A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Lyman L. Johnson

This will be an important year for our organization. Our Secretariat will move from Auburn University to the University of South Florida. The Secretariat has been at Auburn since 1993 and Michael Conniff and Don Olliff have done a wonderful job servi ng the organization's needs. Mike Conniff's service as CLAH Secretary has been exemplary. He will step down with our finances in good order and our membership numbers healthy. I am deeply in Mike's debt for all his help during my first months in office. Sandy Johnson has held the office together and provided crucial assistance to our organization throughout her tenure as our secretary and office manager. Sandy's dedication and loyalty to our organization have carried us through crises large and small. Mike, Don, Sandy and the other members of the Auburn faculty and staff who have assisted our organization have our gratitude.

Ward Stavig will become our Secretary this summer. The University of South Florida offered CLAH a generous support package that will guarantee our future health. They will provide secretarial support, office space, computer resources, and released ti me for the Secretary. Ward Stavig, Paul Dosal, and Alejandro de la Fuente provide a strong professional foundation for conducting CLAH's business. I look forward to working with them during my tenure as President.

The General Committee has undertaken some important initiatives that should prove useful to CLAH in the coming years. We now have an ongoing relationship with h-latam. Members of our elected leadership and representatives of our regional committees w ill now provide assistance to Jacquelyn Kent and the h-latam board. We also hope to deliver the CLAH Newsletter in electronic form to a significant number of our members. We will begin this service in the fall. This format will not only provide the New sletter in a convenient (environmentally friendly) way, but it will also save us a great deal of money. Printing and postage now devour a large portion of our dues. I hope that many of you will sign up for the electronic Newsletter option.

Susan Socolow is our new President-elect and has already been very active in support of these changes. Susan is taking the lead in the development of our links with h-latam and has helped me a great deal in recruiting members for our 1996 committees. I would also like to welcome Barry Carr and Sarah Cline to the General Committee.

We will continue to pursue Donna Guy's useful initiative to strengthen our ties with AHILA and other organizations of Latin Americanists. Linda Salvucci and the International Scholarly Relations Committee had a very good meeting in New York and I expe ct them to play an important role in promoting these ties. This year we will initiate the Lewis Hanke Prize. Thanks to all of you who have helped to make this prize possible.

I hope that those of you who were in New York for our annual meeting enjoyed the sessions and social occasions as much as I did. The success of our meeting depends on the hard work of many CLAH members. I want to take the opportunity to thank all tho se who served on our General Committee, program and nominating committees, standing committees, and prize committees during the past year and welcome those who have agreed to serve this year.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to you my CLAH colleagues for giving me this opportunity to be your President. I look forward to the next two years. Please contact me with any ideas that you have for improving and strengthening our organization. I hope to see many of you in Seattle. Ken Andrien and the other Program Committ ee members have put together an exciting program for us.