. These presenters (approx. 14.5% of the total of 116) withdrew before the final program was established.



Explorations

Income to EIRC for 2009 was $1630 for institutional subscriptions and back issues. Some of that money represents payment for 2008 since I was behind in invoices and a few early payments for 2010. Approximately $1450 was for institutional subscriptions for 2009.

We received $906. 20 from Gale/Cengage for reprinting Megan Little’s essay (v.33) and $331.90 for reprinting Margaret J. M Ezell’s essay (v.14). EIRC receives 60% of the reprint fee and the authors receive 40%.

SCRC received $50 from Ilona Bell for use of her essay from the special issue on Elizabeth in her book on Elizabeth I (Palgrave Macmillan) [Fee had been waived for a previous reprint. Usually we charge a modest $100. Since the author waived her share, we only charged $50].

In addition to the two reprints for Gale, we’ve given permission (fees waived) to Karen Raber to reprint her essay on Elizabeth Cary (v.26) in a book she is editing, Critical Essays on Women Writers in England, 1550-1700 (Ashgate); Michele Osherow to reprint her essay from the special issue on Elizabeth (v. 30) in her book, Biblical Women’s Voices in Early Modern England (Ashgate); Ruben Espinosa to reprint his essay on Shakespeare (v. 35) in his book, Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare’s England (Ashgate). I generally follow the policy established by Tita Baumlin of waiving fees when the author not the press is responsible for payment.

The continued requests for reprints speaks well for the quality of essays in EIRC.

In 2009 EIRC published v. 35.1, a special issue on Andrew Marvell, guest edited by Sean McDowell.

  • Mailing Domestic–bulk $177.14 (307 pieces); International $146.35 (29 pieces)
  • printing: $2734
  • Total cost for issue = $3057.48

v. 35. 2:

  • Mailing Domestic $165.36 (265 pieces); International $158.11 (26 pieces)
  • printing: $3087
  • Total cost for issue=$3410.47

Total cost for printing both issues of vol. 35=$5821 and mailing costs=$646.96 Total $6467.96

EIRC has scheduled a special issue on Elizabeth, guest edited by Carole Levin, for 2011–volume 37.1.

The first special issue on Elizabeth has been popular. I’m still getting an occasion request for a back issue, several articles have been reprinted, and an expanded version is forthcoming MRTS.

The special issue should also make the transition period for the new editor easier.

Recommendations (from a lame duck editor):

Finances

I strongly recommend that SCRC allow the journal to keep all institutional subscription money in addition to the $3800 subvention. This would encourage future editors to expand the subscription base.

Currently sixty percent of money from Gale and ProQuest reprints goes directly to the journal. I recommend that other money from permissions to reprint go directly to the journal as well (with 40% going to the author). I’d also recommend that money from the sale of back issues also go directly to the journal. While this does not represent substantial money, it would help pay for items such as envelopes for mailing the journal.

In-house Marketing

Members should encourage their libraries to subscribe (at our current rate, we are not a hard sell).

I placed a flyer in an issue last year, requesting members do this. Perhaps they also need reminders at the conference.

Affiliate organizations should encourage all their members to subscribe and encourage their members to request their libraries subscribe. I’ve already asked individuals from the organizations to promote the journal at their business meetings. George Klawitter has also agreed to put an item in the next Marvell newsletter.

Subscription Prices

I also recommend we charge international institutional subscribers more because of the exorbitant cost of mailing, perhaps $25 ($22.50 for those that come through jobbers like EBSCO). We may want to consider an additional charge for individual international subscribers as well, unless that complicates Pat’s bookkeeping too much.

With the current $3800 subvention, the additional money from institutional subscriptions, the increase for international subscriptions, and the monies from permissions to reprint & back issues, the journal should not have to increase individual subscriptions or domestic subscriptions for 2011. This should, however, be re-evaluated next year when a new editor is in place.



Discoveries

Discoveries again released two issues in 2009. In total, three articles and eight book reviews were published; these totals are similar to previous years (see Chart 1 below), although it should be noted that there has been a drop-off after 2007. The editorial board (George Klawitter, Liana Cheney, Les Brothers, Irving Kelter, and Megan Conway) continues to do excellent work in support of Discoveries. After the Spring 2010 issue, George Klawitter will be leaving the position of Book Review Editor; Yvonne Kendall has been selected to fill the position beginning with the Fall 2010 issue.

Discoveries traffic bar graph
Chart 1: Published Articles and Reviews, 2005-2009

Submissions

In 2009, Discoveries received 2 unique submissions along with 1 revised resubmission; of the unique submissions, 1 was sent back with a request to revise and resubmit, and 1 was accepted. The number of submissions is lower than in previous years, but the shortfall was made up for by rollover submissions from 2008. The low level of submissions appears to be an anomaly, as Discoveries has already received two manuscripts for 2010; however, submissions will continue to be monitored and solutions for generating more submissions will be considered.

Table 1: Unique Submissions to Discoveries, 2005-2008
Submitted
Accepted
Accepted w/Revisions
Rejected
Published
2009
2
1
1
0
3
2008
9
3
3
0
4
2007
8
4
1
2
4
2006
7
6
1
0
5
2005
6
4
0
2
4

 

Table 2 shows the disciplines from which submissions were received.  In 2009, the historical trends continued: submissions for literature and for art, but little from music or history.

Table 2: Submissions to Discoveries by Topic, 2005-2008
English Lit
Music
Art
Foreign Lit
History
2009
1
0
2
0
0
2008
4
0
2
1
0
2007
4
0
1
1
2
2006
5
0
2
0
0
2005
6
0
0
0
0

Traffic/Circulation

In 2009, Discoveries pages received 4,403 views (an average of about 367 per month), a decrease of 25.3% from 2008. Google Analytics, which provides the data, underwent a major overhaul and displays (and perhaps figures) data differently now, which may explain part of the reduction.

Expenses

There were no expenses in 2009.

Progress on 2009 Plans

Archives: Discoveries has reached an agreement with EBSCO to archive articles and reviews. Currently, articles and reviews from 2009 and 2008 have been submitted to EBSCO for processing; I am currently waiting on information from EBSCO before proceeding with earlier years. Due to the work with EBSCO on this project, the hardcopy archives project was put on hold for most of the year; I am also discussing with EBSCO the possibility and procedure for having them archive the hardcopy material as well.

Maintenance and Development: Regular site maintenance was completed. No new development was initiated.

2010 Plans

As of now, no specific plans are in place for 2010, except for continuing efforts to generate submissions and increase traffic to the site.

Respectfully submitted,
Dave Reinheimer
Editor, Discoveries
8 March 2010



SCRC Nominations for 2010-2011

President: Brian Steele
Vice President: Irving Kelter
Program Chair, 2011: Sean Benson
Secretary-Treasurer, 2010-2013: Patricia García
Exe Committee, at large, 2010-2013: Catherine Loomis
  Timothy McKinney
QEIS Representative, 2010-2013: Charles Beem
Marvell Society Representative, 2010-2012: TBA
Society for Renaissance Art History Representative, 2010-2011: TBA
Life Member: Kate Gartner Frost

Respectfully submitted,
2009 nominating committee
Christopher Baker
Jill Carrington
Patricia García



South-Central Renaissance Conference Website Report
Executive Committee Meeting
Corpus Christi, Texas
18 March 2010

1. New content: SCRC Executive Committee (EC) and Business meeting minutes are now online as pdf files. In some cases these are electronically searchable, but the poor quality of many of the original typewritten and handwritten documents make 100% accuracy impossible without resorting to manual transcription of each document.

2. Web hosting: The SCRC website has been hosted by the University of Texas since 2004 at no charge. In past Executive Committee meetings we have discussed switching from academic to commercial hosting, but now that I have graduated from UT, we actually have to do it. The site will go offline in August 2010 if it remains on the UT server.

I have an offer from the current systems administrator of the site’s current server, to host the SCRC site on his non-university server for $5 per month.

3. E-commerce: Once the site is off the UT Austin server, we will no longer be bound by university rules and can work towards accepting credit card payments through the SCRC website These would include membership dues, conference registration fees, graduate student travel grant contributions, and donations. I recommend that the EC approve the creation of an SCRC PayPal account and the integration of a PayPal shopping cart into the website. The fees for accepting payments through PayPal are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, which would add approximately $3-$5 to the total bill for each conference participant.

4. Switch from HTML-coding to Drupal site framework: (“Drupal” is pronounced “droople.”) Each page of the SCRC website is currently coded by hand. My limited knowledge of web design has resulted in a website with limited functionality. For example, the Abstract Submission Form does not very accurately translate text copied and pasted from word processing programs, resulting in bizarre characters and sometimes unreadable abstracts. I propose to translate the SCRC site from its current hand-coded form into a Drupal framework. Drupal is a free, open source content management system. The site would look the same as it does now, but its functionality would be enhanced. For example, I could authorize multiple users to edit content on certain pages. Drupal also has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text box function built in, which would solve the problems with the Abstract Submission form which I don’t otherwise know how to fix. Drupal would make the integration of e-commerce easier as well. For more on Drupal’s features, see http://drupal.org/features.

5. Web traffic reports: Traffic to the SCRC site in 2009 was at its lowest since stats began being recorded in August 2006. Here is a summary of all traffic to the site, as captured by Google Analytics:

  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Unique Visitors 3,721 9,414 12,473 8,796 2,793
Pageviews 11,166 26,782 31,217 24,593 8,303
Average per Visitor 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.8 3.0

Much of the decline from 2008 to 2009 can probably be attributed to the transfer of the Discoveries pages to Dave Reinheimer’s server at Southeast Missouri State. In Dave’s 2008 report he listed 5,893 pageviews from 4,891 unique visitors.

Here is a chart showing all non-Discoveries traffic for the 82 pages with real content on them, from 2007-2009:

  2007 2008 2009
Unique Visitors 7,366 19,038 17,618
Pageviews 10,580 26,535 24,396
Average per Visitor 1.4 1.4 1.4

This chart shows that the Discoveries transfer to SEMO does not account for all of the loss in site traffic. Another possible reason for the decline is that for the 2009 conference’s photos page, I used a Flash-based photo gallery that does not contain the Google Analytics code necessary for tracking hits. Finally, it should be considered that finances were tighter for everyone, institutions as well as individuals, during 2009, which may have discouraged some people from seeking out conference opportunities.

6. Explorations in Renaissance Culture: The EIRC page gets a lot of hits—almost 8% of all unique visitors and 8.7% of pageviews in 2009. We currently host several full-text back-issues of EIRC on the SCRC site, thanks to the work of Eric Knickerbocker at Missouri State in 2006. But the EIRC page proper is housed at Arkansas State. I would like to discuss whether, with the appointment of a successor to Frances Malpezzi as editor, we should put all EIRC materials on the SCRC site: submission guidelines, subscription information, etc. We may even be able to manage subscriptions and renewals through the SCRC site, once the Drupal conversion is complete. And with Drupal I will be able to authorize the EIRC editor and his/her assistants to update and manage the EIRC part of the SCRC site.

7. “Other Prizes” page—remove? This page gives information on the American Academy of Rome’s “Rome Prize.” The link is dead and during the nine years I’ve been associated with SCRC I’ve never heard of the American Academy mentioned as a “related organization.” I propose that we either kill that page or add some additional information to make it worthwhile.

Respectfully submitted,
Arlen Nydam
SCRC Webmaster