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Minutes 298

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Minutes 298

British Association for American Studies

Executive Committee Minutes 298

 

The two hundred and ninety-eighth meeting of the Executive Committee of the British Association for American Studies was held at UCL Institute of the Americas on Friday, September 20th 2019.

 

Subcommittees at 11.30; Main Executive Committee meeting at 1.30.

 

In attendance:

Cara Rodway (Chair)

Lydia Plath (Vice Chair)

Nicole Willson  (Co-Treasurer)

Rachel Williams (Secretary)

Stephen Mawdsley (Awards Sub-Com Chair)

Chris Parkes

Nick Witham (JAS co-editor)

James West (ECR Rep)

Christine Okoth (Equality and Diversity Rep)

Eithne Quinn (Sustainability Rep)

Apologies:

Nick Grant

Olivia Wright

Jenny Woodley

Sinead Moynihan

Mercedes Aguirre

David Hering

Mike Collins

Martin Halliwell

Joe Street

Jo Metcalf

Rachael Alexander

Eilidh Hall

  1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting.

The minutes of the meeting at Sheffield Hallam in June 2019 were accepted as a true and accurate record and approved for posting on the website.

  1. Matters Arising and Review of Action List.
  2. Chair’s Business (Cara Rodway reporting)

Welcome to our committee members attending for the first time.  We are all extremely glad to have you with us and thank you for wanting to get involved in the work of BAAS.  Since our last meeting one committee member has resigned: Dr Ben Offiler has served on the BAAS committee for the last 4.5 years both as ECR rep and as an ordinary member (and was USSO Co-editor before that).  I’m sure you will all join me in thanking Ben for his service and enthusiasm.  The community will continue to benefit from his hard work as he remains an Associate Editor for the Journal of American Studies.

I submitted an application to the US Embassy for BAAS to administrate the next phase of the Embassy’s Small Grants Program, worth $150,000.  The Embassy asked for extra information which I supplied at the end of August.  The Deputy Cultural Attaché, Anna Martz, has indicated to me that we will likely be successful, but this remains contingent on funding and the finalising of paperwork.  I hope to have official confirmation soon.

In the meantime, the final applications for the current BAAS-US Embassy grant have been submitted. Lydia Plath and Matthew Shaw, with excellent administrative help from Katie Edwards, are currently reviewing the committee’s suggestions and applicants will be notified of the outcomes shortly.

I attended the Teaching American Studies conference, organised by Lydia Plath, at Warwick in June.  It was an extremely stimulating event, raising interesting discussions about the benefits and challenges of different pedagogical approaches, especially around assessment.  There was also discussion about supporting junior colleagues. As a step forward in this, our colleagues on the HOTCUS steering committee have given us permission to use the Jobs Excellence Framework they created as a way to help raise awareness about poor conditions in, particularly, precarious roles. The JEF has also been adopted by our colleagues at BGEAH.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that it has helped shaped appointment processes upstream as well as candidate expectations, so I hope that BAAS’ adoption of it will continue to magnify these effects and enact change.

A further productive outcome from the TAS conference was that I was able to connect with Dr Lauren Mottle, Editorial Assistant on JAS.  She is now working for The Brilliant Club, and through her enthusiastic invitation, BAAS will be working with TBC to create a bespoke American Studies resource for delivery in schools in 2020.  A fuller report from D&E will follow.  My thanks to Nick Grant for leading on this.

This forms part of a renewed effort both on BAAS’s part and within our broader community to think about schools outreach and undergraduate recruitment.  Outside the BAAS Exec, Andrew Fearnley continues to lead a group of colleagues particularly focused on UG American Studies recruitment.  Andrew has coordinated a webinar with the Sutton Trust and US-UK Fulbright Commission, speaking to students involved in the Sutton Trust USA programme who may not decide to pursue a full degree in the US but who may appreciate the interdisciplinary, and Study Abroad, opportunities American Studies can provide.  Again, more detailed feedback will come through the report from Development and Education.

BAAS has been approached by the organisers of the next English Shared Futures conference, taking place in Manchester, 26-28 June 2020.  I attended a meeting for subject area Learned Societies on Monday 24 June.  The organisers have invited us to contribute fully-formed panels to the programme.  This would be a wonderful opportunity to highlight the excellent work done by members of the BAAS community, especially as it relates to American literature and connected fields.  Would anyone like to volunteer to coordinate BAAS’s presence at ES:F 2020?  We can discuss different potential models.

Finally, Rachel Williams, Eilidh Hall and I had a productive discussion about BAAS administrative support with Louise Cunningham and Katie Edwards on 31 July.  We reviewed and clarified existing processes and discussed ways to help both admin staff and committee members manage their workloads. Louise and Katie remain committed to BAAS and we as an organisations are extremely fortunate to benefit from their professional expertise as well as their organisational knowledge. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them, once again, on behalf of the Exec Committee for everything that they do.

Notable Achievements of Members

  • Christian O’Connell has won the inaugural International History Review Research Award, which offers £1500 to support research activity. The resulting article written on this research will be published in the IHR Journal. The award is supporting his project entitled ‘Bringing Columbus Home: Memories and Legacies of the African American Presence in Italy during WWII’. The paper will examine the ways in which black GIs, particularly the 92nd ‘Buffalo’ Division have been commemorated and represented in Italy.
  • Laura Mills was awarded a BISA (British International Studies Association) Early Career Small Research Grant to conduct research on US military/veteran artwork, particularly in the context of recent, controversial wars (Afghanistan and Iraq).
  • Sinead Moynihan has been promoted to Associate Professor in American and Atlantic Literatures at Exeter.
  • Anne-Marie Angelo has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in American History at Sussex.
  • Christopher Bigsby has been awarded an honorary D.Litt by Bolton University for his contribution to arts and literature. His new book Staging America: Twenty-First Century Dramatists will be out with Macmillan in December.
  • Joy Porter has been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for her project ‘What Would Nixon Do?: The Forgotten Republican Roots of American Environmentalism’. Subsequently Kristopher Ray will be joining Hull for 3 years as a Leverhulme Trust Lecturer in Indigenous America, to replace some of Joy’s teaching.
  • Additionally, Joy has asked that the BAAS community welcome two new colleagues joining the Treatied Spaces Research Cluster at Hull: 2019 British Academy Global Professor Gregory Smithers of Virginia Commonwealth University who will be working with the cluster over the next four years on a new project on “Indigenous Environmental History and Applied Traditional Ecological Knowledge”; also Rebecca Slatcher who recently accepted a British Library/AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award entitled “North American Indigenous Languages in the British Library’s Post-1850 Collections”.

 

  1. Secretary’s Business.

 

The make-up of sub-committees and the standing orders for each sub-committee are listed on the website but have not been updated since 2010; tidying up this part of the website should be a priority once this role has been allocated.

 

RW is in continuing discussion with Jenny Terry (former Secretary) to arrange transfer of SAM registration to RW (so that Embassy funds can be transferred efficiently to BAAS).

 

 

  1. Treasurer’s Business.

Nicole Willson (NW) reporting

Membership Figures

Currently number 621 members in the online system; down by 7 from the last report. There are 635 total active members on the Google spreadsheet (please see attached report from Louise Cunningham for further breakdown).

Account balances (as of 18/09/19)

  • BAAS Charity Barclays Current Account £10,404.54
  • BAAS Charity Barclays Savings Account £130,237.97
  • BAAS Charity Shawbrook Savings Account £20,521.94
  • PayPal £24,786.04
  • BAAS Publications Barclays Current Account £17,353

BAAS/US Embassy Awards

Final payment has been received from Embassy for the 2018/19 round. EH is currently completing the Embassy FFR report for the 2017/18 round.

Recent activities

  • The Gift Aid payment has been made from the company to the charity (as per the accountants’ instructions, this had to be made by 30 September); however, since the company account did not have enough reserves to meet ongoing expenses, a loan of £20,000 has been made from the charity to the company. Cara’s budget document will be particularly useful going forward.
  • Based on the last accounts, our reserves policy is not being met (it represents 15 months unrestricted expenditure whereas we have an agreed policy of 18 months). Do we wish to change this to 12 months?
  • We will not be due any revenues from CUP for the 2019 volume until December at the earliest (but usually not until January), so NW and EH will have to monitor the Publications account to ensure that we have enough cash reserves to meet outgoing expenses, especially with the appointment of new staff. It was assumed that there was a cashflow issue and that we had not received all income payable from the journal, but we actually received this much earlier than usual, and so the payment schedule for the last year wasn’t as staggered as it usually is. It will be imperative to ensure that the next invoice is prepared at the right time so that the accountants can prepare accurate year end accounts.
  • Accountants have advised that we split payroll between the charity and Publications – because we have only had two members of administrative staff working for the charity and because money from the company is Gift Aided to the charity anyway, it made sense to have all standing orders going out from one account, and the accountants agreed. CR has suggested that we effectively bill the charity for the relevant employees (perhaps via standing order) but still have pay going out from one account.
    • On a related issue, the accountants have also advised that JAS editorial bonuses be paid via payroll.

Forthcoming  

  • EH and NW have both started new roles recently and so this represents a very busy time for them both. They will endeavour to respond to all queries as soon as possible, but forbearance is appreciated.
    • If people have multiple queries, it is easier for NW and EH to action them if they send separate emails (e.g. one for grant payment and one for expenses).
  • EH and NW need to change the name registered on the Shawbrook savings account. It is still under CR’s name.
  • Because we are a small organisation that nevertheless has a number of expense requests to process, it is likely to be too pricy for us to sign up to an expenses management system, but NW will explore some other options that might simplify the process
  • Women in JAS Intern: Since the work associated with this role is for the purposes of training/development, NW and CR wonder if the money should come from the charity rather than Pubs (especially since the charity currently has better reserves) – question of how person should be paid (single honorarium or split payments). NW may need to speak to accountants about this.
  • Paypal: We continue to experience issues with PayPal, primarily because there are multiple users (NW, EH and LC) – Karen Heath of HOTCUS has reported similar issues. We may need to speak to PayPal about configuring different user access. Properly configuring the account so that it is more fit for our business needs will be essential to ensuring sustainability and easy handover of Treasurer/administrator work going forward.
    • ACTION: NW and EH to speak to PayPal about access
  1. Equality and Diversity (Christine Okoth reporting)

CO reported on progress with the BIPOC network (NB renamed from “BAME” to reflect the greater inclusivity of the phrase). Seed-funding has been allocated to support this work, and Christine will publicise the network through the mailing list. One suggestion is to involve participants in the TRPs from Sussex and Liverpool.

Action: CO to communicate with Tom Wright and David Hering to involve the TRPs in the scheme – CO suggests holding an informal meeting at Liverpool 2020 to pool ideas and get the ball rolling.

TRP participants are engaged in ongoing work; several BAAS members have set up a reading group – to take place at UCL beginning in October.

Emerging from discussions in D&E, the Executive Committee agreed to advertise a BAAS Archival Internship to research “race” in BAAS (and possibly JAS) and in the historical context of HE and UK, to include an output in JAS. Christine will liaise with the JAS co-editors about a possible output resulting from the fellowship. CO will write a job ad in communication with various parties. She stresses that we need to locate Sabina Peck’s outputs from the Women in BAAS project so we can publicise them on the website and elsewhere – and use them as a guide for the new fellowship.

  1. Sustainability (Eithne Quinn reporting)

There are several research clusters within the Americanist community working on issues of environmentalism, conservation, and sustainability – for instance, Joy Porter’s Treatied Spaces cluster at Hull, Northumbria’s new hires in environmental history. EQ convenes a special subject on Climate Change Communication at Manchester, and the Embassy Grants funded a project on eco-feminism in the last round of funding. This all demonstrates that there is a demand for, and an audience for academic research into these issues from an American Studies perspective. More and more universities are pushing environmental issues and solutions.

EQ stresses that BAAS needs to find practical solutions – and, moreover, to back up communication stressing BAAS’ commitment to sustainability with actions, regardless of the challenges these actions may pose, and the inconvenience to individuals they may cause.

Possible avenues to explore:

Catering – Eithne Quinn suggested that we think about the environmental impact of the conference catering, especially as it is something done at scale.  The committee agreed to trial vegetarian-only lunches, with delegates free to eat meat and fish at breakfast and dinner.  With this in mind, we were also wondering if it would be possible to have some variation, so that the lunches aren’t just sandwiches.  Or maybe sandwiches one day, and other options the next.  We hope that the universities we work with are trying to improve the sustainability of their operations, so that this will not be a problem, but rather might be something they are keen to work with us on.  Further, we’d like to see as little single use plastic in the catering as possible (no single use water bottles, disposable hot drinks cups etc).  Obviously, some of these things will be beyond our control, but if you can ask the questions and push the Events teams, hopefully we’ll be able to make a bit of a difference to the carbon foot print of the conference.

AGM papers – EQ suggested that having the AGM papers and accounts printed for distribution at the AGM is wasteful.  We agreed that we could save resources and make the meeting more accessible if the materials were distributed digitally prior to the AGM, perhaps by putting them into a file sharing service and sharing a dedicated link to all conference attendees and BAAS members.

Action: The Officers are to implement this for the AGM 2020.

Videoconferencing – EQ opened a discussion about video conferencing and the annual conference. The sub-com discussed the implications of incorporating remote participation and agreed that, whilst it would reduce the need for travel, it would have impacts which would need careful consideration (could reduced international attendance impact upon the quality of the discussion and on the make-up of our scholarly community; would it unfairly impact scholars working outside the UK who may have less access to a vibrant research community; would it impact across different professional levels equally; what could be the short and long term implications of reduced in-person contact for individual researchers and the community?).  We agreed that these issues should be discussed fully in a dedicated forum such as the ‘Future of the Conference’ event being planned.

Action: CR and LP to continue planning the Future of the Conference conference

Statement on BAAS’s response to the climate crisis – EQ suggested that BAAS produce a public, visible statement about its approach to the climate crisis and the actions it is taking.

Action: EQ to draft a statement for publication after the conference in April 2020 when we will have some concrete steps to report to BAAS members.

Other avenues – JWe suggests BAAS might sponsor an award for work explicitly devoted to the environmental humanities. EQ also suggests we need to reflect critically on our financial practices – in particular, Barclays (savings account) have a poor record on climate change and sustainability, and PayPal also has a questionable record in this department. While switching accounts may be too logistically tricky, we could consider writing a letter to Barclays expression our concern and dissatisfaction.

 

  1. Publications Subcommittee: Report from Chair. – CR reporting back from combined meeting of Pubs, Conferences, and Awards (no official report from Mike).

Journal of American Studies Report (Nick Witham reporting)

  1. Appointment of JAS Editorial Manager: we have appointed Alison Stanton to this position, starting 1 October 2019. It was a small but strong field (we interviewed two other eminently appointable candidates from a pool of ten applicants), and Alison has experience doing exactly this job for another, non-competing, journal, so we are excited to start working with her.

Action: Nicole and Nick to liaise about getting Alison on the BAAS Publications payroll

  1. Appointment of “Women in JAS” Intern: we have appointed Maryam Jameela to this position, starting 1 October or soon after. The pool of applicants was 16, from which we interviewed 4 appointable candidates. Maryam is a scholar of literary and cultural manifestations of Islamophobia and their impact on Muslim women in the American and British diasporas. She has recently submitted a PhD in English at the University of Sheffield, and comes to the role with a strong background in gender studies and both quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

Action: Nick to ask Maryam to invoice monthly, to Nicole, for hours worked.  These will be paid for by BAAS Charity.

  1. New appointments to the Editorial Board. Four board members’ terms are up for renewal at the end of 2019, and all of them have agreed to serve a further 3-year term. They are: Eithne Quinn (Manchester), Joyce Chaplin (Harvard), Rebecca Schreiber (New Mexico) and Robert Levine (Maryland). Sadly, Stephen Tuck (Oxford) and Mark Whalan (Oregon) are completing their second terms and need to be replaced. Both have made impressive and consistent contributions to the journal, and we would like our thanks, and that of BAAS, to be noted in the minutes of the executive committee meeting. We are starting the process of replacing Stephen and Mark, with a view to the newly appointed candidates starting their terms on 1 January 2020.

Action: Mike Collins to work with Nick and Sinead on the appointment process for the new JAS Board members.

British Online Archives Internship

CR reported that a meeting had taken place with BOA over the summer, which she, Mike Collins and Rachel Williams had attended.  We are working towards a data and digitisation focus for the next internship.  We are awaiting further details from BOA at this stage.

Action: Mike to report on progress of BOA discussions.

USSO

No report.  Sub-com discussed the issue of potential remuneration for the USSO Editors and agreed that further discussion should take place once Mike has investigated monetising the site. Further, the Exec needs to codify other benefits available to the USSO Editors, so that this knowledge can be handed on: e.g. free conference registration for Editors etc.

Action: Mike to complete report on pay and benefits for USSO Editors.

CUP payments (Nicole reporting)

Recent work has been undertaken to clarify the payment schedule with CUP.  BAAS can expect to receive the advance in the autumn, followed by the balance in late spring/early summer.

Nicole has organised loaning some cash from BAAS Charity to BAAS Publications Ltd to ensure we have cash available to meet our payroll commitments for the rest of the calendar year.

 

  1. Development and Education Subcommittee: Report from Chair.

Matters Arising

CR Reported that BAAS will endorse the JEF by including a link to it in the mailing list with job advertisements.

Action: Link to JEF to be included in future mailing lists

LP welcomed CO as the BAAS rep for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as a member of this subcommittee; she also thanked BO for his contribution to the subcommittee.

 

Sub-committee terms of reference

 

The sub-committee amended and agreed terms of reference. The current Term(s) of Reference are:

The Development subcommittee shall encourage the development of American Studies nationally and ensure that the interests of the subject and its teachers are considered and protected in the making of national educational policy.

Updated and approved Terms of Reference (Sept 2019):

The purpose of this subcommittee is to encourage and support the development of American Studies nationally through a variety of activities. The subcommittee shall:

  • support the development of American Studies postgraduates and Early Career Academics;
  • support the career development of American Studies members at all career stages, including academics, independent scholars and those working in related professions;
  • support the development and diversity of research networks, affiliate organisations, and other scholarly organisations in the field of American Studies;
  • support the development of pedagogical practice and student engagement in American Studies Higher Education;
  • support the development of American Studies in schools and further education (via the Schools Working Group, which will report to this subcommittee);
  • Administer the BAAS Development Fund.

Action: LP to arrange posting of these terms of reference on website.

 

The sub-com agreed to formalise a Schools Working Group that will report to this committee. There was some discussion of the tensions between WP and Recruitment and what BAAS’s role should be. It was agreed that the SWG should meet to agree its terms of reference.

Action: RW and NG to arrange first meeting and confirm Terms of Reference and Membership. To report back at the next meeting. Any other members wishing to join the SWG to contact RW.

 

Future of the Inclusive Conference – RW reported no longer taking this on due to SWG, but agreed this should go ahead, including discussions of sustainability.

Action: LP to liaise with RW and CR about leadership of this project.

Proposal for Establishment of Development Fund

See amended draft attached. Agreed at both subcommittee and main exec. Noted that members of Conferences and Awards subcommittees to be included on the panel. Noted that sustainability initiatives could also be supported by this fund.

Action: LP to follow up with CR, RW and treasurers regarding financial elements and next steps.

PG/ECR

JWe reported success of panel at Teaching American Studies conference. JAS roundtable on TF positions forthcoming. Some discussion of peer reading scheme and mentoring but no conclusions on how useful this is. Suggested possibility of a panel on alt-ac career routes at a future PG conference. Some discussion of possibilities (as with ECR development), but not enough clarity on usefulness of such a scheme. HOTCUS scheme noted. Suggested to add more detailed questions on mentoring to next Memberships Survey. LP to discuss with CP.

Reported that successful Teaching American Studies Conference held at Warwick in July 2019. Dissemination of outcomes will be via US Studies Online, Comparative American Studies and a JAS Exchange.

Noted that there was a proposal for Conference on “Decolonising American Studies”: to be hosted at UCL:IA & potential pre-conference panel at BAAS2020. Not discussed in detail.

 

  1. Conferences Subcommittee: Report from Chair. CR reporting in absence of TW

Conferences:

Liverpool 2020 – no report

Hull 2021 (Jo Metcalf and Rachel Williams reporting)

  • A reminder of dates – 8-10 April 2021.
  • We have booked the Kingsley Suite for the duration of the conference to act as a registration point, venue for publishers’ stands, and refreshment area.
  • We have booked Middleton Hall with full A/V support for three keynote sessions (one on Thursday late afternoon, one on Friday morning, one on Friday afternoon) plus the AGM (late Friday afternoon after the final keynote).
  • We plan to hold the wine reception on Thursday evening in the University Art Collection in the Brynmor Jones Library, which is a large and attractive space. We would like to liaise with Atom Brewery to provide locally brewed ale – however, this will incur a corkage fee from the university. We would appreciate advice from David Hering and Tom Wright about the payment for this reception as we understand it has caused difficulty in the past. We need to liaise with DH about hosting the reception at Liverpool.

Action: DH and TW to discuss with Hull organisers

  • The Beyond Events team have provided us with a detailed quote including refreshments.
  • We have booked the Guildhall in the city centre for the conference dinner on Friday evening, and the attached reception room for the drinks reception. The Guildhall is within walking distance of city centre restaurants and hotels so those not attending the dinner will have plenty of options. We have secured the Guildhall at 2019 prices – but prices for catering may fluctuate. There is a natural stage in the Guildhall for presentation of Awards.
  • We are planning to meet with the merchandise partners in October but would welcome the Exec’s thoughts on the necessity of excessive merchandise – both for cost reasons and for sustainability.

Discussion: The sub com agreed that one iconic thing, rather than lots of stuff is best.  We agreed that everyone has enough small canvas tote bags (but if you like the idea of a bag, you could maybe do a proper, shopping size bag).  We agreed that the most useful merchandise from recent BAAS conferences was the reusable coffee cup given out at CCCU in 2017.  We liked that they marked all the delegates out, helped reduce waste at the conference, and have had lives afterwards. Lydia Plath (who was then the co-organiser) said that if she were to do it again, though, she would get ones with better lids (and also would order more tea and coffee, as the keep cups are much bigger than the little catering cups, so they ran out of hot water at every break).  We discussed that there are lots of nice bamboo options out there.  Another thing to consider is that the nicer keep cups can be a bit more expensive than your budget might allow.  We wondered what about offering a subsidy through the conference fee, with delegates paying a bit extra for their cup if they want one (so they might cost delegates an extra £5-10).  In terms of small things, we all agreed that a pen is the most useful and tends to have a life after.  For a very environmentally conscious offer, we could do pencils.

  • We are yet to book panel rooms as we need to wait for the timetable to be released; however, we do not anticipate any problems with availability as the conference occurs in the Easter break. There will be no charge for booking these rooms. In an unexpected turn of events, there may be accommodation available on campus (we were previously told this would not be an option) – however, we won’t know this until later next year.
  • We would like to invite members of the Exec (especially the Conferences Sub-Com and Officers) to visit Hull in January to tour the facilities. We would also like to solicit advice and suggestions from the JAS editors and the Eccles Centre team with regard to picking keynote speakers.

Action: RW to organise January mini Exec meeting at Hull.

 

  1. Awards Subcommittee (Stephen Mawdsley reporting)
  • Transition and hand-off from Emma Long has been successful
  • Our regular annual rewards have been updated and posted to the web
    • Book Awards, travel awards, essay awards
  • Promotion of Awards
    • Social media / thanks to Ben Offiler for help with the website
    • Discussed whether posters will be printed and shipped this month [DECISION: DIGITAL ONLY]
    • Personalized correspondence to increase awareness: [DECISION: AGREED]

 

Action: Stephen to speak to Louise about Katie chasing-up e-mail addresses for a digital distribution list

  1. GTAs
    1. Not Running
  1. UWY: not running this year as we have a student in role
    1. Running
  1. UMISS: proposing to make this a GA rather than a GTA (can only provide 1 year) [DECISION: Sub-com agreed there was no change in the quality of the award on offer – in fact the variety of work offered to a GA might be of more interest to some students]
  2. UNewHamp: happy to continue as GTA this year
    1. Had a drop in applications over the years; considering new promotional strategies [DECISION: SOCIAL MEDIA on Twitter / Ben currently / direct e-mail / H-Net] [CONTACT BrANCH to facilitate]; Louise and Katie as custodians of this information
  1. Barringer-Teacher’s Fellowship
    1. No applications last year; perhaps need to draw up a list of schools that teach American history

Action: Stephen to talk to Rachel re: Schools’ Working Group – how to coordinate publicity; also think about other marketing route: social media etc

 

Action: CR to share with Stephen a draft of a schools-focused flyer promoting the Student Essay and Teacher’s awards.

 

  1. Book Award
    1. Due to the number of application last year (15) proposals put forward to changing the judging criteria:
  1. Leave arrangement for now [DECISION: AGREED]
  2. Pushing assessment forward in the year until conference
  • Pushing forward by 1 year
  1. Consider changing the start-end dates of publication year (June-June)
  2. Other options [NEW]
    1. Consider creating 2 awards per year [TO CONSIDER]
    2. Long-listing and a short-listing process [TO CONSIDER]

 

Action: Stephen to prepare a report for the committee meeting in summer 2020 to help clarify if a change in process is needed.

 

  1. Awards Section of the Website
    1. Echo sentiment to work towards clean-up
    2. Tweak to the structure to enable easier way to find awards
    3. Update list of previous winners (2019)

Action: Stephen to liaise with next webmaster over Awards remedial work needed on the website; also to think about longer term improvements.

 

  1. EAAS (Jenny Woodley reporting)

JWo reminds colleagues that the deadline for abstracts for “20/20 Vision” in Warsaw is November 30th. The conference will take place May 1-3; the themes are Citizenship, Space, and Renewal.

  1. Any Other Business.

Website and digital platforms

Responsibility for the website has moved to Publications subcommittee: CP has researched and drafted the job description for a Digital Platforms Manager (this is a title which will be recognisable to people working in the tech sector). This role would involve updating and operating the website, responding to technical queries and difficulties. The exec discussed different models and payscales for remuneration – TBC.

Noted that eduroam is available for free; will be the responsibility of the DPM to arrange – this will enable BAAS to provide email addresses and eduroam access to members without institutional affiliation in line with BAAS’ commitment to combatting casualisation and empowering ECAs.

Action: CP to circulate job description to LP, CR, RW, treasurers, and Mike Collins (Chair of Publications) for review

Memberships Survey

Agreed to run another survey in line with 2020 conference. CP to discuss publicising the survey in advance of the 2020 conference with DH, CP to contact BO for full access to 2017 membership survey data. Noted that questions should be designed with full exec’s input.

The main priority is to act more quickly and decisively on the data – especially because we have a legal obligation to track and measure change over time (to assess whether the ban on all-male conference panels has had a positive impact).

CP to draft survey for consultation and circulate to LP, RW and CR.

  1. Date of next meeting.

January 23rd 2020 at University of Hull (mini-Exec; officers and sub-com chairs only)

 

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