ACIS Business Meeting, Limerick, Ireland

The ACIS Annual Business Meeting was called to order by President Nancy Curtin at 12:35 pm.

Pres. Curtin thanked the organizers of the Limerick conference.

Book Awards Presentation:

• James Donnelly Prize: Dermot Keogh, Jews in Twentieth-Century Ireland
• Donald H. Murphy Prize: Peter Hart, The IRA and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923
• Michael J. Durkan Prize: Gerry Smyth, Decolonization and Criticism

President Curtin introduced and thanked the officers. She reported the following:

• At the ACIS Executive Meeting, the University of Limerick offered ACIS a postgraduate fellowship; details with be forthcoming.
• Riana O'Dwyer is leaving her position as ACIS treasurer abroad. In her place, Dáire Keogh from St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, will now collect dues from international members.
• ACIS has moved its website to http://www.acisweb.com; members are encouraged to send announcements and suggestions to Kathryn Conrad (kconrad@ukans.edu).
• The membership and renewal form is now available online.
• Members were also encouraged to update their institutions' entries in the guide to Irish Studies.
• The ACIS website will include a page for members' personal and academic websites. Please send URLs to Kathryn Conrad

Moved: That ACIS establish, in memory of Adele Dalsimer, an award to be made annually for the Best Dissertation in Irish Studies. The motion passed unanimiously.

Treasurer's Report:

Brennan reported that ACIS is in sound financial shape. She noted the following:

• ACIS income comes largely from membership dues and some contributions. Dues were down this year, in part because it took longer than expected to put the membership survey together; she suggested that some members may have been confused about what year's dues they were paying.
• ACIS, as of May 2000, has 1298 members; a number have joined since; this number includes those have not paid their dues. Persons who had not paid in three years were deleted from the database. We have approximately 100 new members. The drop in membership seems to be graduate students who have joined to participate in conferences and who had chosen not to renew.
• We now have a renewal form on the website, which should make it easier for people to renew; members will also get a renewal notice in August or September. We will also allow 1- and 3-year membership renewal options.

• That ACIS reduce membership fees for graduate student memberships (currently $28, only a $2 discount) to $15.

• That the ACIS national organization increase the contribution to the regional conferences from $500 to $1000, which we encourage the regional organizers to use to make it easier for graduate students to attend conferences (e.g. fee discounts, accommodation discounts).

David Miller proposed the following amendment to the Treasurer's Report: ACIS shall authorize the International Treasurer in Ireland to make arrangements for collecting dues amounts from the international members in the appropriate currency. There was discussion about the reasons for the higher cost of international membership, including the cost of sending international mailings; the membership decided to let the International Treasurer make this decision. Miller's amendment passed: 55 yes, 1 no, 4 abstentions.

The motion to accept the Treasurer's Report carried unanimously.

Committee Reports:

a. Elections (Chair, Michael Patrick Gillespie). Gillespie moved that the Report be accepted; motion seconded.

Discussion: Minority Report (Bob Mahony). Mahony moved that we have a postal ballot to the entire membership on the issue of general election slating. In the ballot would be included the arguments for and against slating. Motion seconded.

Gillespie noted that the committee's charge was to formalize past practice which has worked well. He also noted that it would be difficult to implement changes for the next election. Mahony & Johnston agreed that they need not be implemented in time for the next election. Miller and Curtin both suggested that the next business meeting might be a better forum, allowing the minority report group more time to craft ballot text and publicize this issue, which could then be brought before the membership at the ACIS national meeting at Fordham. The motion was withdrawn and the issue will be brought up again at Fordham ACIS.

The motion to accept the Election Committee Report carried, with 4 abstentions.

b. Bylaws (Chair, Sean Moran). The Bylaws are in the midst of ongoing review. The committee will report at Fordham. Any members with concerns or suggestions for the Bylaws committee should direct comments to Sean Moran, Steve Watt or Michael Gillespie. The ACIS bylaws are posted on the ACIS website.

Maureen O'Connor made the following motion (seconded): That ACIS add one grad student representative to the Executive Committee Meeting; the 4-year membership requirement would be waived.

The following amendment was moved and seconded: That there be two graduate students, four nominated for 2 positions; top 2 vote-getters would be elected. The amendment was defeated (23 yes, 32 no, 2 absentions).

The original motion to include one graduate student representative on the Executive Committee carried unanimously. The membership will receive a ballot on this bylaw change in the fall.

c. Publications (Chair, Gillespie). Gillespie recommended that we do not renew the contract with UMass Press but that we maintain an apparatus that allows us to produce an occasional volume. This strategy would allow ACIS more control over how the volumes are produced. Gillespie moved adoption of the publications committee report; motion seconded. There was discussion of the future of ACIS publications. The motion carried with 2 abstentions.

New Business

The ballot will go out in late August/early September for the bylaw change noted above; if the change passes, the graduate student representative will be installed at Fordham ACIS.

Jim Doan encouraged submissions to Newsletter and noted his new address: doan@nova.edu.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:49 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn Conrad

Secretary, ACIS