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.
