Since
Last We Met: Notes from the Executive Committee
Jim Marten, SHCY Secretary-Treasurer
New
President
The big news, of course, was the resignation in the early
summer of 2002 of Ray Hiner, our founding president, who decided
to leave the presidency due to his responsibilities at the University
of Kansas. Vice President Joe Hawes stepped in to finish out Ray's
term. As a result, in addition to electing several new members
of the Executive Committee in 2003, we will also need to elect
a new President and a new Vice President-President Elect.
Misson
Statement
Soon after the meeting in Milwaukee, the Executive Committee
set about drafting a mission statement for the SHCY. Here is
the draft we came up with; it will be open for discussion at the
business meeting in Baltimore, where we will approve a final version.
The SHCY was founded to promote the history of children and
youth. The organization (1) supports research about childhood,
youth cultures, and the experience of young people across diverse
times and places; (2) fosters study across disciplinary and
methodological boundaries; (3) provides venues for scholars
to communicate with one another; and (4) promotes excellence
in scholarship.
Membership
is open to all individuals as well as to cultural and educational
institutions.
SHCY resources for scholars include regular conferences, an
email discussion list, a website, and publications.
Members with specific suggestions for changes in the mission statement
should contact Jim Marten prior to the conference next summer.
Changes
to By-Laws
The Executive Committee voted to extend the period covered
by dues to two years and to extend the terms of office for Executive
Committee from two to four years to better fit our membership
and governance structures to our bi-annual conferences. These
and other procedural changes will be discussed and the by-laws
appropriately amended at the 2003 meeting in Baltimore.
Appointments
Four major initiatives came together during the summer and
fall of 2002, as Joe appointed:
Priscilla
Ferguson Clement (chair), Gail S. Murray, and Bruce Lindsay
to a committee to choose the winner of the first SHCY Outstanding
Article Award. The deadline for the $250 prize (with plaque)
is February 1, 2003. You can see at the call for submissions
at the h-net
announcements website.
Paula Fass (chair), Leslie Paris, and Patrick Ryan to the program
committee for the June 26-28, 2003, Conference in Baltimore.
The conference theme is "Childhood and the State/The State of
Childhood; the deadline for proposals is February 15, 2003.
The "Call for Papers" is reprinted
in this Newsletter, and is also available on the
h-childhood website.
Peter Bardaglio (chair), Marie Jenkins Schwartz, Jeanine Graham,
and Catherine Gavin Loss to the Nominating Committee. Members
who would like to be considered for one of the positions that
will be vacant as of next summer should contact Peter within
the next month or two
Kathleen Jones and Jim Marten as co-editors of the SHCY newsletter.
Ideas for columns, articles, and other features are welcome;
contact either editor with suggestions.
Logo
In addition, the Executive Committee commissioned a designer
at Marquette University to create a logo for the society, which
we've unveiled at the top of this and other pages of the newsletter.
Membership
Finally, in case you're counting, we now have ninety-four members.
Note:
the minutes of the Milwaukee meeting can be read at http://academic.mu.edu/shcy/new_page_7.htm.
