IASIL AGM 2016 Agenda and Minutes

IASIL Annual General Meeting Agenda 2016

Friday 29th July 2016: 3.30 pm

University College Cork

1. Chair’s address

2. Minutes of York meeting

3. Matters arising

4. Results of 2016 Election

5. Secretary’s Report

6. Treasurer’s Report

7. Bibliography Subcommittee Report

(New Chair presides from this point)

8. Future Conferences: 2017 and 2018

9. Scholarship subcommittee

-Report on 2016

-Decision for 2017

10. Report from IUR representative

11. Reports from IASIL representatives

12. Collaboration with Breac Bibliography

13. Election of postgraduate representative

14. General IASIL Promotion and Recuitment

15. Any other business

 

AGM 2016 MINUTES

Friday 29 July 2016: 3.30 pm

University College Cork

 1. Chair’s address—submitted by Margaret Kelleher

It is a sincere pleasure to be in University of Cork for this, the 40th annual IASIL conference, and I would like to extend my warm thanks and congratulations to the organizing committee (Prof Claire Connolly; Prof Alex Davis; Dr Anne Etienne; Dr Adam Hanna; Prof Lee Jenkins; Dr Heather Laird; Dr Barry Monahan; Dr Maureen O’Connor; Dr Clíona Ó Gallchoir; Dr Anna Pilz), for all of their work in preparing this impressively stimulating and diverse academic programme and cultural activities.

 

This year also marks the end of my two terms as Chairperson of IASIL and so my very special (and departing) heartfelt thanks to colleagues of the Executive Committee for their concrete support and hard work during the year.  Yet again these are most visible at both the Executive Meeting and AGM, but the initiatives presented there are supported by lots of work, consideration and commitment ‘behind the scenes’ and I would like to take the opportunity to recognise this publicly. My grateful thanks to our outgoing Secretary Dawn Duncan, with whom I have had the pleasure to work for 7 of her heroic and most generous 13 years as Secretary. I am also very grateful to our Treasurer Tina O’Toole for her great work for the past 3 years, and she has kindly agreed to remain for another year. My thanks also to her predecessor Joachim Fischer, Treasurer during 2009-2013.

 

As I finish, I remember with fondness the conferences of the past 7 years and would like to thank the many people who organised them with such generosity and flair: Maynooth (2010), Leuven (2011), Montreal (2012), Queen’s Belfast (2013), Lille (2014), York (2015) and now Cork (2016).

 

The relationship with the Irish University Review and Edinburgh University Press continues to flourish, and brings a number of benefits to IASIL members, in addition to the two volumes of the journal. My warm thanks to Professor John Brannigan (outgoing IUR editor) with whom it has been a pleasure to collaborate over these years, and good wishes to his successor Dr Emilie Pine; I am grateful also to Sarah Donaldson (EUP) for her invaluable assistance.

 

As members know, our scholarships play a particularly important role in creating the next generation of Irish studies scholars. We welcome the 2016 holders of the IASIL scholarship Colleen Taylor and Michael Beebe, and to thank members who have generously contributed to these scholarships, in particular to the Margaret MacCurtain scholarship which was organized this year to mark Margaret’s contributions as a distinguished graduate of UCC. We will continue this initiative with a scholarship in honour of our much missed colleague Professor Werner Huber (longstanding member of IASIL Executive and Vice-Chairperson of IASIL for Europe, 2000-2009); members are encouraged to donate to this scholarship through paypal and we will send a reminder via our weekly list in this regard.

 

Next year’s conference will be held at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (24-28 July 2017); the excellent cfp on Ireland’s Writers in the 21st century has been already distributed by Professor Neil Murphy at this year’s conference; warm thanks to him and his colleagues.

 

Finally, my thanks again to all those who enable our organization to run so smoothly, including members of the scholarship committee ably chaired by Shaun Richards; the bibliographical committee generously chaired by Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos, and all of the regional representatives and members who do so much to keep IASIL a flourishing organization. This year our Returning Officer Rui Carvalho Homem implemented our three-yearly elections with great efficiency; my warm thanks to Rui. I am very pleased that many members have agreed to remain on the next Executive (2016-2019); I send warm welcome to the new members and thanks to the outgoing members for their contribution to IASIL.  Most especially I ‘pass the baton’ with deep pleasure and great esteem to Dr Ondřej Pilný; may he find the warm support and great enjoyment in the role that I have been fortunate to receive for the last two terms. Margaret Kelleher, July 2016.

 

2. Minutes of York meeting— O. Pilný proposed. T. O’Toole seconded. Approved.

 

3. Matters arising. None.

 

4. Results of 2016 Elections

Ondřej Pilný – Chairperson

Clíona Ó Gallchoir – Secretary

Tina O’Toole – Treasurer (2016-17)

Christina Morin – Treasurer (2017-19)

Rui Carvalho Homem – Returning Officer
Claire Connolly – Vice-Chairperson for Ireland

Alexandra Poulain – Vice-Chairperson for Europe

José Lanters – Vice-Chairperson for North America

Naoko Toraiwa – Vice-Chairperson for Japan

Youngmin Kim – Vice-Chairperson for Other Countries

Lucy Collins – Representative for Ireland

Tom Walker – Representative for Ireland

Ian Walsh – Representative for Ireland

Shaun Richards – Representative for Europe
Marisol Morales Ladrón – Representative for Europe

Katharina Rennhak – Representative for Europe

Kate Costello-Sullivan – Representative for North America

Joan F. Dean – Representative for North America

Susan Cahill – Representative for North America

Andrew Fitzsimons – Representative for Japan

Mika Momoo – Representative for Japan

Haruko Takakuwa – Representative for Japan

Mary Massoud – Representative for Other Countries

Laura Izarra – Representative for Other Countries

Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos – Representative for Other Countries

 

5. Secretary’s report—submitted by Dawn Duncan

This year, as in years past, I have fulfilled the following duties:

  • Creating and monitoring web pages for our site, which now consists of 37 distinct pages
  • Posting news and event items to our website, Facebook and Twitter sites on a weekly, and at times daily, basis—with such posts over the last 3 years of the new website totaling to 669
  • Creating new member accounts and updating renewals, with total number of website accounts created now at 1014. The one change from the past is that members now have their accounts for a year or three years, depending on type of membership, from their date of account creation/renewal.
  • Communicating with members via the weekly digest
  • Communicating with members via email
  • Continuing ongoing dialogues with our Executive team
  • Sending scholarly verification when needed by members
  • Serving on the Irish University Review board and attending our meetings either via Skype or in-person when in Ireland
  • Taking and distributing minutes for the annual Executive session and AGM.

However, as I stand down from the Executive after serving for 16 years, 13 of those as your Secretary, I hope you will indulge a reflection about the changes over those 13 years.

  • When I assumed office, in addition to the work of minutes and letters as needed, the Secretary prepared an annual newsletter. There was no list-serve or website for communication.
  • I created the first list-serve and pushed news items out as soon as they came in my first year, continuing that process for 10 years, which was also a nice way to be able to personally connect with members and send condolences or congratulations at appropriate life moments.
  • Three years ago we launched a new website through which we could now push all notices, making the list-serve obsolete. I also assumed the double-duty of becoming webmaster.  While not as personal, the website is more flexible and dynamic, with direct links to Facebook and Twitter and the capability of visual media.  We have come a long way from when I first assumed office.

As I pass along this office of service to our colleague, Clíona Ó Gallchoir, I wish her your support and an easy path of communication with the organization and its members.  I have given her all past documents and a guide to our daily duties so that she might find all the technical, professional, and personal aspects understandable and clear for the future.  I know she will take us yet farther into the future.

My special thanks to the Executive, especially to Margaret Kelleher and Tina O’Toole, and the membership assistant Lucy Imbusch for collegial work and their ongoing friendship, as well as to Clíona Ó Gallchoir as we have prepared for the handover.  And my thanks to all of you for your patience and friendship while allowing me to serve you and IASIL.

Respectfully,

Dawn Duncan

6. Treasurer’s report—submitted by Tina O’Toole

a. Accounts

Audited Accounts 31 May 2016 (see Appendix 1)

b. Paid-up Membership (without IASIL Japan members1)

For regional distribution see Appendix 2.

 

Paid up to date

2016 (Cork) 398 (incl. 103 students, 37 3-year, 4honorary/life members2)

2015 (York) 318 (incl. 43 students, 23 3-year memberships)

2014 (Lille) 390 (incl. 77 students, 65 3-year memberships,

20 couples, 4 honorary/life members)

2013 (Belfast) 366 (incl. 72 students, 17 couples, 4honorary/life members)

2012 (Montréal) 358 (incl. 77 students)

2011 (Leuven) 333 (incl. 74 students,

2010 (Maynooth) 405 (incl. 71 students)

2009 (Glasgow) 378

2008 (Porto) 419

2007 (Dublin) 519

 

Membership

Membership stabilised after a drop last year. Student numbers have increased significantly, due to our efforts to encourage membership among students and early career scholars – for instance, we have kept the student rate in places for early career scholars up to three years post-PhD. Furthermore, conference organisers this year facilitated a postgraduate workshop, chaired by the IASIL pg rep, Rebecca Graham; the Cork conference has not charged conference fees for students.  With the help of conference organisers, we were reasonably successful in encouraging conference participants to pay their IASIL sub this year. Last year, you may recall that a significant number of conference attendees (approx. 40) had not paid the membership sub in the run-up to the conference.

1 Total does not include our Japanese members who have their own organisation, however, we did receive a list of Japanese members this year, totalling 133.

2 Life members: Maurice Harmon; Heinz and Gillian Kosok. Honorary member: Margaret McCurtain.

 

Payment Procedures

PayPal is working reasonably well although we are still having some problems with the recurring payment set-up. We removed the recurring payment option for 3-year membership as the only way to resolve issues arising last year. However, some members who chose to pay their annual membership sub earlier than the due date set by their recurring payment last year subsequently found that PayPal had debited their account twice – i.e. it was automatically paid on the day it fell due as well. We will alert members to this when sending out membership reminders in January.  We removed the option for students to pay a €30 sub and receive the print IUR last year because it wasn’t cost effective. Changing this did cause some small problems

with PayPal; each of those who’d previously opted for a recurring payment option had to be refunded €10 as their automatic payment came in but refunds were issued at once and there were no difficulties with this.

 

Membership subscription procedures and follow-up access to website working smoothly; current system worked out between Tina, Lucy, and Dawn.

 

c. Membership & Fees

Fee income: €13,453

Scholarship income: €1,615

Total: €15,068

Outgoings: €15,941

Deficit (€873)

While we don’t have the high deficit of last year (e.g. last year we paid €2,175 for web maintenance), income and expenditure still not breaking even annually. We were successful in bringing expenditure down and raising income, by means of membership subscriptions and, crucially, through the sponsorship drive for

scholarships.

d. Journal

Payments for IUR fully up to date; €10,232 in total.

e. Scholarship donations €1,615. Our scholarship drive proved a success, particularly for the Margaret McCurtain Scholarship fund which brought in €1255; we received one particularly generous donation of $1000 for this fund. This certainly seems to be the way forward if we are to provide scholarships in future years.

f. Thanks to Lucy Imbusch, Margaret Kelleher, Dawn Duncan, and Shaun Richards.

 

(New IASIL Executive Chair presides from this point)

 

Address from the incoming Chairperson, Ondřej Pilný

I would like to thank everyone for their support and confidence, and to express particular gratitude to Margaret Kelleher and Dawn Duncan. Margaret Kelleher has done a sterling job as Chairperson over two terms. We are all grateful for her efficient leadership and diplomatic skills. She has contributed to the increased visibility of the Association and has been an energetic participant at conferences over the past 8 years. Dawn Duncan has contributed 13 years of service to IASIL and has been a paragon of efficiency. As Secretary she has been the hub of information and made huge progress in the dissemination of information over the years, including taking on the job of website manager gracefully and cheerfully.

I would also like to thank the outgoing Executive members: the Vice-Chairperson for Japan, Yoko Sato, Representative for Japan, Kumiko Yamada, Representative for Ireland, Patrick Lonergan, and Representative for North America, Chris Berchild. Last but not least, I am extremely grateful to all the new members of the Executive for their decision to join the team and dedicate their time to IASIL.

In the future, I would like the Association to grow: IASIL is a hub of knowledge and scholarship and I would encourage members to spread the word to colleagues and students.

I would also like to expand the Association’s contacts with Irish-language scholars and writers, to extend a warm invitation to those working in the Irish language and to increase the dialogue between English and Irish-language writers and researchers.

 

7. Bibliography subcommittee report—Beatriz Kopschitz Bastos, Chair

  • There were significant reports from most countries currently represented in the sub-committee. My special thanks to the invaluable dedication of all representatives.
  • The sub-committee welcomes the new representatives.
  • I personally thank Maria Eduarda Ferraz for her priceless help in editing the final list.
  • The final edited 2015 Bibliography will be sent to IUR editor in mid-July and published in the online edition of the Autumn/Winter 2016 volume.
  • The IASIL Bibliography Sub-committee is deeply saddened by the loss of Professor Werner Huber and pays tribute to him for his many years of service as representative for Austria and Germany.

 

8. Future Conferences: 2017 and 2018

Neil Murphy reported on Singapore conference, 24-28 July 201: Ireland’s Writers in the 21st Century.  Conference fees are being kept as low as possible, and the proposed fees might lower if more funding is obtained.  Coffee breaks and substantial lunch each day will be included in the registration fee. The Irish Ambassador will host us one evening.  Post-conference trip options will include Cambodia, Indonesia, and possibly another.  Hopefully many participants will come from China, Japan, Korea, and other areas that may not make conferences in the West as readily.  Airfare is quite reasonable because Singapore is a hub for airlines.  Hotels with B&B and shuttles are reasonable.  Campus accommodation, however, is not available.  Registration fees will be waived for postgraduates and ECRs.

Marguerite Corporaal reported on Nijmegen conference in 23-27 July 2018.  Easy to reach by airport and another close by.  Direct flights to Schipool and then train straight from airport.  Small country, so quick.  No tradition of campus accommodation, but good, reasonable hotels around 90€.  We will try to get reduced prices for a number of hotels.  We already have a conference team, including the Chair of British Literature.  Ideas we have in mind, which will need to be discussed, include Rewriting or Reimagining Traditions (Diaspora Cultures and Contemporary Literature, Gender, Revival, Cultural Memory, Regional vs. Transnational, etc. would be applicable).  Invite a keynote on neo-Modernist Irish novel. Many interesting excursions possible.  Largest national park is near with good museum within the park.  Other museums by bus.  Another source of collaboration could be with cultural center that hosts 8 film locations.  Could also imagine a reimagining a text as a film, with director invited.

9. Scholarship subcommittee—Shaun Richards, Chair.

  • In his absence, Dawn Duncan summarized Shaun Richards’ report:
  • This year there were 19 applicants, the highest number for some time, and with a good geographical spread. The highest number was from the US – 7, followed by Ireland – 3, UK – 3, Canada – 2, Spain – 1, Sweden – 1, Japan – 1, New Zealand – 1.
  • The IASIL Scholarship went to Michael Beebe of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
  • The Margaret MacCurtain Scholarship went to Colleen Taylor of Boston College.
  • My thanks to the panel – José Lanters, Margaret Kelleher, Youngmin Kim and Tina O’Toole for hitting all the deadlines.
  • In terms of a scholarship for 2017 and Singapore. While we don’t know the on-the-ground costs in terms of accommodation, conference fees etc – the things we have normally include in the scholarships – we can get an idea of base-line costs in terms of flights. Using locations from which we have had winners, and including those from which we have had applicants this year – then for 2016 the costs would have been in the area of :
    • From the US (east coast)                            €1000
    • From Ireland/UK €770
    • From the Czech Republic €700
    • From Japan €300
    • From New Zealand €530
    • From Brazil €1700
  • Whether or not Singapore waives conference fees for Post Grads giving papers obviously affects overall costs, but taking those for this year simply as a guide, then overall we are looking at something in the region of €1500/€2000 at the upper end of possible costs – with travel being the major variable. That total being flight costs depending on country plus Fees €250, Accommodation €200, Dinner €75 = €525.
  • It might then be worth deciding both the amount of funding to be allocated but also whether any funding should be allocated. I make this point to raise the question as to what benefits we assume will accrue to scholarship winners and whether these benefits are general – any IASIL conference will provide them – or specific – that these benefits are location dependent. And the evidence from Sydney, the last long-haul flight destination (taking Ireland to be the centre as the only constant in terms of IASIL conferences) is that attendance for long-haul destinations is significantly lower than at those in Ireland, the UK, Europe. Does this affect the scholarship winner’s academic experience in terms of exposure to a significant range of papers and discussions and suggest that funds would be better built up so as to be dispensed – perhaps more widely – for future conferences?
  • NB This is not querying the value of holding conference wherever members express a willingness to do so and Executive agrees; this is a question about funding scholarships.
  • Anyway, I hope that you all have a stimulating and productive conference – with a bit of fun thrown in. I have great memories of the last conference at UCC in 1995 and I’m sorry that I’m not there this time.
  • Discussion:
    • Pilný affirmed the decision to reconvene the scholarship committee and to announce a call for scholarship applicants for 2017. There will be an attempt to increase the number of scholarships to facilitate postgraduate participation in the 2017 conference.
    • The decision to create a special scholarship in the name of Werner Huber was announced. A call for donations will be made via the PayPal facility on the website.
    • IASIL Japan intend to fund a scholarship to enable one of their postgraduate members to attend.
    • The Spanish Association for Irish Studies and the Brazilian Association for Irish Studies are also considering offering a postgraduate scholarship for a future IASIL conference.

 

10. Report from IUR representative—submitted by John Brannigan. Apologies from John Brannigan and Emilie Pine.

I regret that I am not able to attend the IASIL Executive and AGM this year due to family commitments. However, and on behalf of the IUR Management Board, I would like to congratulate Claire and all of her colleagues in Cork for hosting IASIL 2016, and wish you all a convivial and successful conference.

The IUR has continued to thrive in 2016, thanks to all of the support and dedication of IASIL members and subscribers. We devoted our 2016 special issue, in perhaps what might be regarded as a non-commemorative gesture, to Irish Experimental Poetry, guest edited by David Lloyd. We are very grateful to David for all of his work on guest editing the issue, and the superb selections of poetry and criticism included in the volume, including original work from Trevor Joyce, Maurice Scully, Catherine Walsh, Billy Mills, Sarah Hayden, and Fergal Gaynor. As many people have commented, this special issue was both a new departure for the IUR in giving critical attention to experimental poetry which rarely features in the critical record, and also a return of sorts, as the IUR in its early days and its predecessor, the University Review, was one of the few journals which did give attention to Brian Coffey, Denis Devlin, and more broadly to what Alex Davis called the ‘Broken Line’ of Irish Poetic Modernism. We also have a very strong issue prepared for the Autumn, with essays on Synge, Joyce, Dorothy Macardle, W.R. Rodgers, Tom Murphy, John Banville and Colum McCann. Submissions to the journal continue to be very strong, and we are as always very grateful to all of those, including many IASIL colleagues, who send us their work, and give generously of their time and expertise for peer evaluation. In 2017 we will renew our contract with Edinburgh University Press as publishing partner. Edinburgh continues to publish the journal to the highest standards of production, and to promote our content internationally, and we look forward to the continued success of this partnership. I hope you will also join with me in congratulating my successor as editor, Emilie Pine, on her appointment, to commence at the end of this year. Her wisdom, care and precision as assistant editor have been invaluable to me, and it has long been evident that she will make a very successful editor who will help the IUR to grow and develop.

This is therefore my last report to the IASIL executive and AGM. It has been a great privilege and pleasure to serve as editor of the IUR for seven years, and a large measure of my enjoyment of the role is due to the close and cherished relationship between the IUR and IASIL. I would like to pay particular tribute to Margaret, who has served IASIL so passionately and diligently, and who has ensured that the relationship between the IUR and IASIL has become a very secure and fruitful bond. I would also like to thank Dawn for her wise counsel and ever-efficient service, and for putting up with my often woeful attempts to host Skype meetings. I am also very grateful to Joachim, Tina, and Lucy for keeping the IUR and Edinburgh University Press up to date financially and with the membership information required for distribution. I would also like to extend, on behalf of the IUR Management Board, our congratulations and best wishes to Ondřej, Cliona and Tina in leading IASIL forward from 2016, and we look forward to continuing to grow the relationship between IASIL and the IUR in the years to come.

Discussion:  O. Pilný noted that a productive meeting was held with between him, M. Kelleher, E. Pine, L. Collins and Edinburgh UP. The proposal is to renew the contract to stipulate fewer printed copies which will reduce costs (down from 310 to 250 copies).  The student membership with print copy had already been discontinued because it involved a financial loss. It was announced that The Autumn/Winter 2017 issue will be dedicated to Werner Huber.

11. Reports from IASIL representatives—see appendix.

12. Collaboration with Breac Bibliography: Breac has proposed to include material from the IASIL Bibliography into its fully searchable online Irish Studies Bibliography. On the basis that all IASIL references would be tagged as such, the IASIL executive brought this proposal to the AGM, for an initial 4-year period. Proposed: Vivian Valvano Lynch. Seconded: Laura Izarra. The Executive will proceed to implement this.

13. Election of Postgraduate Representative: Rebecca Graham was relected by acclamation.

14. General IASIL Promotion and Recruitment—thanks to all who are helping with this effort.

Discussion:  J. Dean has heard that there is a sub-committee being formed by ACIS to investigate a collaboration with IASIL.  J. Dean motions that the incoming executive form a sub-committee to investigate such from IASIL’s side of this discussion.  T. Morin seconds.

15. Any other business

  • Thanks were expressed to the Cork organizing theme and to the incoming executive members.
  • Olinder raised the following issues for consideration by the Executive and future conference organizers:
    • Greater consideration and better facilities for those with hearing impairment, including more attention to clearly visible AV presentations by presenters
    • More stress on the oral nature of conference presentations
    • The scheduling of IASIL tends to clash with the John Hewitt Summer School, which many IASIL delegates also want to attend.
    • IASIL will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2020 – would the Executive consider the idea of a history of the association?
  • Pilný welcomed the idea of a History of IASIL and undertook to begin some initial discussions with past Chairpersons. He noted that scheduling clashes were unfortunate but to a degree unavoidable given the number of events and conferences in the summer months. He undertook to bring the issue of facilities for the hearing impaired to the 2017 organizers.