NEPCA Executive Council Decisions and Post-Conference Assessment

NEPCA just concluded a highly successful conference at Western Connecticut State University the weekend of November 11-12, 2011. Many thanks to program chair and president-elect Don Gagnon for making NEPCA welcome, and to Leslie Lindenauer for handling arrangements with grace and aplomb. The Executive Council enacted on the following business at the rise of the conference:

1. Executive Secretary Rob Weir reported that NEPCA now has over 250 dues-paying members and the organization and its treasury are healthy.

2. The full membership approved a bylaw amendment to allow NEPCA to extend the executive secretary’s tenure beyond two terms, at the pleasure of members. Rob Weir was reappointed to the position.

3. An otherwise successful conference was marred by no-shows. Council members suggested placing an honors pledge on next year’s acceptance letter. NEPCA will update the Website to reflect only those who gave papers.

4. Don Gagnon was unanimously chosen to be NEPCA president for 2011-2012. David Tanner moved onto the Executive Council as Past-President, taking the post vacated by Mark Van Ells. Carol Mitchell was unanimously elected to a second three-year term on the council and James Hanlan was elected to a vacant spot.

5. Carol-Ann Farkas agreed to initiate a discussion on overhauling submissions for the Rollins Book Prize as this year’s nominations were light in number and–beyond our prizewinner and a few others­–weak in quality. More news will follow, but the council did decide to allow individuals to nominate their own books, though officially they will still have to go through their publisher.

6. An ad hoc committee was appointed to explore NEPCA’s participation in the national PCAACA conference, which will be held in April of 2012. The members of the committee are: Amos St. Germain, Peter Holloran, Carol-Ann Farkas, and Carol Mitchell. They will generate ideas, which will be circulated to the Executive Council for action.

7. Tim Madigan will host the 2012 NEPCA conference, which will be held October 26-27, 2012 on the campus of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York.

8. Bob Niemi has agreed to pursue the possibility of holding the 2013 conference at St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont. This would mark a return to St. Michael’s, where a successful conference was held in 1991. Bob also suggested that we add a second afternoon session to NEPCA conferences and run no more than five concurrent panels. He will draft a proposal, which will be sent to the Executive Council for action.

9. A new policy for conference vendors was approved by the council after a small modification. It will be posted on the official NEPCA Website. There will also be a new guideline for individuals wishing to sell books, journals, etc. (As a nonprofit, NEPCA cannot retail on behalf of a second party.)

10. Carol-Ann Farkas agreed to have a work studies student retype NEPCA’s bylaws so that amendments can be added and the update can be posted on NEPCA’s Website.

11. The Executive Council voted to raise the prize granted to the best graduate student paper from $200 to $300 and to increase the Rollins Prize winner award from $200 to $500.

12. Lance Eaton agreed to work with Jim Hanlan to add a Ride/Room Share section to the NEPCA Website for next year’s conference.