ESAC Annual General Meeting

Carleton University, Ottawa

Friday, May 29, 2009

2008-2009 ESAC Board
Lenore Newman (President) /
Chris Ling (Vice-President) /
Tim Quick (Past-President) /
Patricia Ballamingie (Conference Chair) /
Michael Torreiter (Treasurer) /
Dr. Shirley Thomson (Member-at-large) /
Karen Hurley (Member-at-large) /
Alanna Bondar (Member at large) /

Agenda

(1)Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (4 p.m.)

(2)Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (4:30 p.m.)

(3)ESAC Intern – Report (Tegan Renner)

(4)Congress 2009 (Patricia Ballamingie)

(5)ESAC Finances (Tegan Renner for Michael Torreiter)

(6)ESAC Board Renewal

Minutes:

4:00 p.m. – Meeting called to order by Patricia

Present: Dr. Patricia Ballamingie (ESAC 2009 Conference Chair, Assistant Professor, Carleton University), Tegan Renner (Alternatives Journal and ESAC Survey Author), Tim Quick (Past-President, Ph.D. Candidate, York University), Dr. Mark Meisner (ESAC Listserve Manager and ESAC founding member, Assistant Professor, SUNY-ESF), Dr. Tara Goetze (Adjunct Scholar, McMaster University and Environment Canada) Dr. Zhen Lin (Beijing University)

1.0SSHRC Representatives

Gianni Rossi (Program Officer for the Geography, Environmental Studies and Urban Planning Committee: ) and Valérie Bourbonnais (Program Officer, Strategic Programs and Joint Initiatives: )

-Presented on: this year's Standard Research Grants (SRG) results, future changes with the SRG committee, and what's been happening at SSRHC (including the recent Blue Ribbon Panel Survey and the Strategic Program Review), followed by Q&A

Notes:

-941 of 2881 SRGs were funded

-Success rate on Committee 9 = ~33%

-Success rate has declined over the past 5 years

-Canadian Environmental Issues Special Call will not be repeated in the immediate future

  • Since 2001, the environment has been identified as a research priority
  • 4 funding mechanisms: CURA (57% success); RDI (65% success); SRG (63% success); PO (18 projects funded)
  • Key topics: climate change, energy & natural resources, water, and new technologies

-Environment & Northern Research: $12 million in annual funding

-Management, Business & Finance: might include environmental management of specific resources

-Blue Ribbon Report: polled 20,000 researchers

-Budget 2009 – Strategic Review: resulted in the removal of Research Time Stipends (RTSs) and health-related research

-E-submission System: to be implemented in fall 2009 for SRG

-SRG Peer Review Committee Members needed

2.0Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (FedCAN)

-Jody Ciufo (fedcan@fedcan) sent regrets from Nathalie Des Rosiers

-FedCAN role: to lobby the federal government; to be critical on behalf of their members

-SSHRC is funded through Industry Canada

-Government allocated $2B to infrastructure and $700 M to the CFI

-Canada Graduate Scholarships: 40% (NSERC), 40% CIHR, 20% (SSHRC) – in spite of this population representing 55% of graduates

-Cuts to granting councils seen as permanent; extra funds to CGS seen as temporary

-No inflationary compensation

-Knowledge Mobilization Fund, New Scholars, extra leg up for established scholars

-No $$$ or National Endowment for the Humanities in Obama’s Stimulus Package!

-Canadian social science researchers are apparently better funded than their U.S. counterparts

-FedCAN wants to improve communications – Experience Congress

-ASPP, Equity, Twitter, Tweat

-Event Bot at the Book Fair

-Natalie Des Rosiers and Chad Gadfield responded to questions online, live

-FedCAN AGM – March 26, 2010 (2 nights accommodation provided for ESAC delegate; great career building opportunity)

-Congress 2010: Concordia University

-Congress 2011: UNB, Fredericton

-Congress 2012: WLU and Waterloo

-Congress 2013: University of Victoria

3.0 ESAC Intern Report

Tegan Renner, staff at Alternatives Journal, was hired by ESAC to conduct a needs assessment of current and potential members. An overview of the needs assessment methodology and summary of survey results were presented. If you wish to see the final report, including recommendations, please contact Tegan at:

4.0 Congress 2009

-Patricia Ballamingie, ESAC 2009 Conference Chair

-78 registered attendees (18 non-members) = $3,420 in revenue

-18 people signed up for the banquet at The Green Door = $450 (but only 12 showed up)

-Opted for 3 rather than 4 days, with a pre-conference Board meeting on May 26 (attended by Trish, Tegan, Shirley and Lenore)

-Joint sessions with CAG, CASID, CSA (generally successful)

-AAGSA Travel Bursaries ($2,490 split between 14 students, roughly proportionate to distance travelled)

  • Recipients include: Laura Fanthome, Anna Kramer, Michele Martin, Krystle White, Shannon Arnold, Melissa Zapisocky, Ellen Field, Ashlee Willox, Farruhk Chistie, Kasim Tirmizey, Wilhelm Peekhaus, Pascal Murphy, Chris Saker, Gabriel Eidelman
  • Trish will cross-reference to ensure these recipients actually attended and presented, before dispensing funds

-NB We need to apply for these funds each year, and report on their disbursement.

-Applicants who receive funding should be encouraged to attend a significant part of the conference and attend the AGM. One way to encourage this would be ask students to report their impressions of the panels they attended in a special session for feedback.

-Congress 2010 will be held at Concordia University, May 28-June 4, 2010

  • Action:We need to find a Local Arrangements Coordinator and a Conference Chair!

5.0 ESAC Finances

- Please see official financial statement, attached.

- Tegan Renner, on behalf of Michael Torreiter: /

- Membership dues increased from $3362 in 2007-2008 to $4851 in 2008-2009, an increase of 44%

- University of Waterloo mandated that we get an off-site bank account in June 2008. This increased our banking expenses from zero to $85.

- This necessitated that we also get a credit card service in order to accept credit card payments from ESAC members. This is a new expense as well ($181 for the year).

- ESAC student intern position (5 hours per week) is $125 per term.

- Tegan’s intern 6-month position from January–June 2009. January-March shows up on statements.

- We received income from travel grants for the 2009 Conference $2,490. These have not yet been distributed so they are included in liabilities.

6.0 Board Renewal

[NB We did not have the quorum required to elect a new ESAC Board. Please note that the ESAC bylaws state that we shall be governed by a minimum of 5 officers, and a maximum of 9, including Past-President. We may wish to increase the maximum number.]

President

-Lenore Newman has had to step down as President, for personal reasons, but is happy to remain on the Board as Past-President

New Candidates:

  • Shirley Thompson is interested in working collaboratively with someone as Co-Chair, Co-President.
  • Tim Quick

Vice President

  • Chris Ling is willing to continue on in this role.

Treasurer

  • Current Treasurer, Michael Torreiter (Circulation/Finance Manager at Alternatives) has suggested someone at the University of Waterloo would be more appropriate
  • Dr. Jennifer Lynes is a faculty member (with an accounting background) in Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo. She has kindly agreed to serve in this capacity.

Secretary

  • Tegan Renner, Alternatives Journal, and ESAC intern, has kindly offered to fill this role.

Conference Chair

  • We have not yet identified someone to take on this responsibility.
  • NB separate this role from the Local Arrangements Coordinator (ideally, someone from Concordia University, for Congress 2010)

Members-at-large

  • Alanna Bondar is willing to continue serving in this capacity.
  • Karen Hurley is willing to continue serving in this capacity.
  • Marcia Ruby, Alternatives Journal, has kindly agreed to join the ESAC Board in this capacity.
  • Dr. Tara Goetze, Environment Canada, has kindly agreed to join the ESAC Board in this capacity.

Communications Chair

  • Yet to be assigned.

Proposed 2009-2010 ESAC Board
(President or Co-Presidents)
Dr. Lenore Newman (Past-President) /
Dr. Chris Ling (Vice-President) /
Dr. Jennifer Lynes (Treasurer) /
Tegan Renner (Secretary) /
Marcia Ruby (Member-at-large) /
(2010 Conference Chair)
(Communications Chair)
Dr. Tara Goetze (Member-at-large) /
Karen Hurley (Member-at-large) /
Dr. Alanna Bondar (Member at large) /

Action Items:

-Formally elect a new Board.

-Identify a Conference Chair for Congress 2010 in Montreal!

-All current ESAC Board members to review bylaws

-Consider reviving Rhizome as a blog

-Next ESAC intern to create promotional poster and distribute to ENST programs across Canada

-Find a Ph.D. candidate who is looking for an academic position to revive job list and post on the web site

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