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Regional Chapters Committee

Report from the Regional Chapters Committee 2006

Submitted by Donna M. Campbell, Chair
16 September 2006

Membership

Members of the Regional Chapters Committee:

Chair: DONNA M. CAMPBELL, Pacific Northwest ASA, Washington State University (June 2008)
MARIAN AITCHES, Texas ASA, University of Texas, San Antonio (June 2009)
SOPHIE BELL, Metropolitan New York ASA, Tufts University (June 2008)
JOHN HADDAD, Mid-Atlantic ASA, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg (June 2008)
MARK HELBLING, Hawai’i ASA, University of Hawai’i, Manoa (June 2007)
BETSY KLIMASMITH, New England ASA, University of Massachusetts, Boston (June 2009)
JOHN LOWE, Southern ASA, Louisiana State University (June 2007)
SARAH MOORE, Rocky Mountain ASA, University of Arizona (June 2009)
Council Member: PAULA RABINOWITZ, University of Minnesota (June 2009)
JANE E. SCHULTZ, Great Lakes ASA, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (June 2007)
S. TRAVIS SILCOX, California ASA, Sacramento City College (June 2008)
JANE SIMONSEN, , Mid-America ASA, Augustana College (June 2009)
MARTHA SWEARINGEN, Chesapeake ASA, University of the District of Columbia (June 2006);
MARTHA VIEHMANN, Kentucky-Tennessee ASA, Northern Kentucky University (June 2010)Executive Director: JOHN F. STEPHENS, ex officio, American Studies
Association

Regional Chapters’ Annual Conferences, 2006

CALIFORNIA ASA. The next CASA meeting will present a special session, “Inter Tribal Friendship House: Oral History as Transnational Indigenous Activism,” at the American Studies Association Annual Meeting in Oakland, CA, in October 2006.
CHESAPEAKE ASA. CHASA held its annual Spring Colloquium at Montgomery College on the Takoma Park-Silver Spring campus on April 1, 2006. Its theme was “Emerging Scholars, Emerging Scholarship.”
KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE ASA: KTASA held its 49th meeting on April 7-8, 2006, at Montgomery Bell State Resort Park in Dickson Tennessee (near Nashville).
MID-AMERICA: Mid-America ASA held its annual conference on April 7-8, 2006, at St. Louis University. Its theme was “American Public Cultures: Space, Performance, and History.”
MID-ATLANTIC: The Mid-Atlantic ASA held its 2006 Conference in Harrisburg, PA, on March 31-April 1. This was a joint Pennsylvania Political Science Association. The Mid-Atlantic ASA conference theme was “Politics, Power, & Culture.” Additionally, the MAASA-PPSA Joint Conference theme was “100 Years Under the Dome: The Art and Politics of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol.”
NEW ENGLAND ASA will hold its annual conference on September 15-16, 2006, at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME. Its theme was “Homeland In/Security: Race and Citizenship in the United States.”
NEW YORK METROPOLITAN ASA: NYMASA will hold a conference entitled “Crash / Landings: Friction and Flow in the American City” on October 28, 2006.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST: The Pacific Northwest ASA held its 2006 conference on April 20-22, in Spokane, WA, in conjunction with the annual Get Lit! festival of writing and the arts.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN: The Rocky Mountain American Studies Association held its annual conference in Albuquerque, NM on March 24-26, 2006 at the University of New Mexico on the theme of “New Critical Regionalism.”
TEXAS: The Texas American Studies Association will hold its 50th annual conference on November 16-18, 2006, at Baylor University in Waco, TX. Its theme is “The South, West, and Texas.”

Regional Chapters’ Annual Conferences, 2007-2008

The following chapters have announced their 2007-2008 conferences:

SOUTHERN AMERICAN ASA: The Southern American ASA will hold its conference “Blues Tunes / Blues Texts: Music, Cultures, and Literature in the Global South” as a joint meeting with the 5th Annual Living Blues Symposium in Oxford, MS at the University of Mississippi on February 16-18, 2007.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC ASA. The Middle Atlantic ASA is working with the Chesapeake chapter to organize a joint conference for April 2007, site to be determined.
GREAT LAKES: GLASA will hold its next conference in 2007 at a site not yet determined.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST ASA: The Pacific Northwest American Studies Association will hold its annual conference on April 26-28, 2007, in Portland, OR. Its theme is “Labor and Leisure.

Grants to Assist Regional American Studies Conferences and Projects

This year marks the first year of awarding grants to the regional chapters for collaborative projects that “articulate and demonstrate a commitment to unique approaches for regional chapter programming.” According to John Stephens, the following grants were approved by the Executive Committee in May 2006:

1. New England American Studies Association: “NEASA New England K-16 Initiative.”
$3000 to improve NEASA’s role as a resource for American Studies teachers in New England through three elements – research into the changing needs of American Studies high school teachers; improved outreach – the ability to award Regional Fellowships at our Annual Meeting to a wider range of candidates; and support for non-academic speakers – specifically tribal leaders – at our 2006 Annual Meeting.

2. Southern American Studies Association: “Blues Tunes/Blues Texts: Music, Culture, and Literature in the Global South.”

$3000 to support Blues Tunes/Blues Texts, a conference that is hoped will reach across academic lines and appeal to a local culture and popular audience as well as American studies professionals. It will feature film screenings, photography, blues performances, a live radio show and tour as well as standard paper panels and two keynote speakers – Trudier Harris of UNC-Chapel Hill and Craig Werner of the University of Wisconsin.

3. California American Studies Association: “Inter Tribal Friendship House: Oral History as Transnational Indigenous Activism – A Special Session of the 2006 American Studies Association Annual Meeting.”

$3,000 to assist in developing a relationship with the Inter Tribal Friendship House, a community organization serving the diverse interests of Native American nations/tribes that arrived in the Bay Area after an internal diaspora. The project will bring Native community members and academics together at the Inter Tribal Friendship House during the ASA Annual Meeting.

State of the Chapters Reports at the ASA Regional Chapters Committee Annual Meeting (2005)

Texas – Gaye Johnson reported on the 50th anniversary plans for the chapters. The chapter is experiencing a revitalization.
Rocky Mountain – Alex Lubin reported on the March conference in Albuquerque
Mid-America – Jeffrey Miller reported on the Minneapolis conference and plans for spring ‘06 in St. Louis. While the newsletter has not gone out recently, the chapter is planning a website.
New England – Renee Bergland reported on the role of the Webmaster as a seat on their board. She also described the chapter’s non-tenure track scholars’ prize and the idea of students as “Regional Fellows.” The Sightlines conference was a huge success, with five keynote speakers and an NEH grant for secondary school participation. Next September they will meet in Maine.
Mid-Atlantic – John Haddad reported on the Rutgers conference and the Pennsylvania Capitol Building joint conference with the Poly Sci department. The newsletter goes out twice annually, they are working on a joint meeting with Chesapeake, and their board is undergoing institutional diversification.
Chesapeake – Jo Paoletti reported on the student paper showcase at their last conference and other ideas for making conferences more successful.
Kentucky-Tennessee – Beth Boyd reported for Dale Cockrell on their April conference, By-Laws revision, 50th anniversary book prize, and ways to encourage more student participation in chapters.
California – Travis Silcox reported on planning for the national conference in Oakland in October. The California chapter is in need of revitalization and they expect the national conference to be a catalyst.
Pacific Northwest – Donna Campbell reported on their successful Portland conference and shared strategies for increasing attendance by linking the conference to a major literary festival.

Overall, the Chapters shared ideas for increasing attendance at conferences, revitalizing chapters, and balancing the activities of the chapters.

Other Regional Chapter Activities

HAWAII ASA sponsored a public forum with the distinguished historian John Hope Franklin on January 28, 2006. Dr. Franklin discussed his life and the importance of history with Dr. James O. Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and history at George Washington University.

NEW YORK METRO: NYMASA held its second annual Americanist brunch in March 2006 and hosted Salon Talks by Andrew Ross, Erica Chito Childs, Stephen Paul Miller, Richard Haw, Mary Blanchard, and Doris Friedensohn throughout the year.

Several chapters have established or continue to offer prizes for scholarly work related to the regional organization, especially work by graduate students.

The Mid-America ASA offers a $250 prize for the best American Studies paper delivered by a currently enrolled graduate student.
The Kentucky-Tennessee ASA is planning a biennial prize for the best new publication on the culture, history, or society of the Tennessee-Kentucky area.
The Great Lakes ASA, in conjunction with Ohio University Press, offers an annual book prize for the best book on the region.
The New England ASA offers the Lois Rudnick Book Prize, NEASA’s award for the best book in American studies published by a NEASA member in the past two years, and the Mary Kelley Prize for the best talk delivered at the conference by a graduate student, non-tenured faculty member, or independent scholar.

Intercommittee Activity and Regional-National Coordination Efforts

At the 2005 Regional Chapters Committee Meeting, Karen Halttunen and Emory Elliott opened a discussion of Regional Chapter issues. Topics included a fruitful discussion of the new Regional Chapters grant and its specifics, planning for the national conference in Oakland and California’s participation, regional publications that were eliminated from the ASA membership form, chapters accepting memberships directly, and the portion of national dues going to the regional chapters (unchanged at $4). Overall, the two ASA Presidents conveyed a strong sense that the national organization wants the regional chapters to flourish. Karen Halttunnen shared her K-16 initiative with us.

Kathleen Stoker, the secondary education representative from New England, attended the meeting as a representative from the Secondary Schools Committee. Her work is part of the K-16 initiative of the ASA. She shared ideas for integrating secondary school teachers into the work of the Chapters. Recognizing that high school teachers want practical information and ideas they can use, she suggested joint university/high school day conferences separate from regional conferences and awarding continuing education credit for participation. Professors might also visit the department meetings of secondary school faculty. As a model, she presented a UNH one-day conference arranged through UNH Continuing Education wherein NEASA professors donated their time as the conference presenters and UNH donated a token amount back to NEASA.

ASA Regional Chapters’ Exhibit Booth

For the ninth year running, the Regional Chapters Committee (RCC) will sponsor an Exhibit Booth in the Book Exhibit. Jeffrey Miller chairs the Booth Committee, which has publicized the booth in the ASA Newsletter and on the webpage. The booth will be fully staffed throughout the conference by members from Regional Chapters. Examples of their activities, such as chapter newsletters, calls for papers, journals, and annual conference flyers were available for browsers.

ASA Regional Chapters’ Website and Handbook

The RCC continues its new presence on the ASA Website, thanks to the ASA staff. By clicking on the heading “Resources,” web viewers may proceed to the following options:

Contacts and general information about chapters
Regional Chapters Committee Members
Chapter Officers
Individual chapter web pages
Links to the on-line Regional Chapters’ Column for the ASA Newsletter
Links to the Handbook

The on-line Newsletter is updated continually, and changes in chapter information can be sent to the ASA staff as needed. Regional chapters are responsible for maintaining their own web pages.