Dear
Colleagues,
As
we approach the end of the academic year, there may be only a few more piles of
examination essays and student papers standing between you and your well-deserved rest,
vacation, and research time this summer. Press on and you will be there very soon.
I
want to use this opportunity to remind you about our next annual meeting scheduled for
October 12-13 in San Antonio. It is not too early to turn in your panel or paper proposals
to our program chair, Dr. Bates Hoffer of Trinity University, if you have not already done
so. The success of our meeting depends wholly on your participation. Local arrangement has
proceeded smoothly under Dr. Donald Clark and we expect only good weather in Alamo City
during that time. So, do plan to come.
It
gives me great pleasure to announce the official publication of Volume 2 of the Journal of
Southwest Conference on Asian Studies. Dues-paying members may already have received a
copy in the mail. I want to thank all the authors who have entrusted us with their work. I
would also like to thank the editor, Dr. Joseph Yick, and members of the editorial board
for their work.
My
best wishes for a very productive and enjoyable summer—I hope to see many of you in
the Alamo City in the fall!
- Wing
Chung Ng
- President,
SWCAS
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
The
Ides of April have come and gone—and as they recede into the blessed mists of the
past, so do the pressure of the IRS deadline and the worry about how much we might owe the
government. That being the case, I now risk your ire by reminding you to think about how
much you might owe the SWCAS in membership dues. The amount is admittedly not
great--$15.00. In return, you receive the bi-annual newsletter, a copy of the annual
journal of the SWCAS, and membership directory. More significant, however, is that those
who wish to present papers at the annual meeting are required to be members of the
organization. The annual meeting of the SWCAS provides a convenient, friendly, and
intellectually stimulating venue at which you may present the results of your research to
colleagues from the Southwestern states and beyond. Last year’s relatively small
annual meeting in Houston included presentations by scholars from the University of
Indiana, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Kansas, Illinois
Wesleyan University, and National Sun Yat-sen University as well as from a number of
scholars from institutions in Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas. The organization welcomes
graduate students in particular, and offers a modest travel grant (up to a maximum of
$100.00) to help defray the travel and lodging costs for graduate students who present
papers at the annual meeting.
It
is essential that all members keep up with their dues in order to allow the organization
to continue to provide an active forum for the exchange of ideas and scholarship on Asia.
A membership form is attached at the end of this newsletter. If you have already paid your
membership dues, I extend my thanks. For those who have not, may I say that I look forward
to receiving many membership forms, accompanied by many $15.00 checks, in the near future!
Wishing
a guilt-and-stress-free summer to all dues-paying members,
- Harold
M. Tanner
- Secretary-Treasurer
UPDATE FROM
THE C.O.C. REPRESENTATIVE
My
annual report on the COC's activities will be longer this October, as there were two days
of meetings instead of the usual one, and the agenda was more packed and the work more
intense and fruitful than usual. I would like to take this opportunity to present the main
points.
Almost
every outreach grant proposal that has followed the guidelines posted on the AAS's COC
website has received funding--and at the requested level, or very close to it. These
outreach projects can be but need not be associated with the annual regional meeting
itself; for instance, the only outreach proposal from the SWCAS in 2001 was from a high
school teacher in Santa Fe who was setting up some kind of web-based linkage between his
school and a school in the Maldives. Other kinds of outreach activities that have gotten
funding are Asia-related museum exhibitions, community college or K-12 teacher-training
workshops (mostly these are middle or high school teachers), Asia-related movie screenings
in which directors and/or scholars are invited to make presentations, etc. If you are
interested, or if you know somebody who might be, please go to the AAS website, then hit
the link to COC (Council of Conferences), then follow the link(s) to “outreach
grants” or “border-crossing grants.”
The
COC is not just involved in outreach, though. It's trying to improve the effectiveness
with which the regional conferences operate and to help conferences communicate with one
another and
with AAS
Central better. One method under consideration is a proposed "best-practices"
website about running a regional conference and handling all the details. Website
development is high on the agenda, and AAS Central has been fairly generous so far with
allowing the COC to include budget items such as pay for student assistance with web
development in the sort of omnibus COC grant project that allowed us to run a one-day
retreat meeting in the first place (the grant was for around $20,000 altogether, and
included funds for a facilitator).
I
will further summarize the often interesting COC developments this year at the SWCAS
business and board meetings.
- Phil
Williams
- SWCAS
COC Representative
SWCAS JOURNAL
Volume 2 of The SWCAS Journal has been
published and mailed to dues-paying members. If you have not yet paid your dues, you may
obtain a copy of the journal by doing so as soon as possible. Additional copies of Volume
2 are available at $10.00 each. Please note, however, that supplies are limited and that
the available copies will be distributed on a “first come, first served” basis.
All inquiries should be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer.
Volume 3 of the SWCAS journal is in
production under the editorial direction of Dr. John Peek. All enquiries concerning Volume
3 should be directed to: Dr. John Peek, Vice
President for Academic Services, Lyon College, P.O. Box 2317, Batesville AR 72503.
SWCAS OFFICERS
- President: Wing Chung Ng (2001) wng@utsa.edu
- Vice-president:
Tracy Steele (2001—to become president, 2001-2002)) his_tls@shsu.edu
- Secretary-Treasurer
Harold Tanner (2002) tanner@unt.edu
-
- Directors:
- -
Sarah
Schneewind (2003) sschneew@mail.smu.edu
- -
Thomas
Bellows (2002) tbellows@lonestar.utsa.edu
- -
Stephen
Field (2002) sfield@trinity.edu
- -
Hans
Stockton (2003) pol@pdq.net
- -
Philip
Williams (2001) phil.williams@asu.edu
- -
Huiying
Wei-Arthus (2001) hweiarthus@weber.edu
- -
John
Peek (2001) jpeek@lyon.edu
In
October 2001 SWCAS will be electing two members to the Board of Directors and a vice
president. The vice president elected in October 2001 will become president of the SWCAS
at the conclusion of the annual meeting in 2002. If you are interested in any of these
positions, please contact Dr. Wing Chung Ng prior to the 2001 meeting.
ANNUAL MEETING
Trinity
University will host the 2001 meeting of the SWCAS on October 12-13 in downtown San
Antonio. A second call for papers is included with this newsletter.
The
annual meeting of the Board of Directors and the annual business meeting of the SWCAS will
take place during the annual meeting of the organization. Among the items of business to
be brought before the membership at the annual business meeting are the following:
1. Amendments to the Bylaws of the
organization (proposed by the Board of Directors):
- That the
name of the organization in the Bylaws be changed to “Southwest Conference on Asian
Studies” in order to bring the Bylaws into conformity with the actual legal name of
the organization.
- That the
Webmaster be made a regular officer of the organization.
- That the
terms of all officers and board members begin immediately after the annual meeting at
which they were elected.
2. Amendment to the bylaws (proposed by
the Secretary-Treasurer):
- Make
membership dues payable in October so that dues correspond to the academic, rather than to
the calendar year.
3. The question of the SWCAS journal:
At the 2000 business meeting in
Houston, the Board of Directors informed the membership that it had discussed the question
of whether or not to continue publishing the Journal of the Southwest Conference on Asian
Studies and had decided to continue publication for one more year. The Secretary-Treasurer
noted that continued publication could become an unbearable financial burden for the
organization if costs went much above $600.00 per year. The membership discussed the
advantages and disadvantages of publication and agreed to continue the publication for one
more year.
FUTURE MEETINGS
The
2002 annual meeting will be hosted by Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Professor Tracy Steele will be responsible for arrangements.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. All
members are urged to check the SWCAS web page from time to time. The URL is: http://www.trinity.edu/org/swcas/home.html.
Current and past issues of the SWCAS newsletter are available on the page, as are the
by-laws of the organization, calls for papers, information about the organization, a
membership directory, updated information on the annual meeting, and other material. The
organization owes its thanks to Webmaster Stephen Field for creating and maintaining this
valuable resource.
2. If
anyone is interested in writing a brief historical sketch of the SWCAS for the AAS
Newsletter, please contact C.O.C. Representative Phil Williams at: phil.williams@asu.edu.
2000-1 and 2001-2
MEMBERSHIP DUES
SWCAS
dues are $15.00, which entitles the member to the biannual newsletter, a membership
directory, and a copy of The Journal of the
Southwest Conference on Asian Studies. Membership is calculated on an academic year
basis. All memberships paid after September 1 2000 but before August 31 2001 will be
credited to the 2000-2001 academic year. Membership dues paid after August 31 will be
credited to the 2001-2002 academic year.
If
you have not paid your membership dues for the 2000-2001 academic year, or if you would
like to pay your dues for the 2001-2002 academic year in advance, please fill out the
membership form and send to:
- Dr.
Harold M. Tanner
- Department
of History
- P.O.
Box 310650
- University
of North Texas
- Denton
TX 76203-0650
MEMBERSHIP
FORM
Southwest Conference on Asian Studies
- Send
to:
- Harold
M. Tanner, Secretary-Treasurer
- Southwest
Conference on Asian Studies
- Department
of History, P.O. Box 310650
- University
of North Texas
- Denton
TX 76203-0650
Please
type or print all information clearly. Print e-mail address precisely as it should be
entered when sending e-mail.
- 2000-01
membership dues
$15.00
- 2001-02
membership dues
$15.00
- Additional
copies of SWCAS Journal, vol. 2
-
___ copies @ $10.00 each
$____
-
- TOTAL
$____
Name:
_____________________________
Preferred
mailing address: ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Office
phone # (
)
FAX # (
)
E-mail:
I
DO / DO NOT wish my name, address, and phone/fax/e-mail to be included on the SWCAS
homepage. (Please circle preference.)
_______________________________
____________
signature
date
CALL
FOR PAPERS AND PANELS
SOUTHWEST
CONFERENCE ON ASIAN STUDIES
October
12-13, 2001
Trinity
University in San Antonio, TX
Name _______________________
Address
_______________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Phone # (
) FAX
(
)
E-mail:
Panel Title
________________________________________________
On
the back of this page provide a list of the panelists, the title of their presentations,
and a brief abstract of each presentation.
Individual Paper Title
____________________________________
On the back of this page provide
a brief abstract.
Equipment Needs: ___________________________________________
Please send by June 21, 2001 to:
- Dr.
Bates Hoffer
- Trinity
University #47
- 715
Stadium Drive
- San
Antonio TX 78212-7200
