Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting of the Dreiser Society

American Literature Association
Saturday, May 24, 2008; 9:30 AM

1. Nominations for Executive Board:

   President: Roark Mulligan
   Vice-President: Donna Campbell
   Secretary-Treasurer: Gary Totten

There were no nominations from the floor. It was moved and seconded to close nominations and approve the new executive board.

2. Donna Packer-Kinlaw will send out the second notice for Society dues.
3. There was discussion about reviving the essay contest. Keith Newlin moved that we re-establish an essay contest for graduate students and untenured professors on the general topic of naturalism. The contest will still be funded by the Dreiser Society. A committee of three will decide the winner; those interested in serving on the committee should email Keith Newlin. The deadline for submissions will be Nov. 30, 2008. Keith will work on promoting the contest. The UPenn listserv now only archives CFPs; Donna Campbell noted that the H-AmStdy listserv will send out CFPs. Keith will send a PDF ad to the Dreiser Society membership and will send an email announcing the contest to the officers of other author societies.
4. There was discussion about hosting a reception at ALA in Boston. Although this seemed like a good idea to those present, it was also suggested that the money might be better used to support a scholarship fund for sending graduate students to ALA. No definitive decisions were reached.
5. There was discussion about creating an option for permanent membership status in the Dreiser Society and for ways to facilitate donations by benefactors. It was decided that permanent membership is not financially or logistically feasible, but the board will continue to think about options.
6. Keith announced that Studies in American Naturalism was the runner-up for CELJ’s best new journal award.
7. There was discussion about turning publishing of Studies in American Naturalism over to another party, specifically Blackwell-Wiley. Some advantages include: print copies for society members, digitization of all back issues of SAN and DS, and increased visibility for the journal. Keith will continue to discuss the logistics with Blackwell and with other journal editors who publish with Blackwell.
8. Topics for ALA 2009:
   1. Biofictional Dreiser
   2. Open Topic
      As Vice-President, Donna Campbell will send out the CFP and organize the panels.
9. Roark was planning to attend the ALA Author’s Society Meeting to be held later on Saturday.
10. The meeting was adjourned at 10:35

--Minutes by Gary Totten