Thirtieth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference
The Walters Art Museum/The Johns Hopkins University
Business Lunch Minutes: Saturday, October 30, 2004
1. Ellen Schwartz, President of the BSC, called the meeting to order at 1:19
2. A moment of silence was held in remembrance of Byzantinists deceased in the past year: Jakov Ljubarskij, Glenn Ruby, Paul Speck, and Peter Topping.
3. On a motion duly made by G. Peers and seconded by L. Jones, the agenda as presented was approved unanimously.
4. On the motion duly made by C. Barber and seconded by P. Viscuso, the minutes for the Business Lunch meeting in 2003 (18.x) were approved unanimously.
5. The President expressed thanks on behalf of the membership to the previous president, Patrick Viscuso, to the Local Arrangements Committee, to the Program Committee and Chair, to the anonymous donor of the graduate student prize, to Dr. Anastasios Tousimis, to the BSC/DO Liaison Committee, to the Governing Board, to the Illinois agents of the incorporated BSC — Robert Nelson (outgoing) and Ralph Mathison (incumbent) -, and to Sharon Gerstel who has been handling the institutional subscription for the abstracts and to Anna Gonosova who will take on these duties, as well as several members who were especially helpful. Each expression of thanks was warmly greeted with applause.
6. The President's Report
E. Schwartz reported that in the past year letters on behalf of the BSC had been sent to four institutions that were in danger of losing positions in Byzantine Studies.
7. Treasurer’s Report: D. Olster drew the members’ attention to the profit from the 2002 BSC that has provided an unusually large surplus in the account. A vote of thanks to the organizers of the Ohio State University conference in 2002 was moved by H. Evans, seconded by S. Boyd and passed unanimously. The budget was duly approved.
8. Governing Board Elections: A vote was held for the four places from the five candidates. The following were elected to the Governing Board: Sue Boyd, Walter Hanak, Leonora Neville, and Amy Papalexandrou.
9. Graduate Student Prizes for 2003: On behalf of the Program Committee, Tia Kolbaba presented the prizes. First prize was given to David Michelson, second to Galina Tirnanic, and third to D.K. Woods. E. Schwartz noted that graduate students should be aware of stipends provided to those giving papers and attending; details are found at the BSC website.
10. Report of BSC/DO Liaison Committee: The minutes of the meeting were presented by E. Schwartz to the membership, and on a motion duly made by D. Krueger, seconded by D. Olster, the minutes were accepted.
11. Report from Dumbarton Oaks: Mary-Alice Talbot addressed the membership on the subject of the renovations to the facilities and on future programs, including a new schedules for fellows and colloquia, and the retirement of the collection’s curator Susan Boyd and her replacement, Gudrun Buehl. A question was raised by Anthony Cutler concerning the availability of objects no longer on display, and A.-M. Talbot informed him that any objects not being loaned to the Walters Art Museum or the Cleveland Museum of Art would not be accessible.
12. Old Business:
E. Schwartz informed the members that the Board had decided to maintain the abstracts as text-only documents.
She also announced that the Board had decided to raise the graduate-student stipends to $300 for presenters and $100 for attendees.
13. New Business:
The BSC has agreed to affiliate itself with the International Center of Medieval Art on the request of its President, Annemarie Carr. New members of ICMA who are also members of the BSC will receive 20% off their first-year membership, and the BSC will provide a link to the ICMA site on its homepage.
E. Schwartz announced that the Board had decided to defray the expenses up to $500 for independent scholars (active scholars with the PhD who have neither tenured nor tenure-track positions, and who have no other funding possibilities), as long as they are traveling to carry out Board business.
E. Schwartz also announced that expenses for the pre-conference meeting of the BSC Board will be defrayed by the BSC, if such defrayment is feasible for the BSC.
14. Announcements:
On behalf of the US National Committee, Elizabeth Fisher spoke to the members about recent developments in the planning of the 2006 Congress in London.
Asen Kirin addressed the members and welcomed all to attend the 2005 conference at the University of Georgia, Athens, 27-30.x.05. He read a letter from the Dean of Arts and Sciences to that effect.
E. Schwartz informed the members of the locations of upcoming conferences: 2006 University of Missouri, Saint Louis, 2007 University of Toronto, 2008 Rutgers University, and 2009 Catholic University of America.
E. Schwartz congratulated Maria Mavroudi for her recent award of a MacArthur Grant.
C. Barber informed the members of a series on Michael Psellos that is being published.
Ralph Mathison announced the next Frontiers and Late Antiquity conference being held at the University of Illinois in 2005.
Leonora Neville announced a conference at the Catholic University of America in the spring of 2005 on Early Christian Studies and the Academic Disciplines.
Griff Mann drew members’ attention to the upcoming display of Dumbarton Oaks objects at the Walters Art Museum and to the exhibition of art from Novgorod, which will be opening 22.x.05. He also reminded members that the Journal was soliciting articles on objects from the collection.
15. Date and Time of Next Governing Board Meeting — 7:00, 30.x.04, at the Walters Art Museum.
16. S. Gerstel expressed the membership's thanks to Anthony Kaldellis for his superb work on the organization of the conference and to outgoing members of the Governing Board, Michael Maas, Noel Lenski and Eric Ivison.
13. 16. Adjournment — On a motion duly made by D. Olster, seconded by T. Kolbaba, the meeting adjourned at 2:18 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,© 2024 Byzantine Studies Association of North America, Inc. (BSANA) . All Rights Reserved.