Byzantine Studies Conference Archives

Thirty-First Annual Byzantine Studies Conference
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Governing Board Meeting Session 1
Thursday, 27 October 2005
Minutes of the Meeting

Charles Barber, President of the BSC, called the meeting to order at 8:23 p.m.

Present: Charles Barber (President), Lynn Jones (Treasurer), John Barker, Caroline Connor, John Duffy, Walter Hanak, Leonora Neville, Asen Kirin, Tia Kolbaba, Robert Nelson, David Olster, Amy Papalexandrou and Glenn Peers (secretary).

Regrets: John Birkenmeier, Susan Boyd, Martha Vinson.

C. Barber called the meeting to order at 8:23 p.m.

1. Agenda: The agenda was approved as presented.
   
   
2. Minutes of the Previous Governing Board (18.x.04):
   On a motion by J. Barker, seconded by R. Nelson, the minutes were duly approved, with an emendation by D. Olster that the minutes reflected a vote of nine to two on the issue of dinner expenses for Governing Board.
   
   
3. President's Report
   1. Charitable Status: C. Barber reported on the difficulties experienced over the previous year with regard to maintaining the organization’s legal status as “charitable.” D. Olster made a motion, seconded by T. Kolbaba, that the overseeing of this status be one of the tasks assigned regularly to the Treasurer. The motion passed unanimously.
      
      
   2. Changes in Website: C. Barber also reported on the difficulties that had arisen over the website. The situation had been provisionally resolved leading up to the conference, and Robert Alison has agreed to take on role of ‘webmaster'.
      
      
   3. The Board was reminded that Ralph Mathison had been appointed agent for the BSC in the state of Illinois for purposes of incorporation.
4. Old Business
   1. Tousimis Support: The President reported that he had had a productive meeting with Dr. Tousimis at the Spring Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks. Dr. Tousimis has offered to publish the winning graduate-student papers as a volume, and the Board discussed the proposal. It was decided that such a publication ought to take the form of a gift, as a specially bound set perhaps, but not as a replacement for a peer-reviewed and published volume of articles. R. Nelson also raised the possibility of approaching Dr. Tousimis to endow a fund for the future support of graduate students; he made a motion to that effect, which was seconded by D. Olster and passed unanimously. D. Olster moved that Dr. Tousimis be encouraged to publish the winning papers as a private volume; R. Nelson seconded the motion, and on a vote of 11 to 2, the motion carried. R. Nelson also made a motion that Dr. Tousimis be sincerely thanked by the President at the Business Luncheon the next day, G. Peers seconded, and the motion duly passed.
      
      
   2. C. Connor made a motion that a line be added to the dues announcement permitting members to pay into a capital campaign to support the Conference and graduate student attendance; D. Olster seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
      
      
5. New Business
   1. Role of BSC: Discussion addressed the identity of the BSC as an organization that should organize an annual conference only or that should also take a more active role in its service to the field of Byzantine Studies. The Board agreed that a motion should be brought before the membership at the Business Luncheon for consideration and possibly to direct the Board to take action: “The BSC shall consider revising its constitution to become a Byzantine Studies association with annual meeting, and the membership directs the President to form a committee in order to propose a revised constitution to the membership for discussion at the next meeting of the BSC.”
      
      
   2. Advocacy: The President recommended that a motion for an amendment of the constitution be brought before the membership for ratification. He moved, A. Papalexandrou seconded, and the motion passed unanimously to present this motion, "The President of the BSC, in consultation with the Governing Board, may write letters on behalf of the membership of the organization in support of posts in the field of Byzantine Studies and to express concern over the fate of historical artifacts and monuments that pertain to Byzantine studies."
      
      
   3. BSC/DO Liaison Committee: The President recommended that the committee no longer be formed because of expense and because of the helpful participation of the Director of Byzantine Studies at the Business Luncheon. The Board reserved the right of forming the committee in the future if the need should arise. The motion was duly made by C. Barber, seconded by G. Peers, and it passed unanimously.
      
      
6. Nominating Committee report
   On behalf of the Committee, C. Connor reported that a slate composed of Sarah Bassett, Anna Gonosova, Henry Maguire and Ralph Mathison be presented to the membership the following day.
   
   
7. Adjournment
   C. Barber duly moved that the meeting be adjourned, D. Olster seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. The Meeting was adjourned, therefore, at 9:43 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Glenn Peers
Secretary, BSC

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Governing Board Meeting Session 2
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Minutes of the Meeting

Charles Barber, President of the BSC, called the meeting to order at 6:50 p.m.

Present: Charles Barber (President), Lynn Jones (Treasurer), Walter Hanak, Asen Kirin, Tia Kolbaba, Henry Maguire, Robert Nelson, David Olster, and Amy Papalexandrou (secretary).

Regrets: John Birkenmeier (Vice President), Susan Boyd, Leonora Neville, Martha Vinson.

1. Agenda
   Agenda for the meeting was approved as presented.
   
   
2. Election of Executive Officers
   President: Asen Kirin
   Vice-President: John Birkenmeier (not present)
   Secretary: Amy Papalexandrou
   Treasurer: Lynn Jones
   
   
3. 2007 Program
   It was announced that Derek Krueger (not present) would take over as program chair for the Thirty-second Annual BSC, to be held in St. Louis, MO. The local arrangements chair will be Diane Touliatos. C Barber made a motion that the program chair select his own committee. This was duly seconded by D. Olster.
   
   
4. Board members: Those cycling off in 2006:  C.Barber, A.Kirin, T.Kolbaba, R.Nelson.
   
   New board members:  Sarah Bassett, Anna Gonosova, Henry Maguire (present), Ralph Mathison.

Discussion of issues:

1. Issue of the graduate student coin: To be fair to the student who raised the issue in the business lunch, the matter of the graduate prize (a Byzantine coin) should be discussed before next year’s meeting. Several opinions on the matter were expressed. D.Olster moved that the issue of the coin be put into the agenda for the 2006 board meeting (Thursday). R.Nelson suggested discussing the matter with the anonymous donor since it is, obviously, a passionate issue for some members of the organization. The donor might be encouraged to offer something else instead: Ideas included a set of Dumbarton Oaks coin catalogs, the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, etc.  A.Kirin will discuss the issue with the donor; A.Kirin and A.Papalexandrou will look into the matter and present findings to the board (before next year’s meeting). There was general agreement that the matter be resolved before next year’s business lunch, thereby eliminating the need for any further discussion at that time.
2. Concerning the proposed change to the name (and mission) of the BSC (raised at both the board meeting and the business lunch): The President will select a committee to investigate this issue.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Papalexandrou,
BSC Secretary, 2005-2006