ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING--MAY 4, 1996

President Ehud Ben Zvi (SBL) called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm with 25 members present. Ehud expressed thanks to Patricia O'Connell Killen (AAR Executive Secretary) for her years of service to the region, noting that she had to leave early to attend a Regents meeting at PLU. Patricia expressed her regrets for having to miss the regional business meeting.

The minutes and treasurer's report of the 1995 regional meeting (which was held at Saint Martins College, Lacey, WA) had been made available at the registration table, and were briefly discussed. The treasurer noted that in response to last years discussion regarding the amount of the student awards, the executive committee agreed to double the amount of the awards. Thus, both student paper awards were increased from $100 to $200, and an award of $100 was given for this years Honorable Mention paper.

A motion was made that the minutes be approved, and the motion was seconded. A motion was made that the treasurers report be approved, and the motion was seconded. The minutes and treasurers report were both unanimously approved. Bob Stivers asked that the secretary investigate the regional by-laws to see whether they had originally provided for the establishment of an annual audit committee. He noted that the current practice of having somebody at the fall executive planning meeting sign off on the account book may be too lax. It was agreed that the executive committee should discuss this matter at their fall meeting.

Jeff Staley announced that Carol Dempsey, Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Portland, would be the regions first SBL Regional Scholar nominee. Her paper, entitled "Literary Artistry and the Ethical Message of the Book of Micah," will be submitted to the Council of Regional Secretaries for award consideration. Ehud Ben Zvi has agreed to be her mentor.

Jeff Staley, speaking on behalf of Patricia O'Connell Killen, reminded AAR members of the AAR Regional Development Grants available, and briefly described their focus. Interested people should contact Patricia for further information and direction.

On behalf of Karen Barta, Jeff Staley reminded members about updating the regional directory. Karen would like to fund the updated directory by asking regional colleges and universities to place a description of their religious studies/theology programs in the directory at $10-15 per page. Karen would also like updated publication lists from each member as soon as possible. It was recommended that Karen write letters to each department in the region explaining her proposal.

The Region decided to fund Jon Taylor $100 to create a Web page for the region.

On behalf of Patricia O'Connell Killen, Jeff Staley introduced Richard Freundís (Rocky Mountain-Great Plains region) Regional Teaching Workshop Proposal (to be funded by the Lilly Endowment). Richard would like the Pacific Northwest region to co-sponsor the workshop, and is therefore looking for a co-director from within the region. Denny Clark (Albertson College) expressed interest in being co-director, and offered his college as a site for the workshops. Any suggestions or opinions regarding the proposal should be sent to the executive committee members before the end of the month.

Ehud Ben Zvi raised the issue of whether the plenary address and/or presidents address should be open to the public, and whether they should be publicized in regional newspapers. A spirited discussion arose regarding how this might change the character of the presentations. It was noted that at least six to eight "outsiders" attended the evening presentations at Great Falls, and that the presentations had been publicly advertised in the Great Falls region. A motion was made and carried that the executive committee discuss this at their fall meeting.

Ehud Ben Zvi reported that, in accordance with a decision of the executive committee, a "subregional, Hebrew Scriptures satellite" was set up in Edmonton. This satellite met twice since its inception, last year. The goal of this kind of satellite is to allow the participation in the society of members who cannot come to the annual regional meeting and to increase the frequency of meetings for other members. The satellites are supposed to focus on a clearly restricted geographical area and should be organized according to subject matter. The abstracts of each of the presentations at the satellite are shared among members of the region as a whole so as to further cooperation. The Edmonton satellite is being coordinated by Mike Cheney. There are no additional satellites in the region at this moment, nor have other Northwestern centers expressed interest in setting them up. Ehud Ben Zvi expresses his hope that the additional satellites will be set up in the near future.

A lengthy discussion ensued about changing the length of the regional meeting and changing its dates. A meeting that ends Saturday noon, when airlines discount fares for Saturday stayovers, seems illogical. Perhaps the meeting should extend through Saturday evening. Or perhaps the meeting should run Friday morning through Saturday night. Someone suggested that an e-mail poll of the membership could be conducted. The members recommended that the various suggestions be discussed at the fall executive meeting and that the executive committee bring a proposal to next years regional meeting to be discussed and voted on. Regarding a change in meeting dates, a motion was made to the effect that: In consultation with the executive committee, the host institution shall choose the regional meeting date that best fits its academic calendar from either the last weekend of April, or the first or second weekend in May. With rare exception, the regional meeting shall not convene on the same weekend for two consecutive years. The motion was carried by a voice vote. There was one abstention.

Ron Jolliffe announced the regional awards for this year's student papers. They are as follows: First Place Undergraduate award went to Jill Lamberton (Walla Walla College); Honorable Mention went to Christopher Peet (University of Alberta); First Place Graduate award went to Darrell W. Udd (Claremont Graduate School). Six undergraduate papers and nine graduate papers were submitted. The readers were Ronald Jolliffe, Chair (Walla Walla College), Nancy Howell (Pacific Lutheran University), Dan Danner (University of Portland), and Michael Williams (University of Washington). The executive committee expressed its thanks to Ron Jolliffe and the committee for their work with the student paper contest, and again encouraged faculty members to get their students involved in the contest.

Next years readers will be Gary Chamberlin ( Seattle University) and Darrell Udd for the graduate papers, and Carol Dempsey (University of Portland) and Patrick Hartin (Gonzaga University) for the undergraduate papers. Ron Jolliffe will chair for the final year of his term.

Ron Jolliffe noted that a number of the graduate papers came from outside the region. He suggested that along with the notice of the student paper competition, the RSN announcement should read that the competition is for students living in or going to school in the AAR or SBL Pacific Northwest regions. The new executive secretary was charged with making this change for the fall RSN announcement.

Gary Chamberlain, chair of the nominating committee moved that Michael Williams (SBL, University of Washington) be the nominee for president-elect of the region. The motion was seconded. There were no other nominations from the floor. After it was moved that nominations be closed, Michael Williams was unanimously elected by a voice vote. Dale Cannon was then installed as the 1996-97 president of the region by a unanimous voice vote. Gary Chamberlain moved that Hank Keeton (AAR) be the nominee for secretary-treasurer. There were no other nominations from the floor. After it was moved that nominations be closed, Hank Keeton was unanimously elected by a voice vote. Gary Chamberlain then moved that Jeff Staley be the nominee for executive secretary, to fill the year remaining of Patricia O'Connell Killenís term. There were no other nominations from the floor. After it was moved that nominations be closed, Jeff Staley was unanimously elected by a voice vote. Ehud Ben Zvi thanked the nominating committee for their work, especially Gary Chamberlain, the outgoing chair.

On the recommendation of the nominating committee, Bob Thomson (Mount Royal College) and Carol Dempsey (University of Portland) were appointed to the committee for three-year terms. Bob Stivers (Pacific Lutheran University, 2 years) will be the chair of the committee.

The 1997 meeting will be held at Trinity Western University, B.C., May 1-3, with Craig Evans hosting. An invitation to hold the regional meeting at the University of Portland on May 7-9, 1998 was read and a motion was made to accept their invitation. The motion was approved by a voice vote. An invitation to hold the 2000 meeting at Walla Walla College was read and discussed, but since Gonzaga University had last year invited the region to its campus in 2000, and since the region has not met there since 1988, a motion was made to accept Gonzagaís invitation for 2000. This motion was accepted by a voice vote.

Jeff Staley announced the following changes in Section Chairs for next year: Ehud Ben Zvi, Hebrew Scripture; Denny Clark, New Testament and Hellenistic Religions.

The Executive committee thanked the University of Great Falls, and especially Jon Taylor, for his hospitality and hard work in making this years meeting such a great success.

The region expressed its good wishes by way of a resolution, to Don Sharp who was unable to attend the meeting due to his mothers serious illness. A moment of silence commemorated the passing of Winnie Tomm (University of Alberta, 1990-91 president of the region), who died this past year.

There were 82 attendees at the 1996 regional meeting. Of these, 21 were AAR members; 14 were SBL members; 19 were joint AAR/SBL members; 8 were students; and 18 were non-affiliated clergy, spouses, or independent scholars. Approximately 25 institutions were represented from eight different states and one Canadian province.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey L. Staley
Recording Secretary-Treasurer

REGION SBL EXPENDITURES

As of June 1, 1996 there was $ 765.48 in the SBL account. The account is down about $500 from last years June 1 total. I see from my narrative report last year, that I expected we would lose money this year, and indeed we did--about $850. As noted last year, the loss was primarily due to five reasons:

1. The fall executive meeting was held on site in Great Falls, MT, a great distance from major population centers ($200)
2. It was the SBL's year to choose the plenary speaker and pay his travel expenses ($400)
3. The region gave a $100 grant to Carol Dempsey (assistant professor of Theology [Hebrew Bible], University of Portland) our first Regional Scholar nominee, to help her revise her paper
4. We doubled the amount of our student awards ($150)
5. Printing and postage costs, previously subsidized by the Religion Department at Pacific Lutheran University, nearly doubled.

Despite these added expenses, finances could have been worse. Since Gene Tucker, SBL President was our plenary speaker, we did not have to pay him an honorarium; and I used my personal frequent flyer miles (Alaska/Horizon Air) to get to Great Falls for the regional meeting, thus saving the region an additional expense.

The major expense for this upcoming year will be airfare for me to attend the national meeting in New Orleans ($400). As in the past I have no institutional support for attending professional meetings.

With a net loss of -$850 for this years regional meeting you can see that my budget proposal for last year was very close to the targeted amount.

Finally, there the new SBL section chairs are Denny Clark (Albertson College, ID), New Testament and Hellenistic Religions; and Ehud Ben Zvi (University of Alberta, Edmonton), Hebrew Bible.