Attending: Naomi McGloin (president), Seiichi Makino (past president), Wes Jacobsen (president–elect); Hiroko Furuyama, Mutsuko Endo Hudson, Janet Ikeda, Junko Mori, Yoshiko Mori, Keiko Schneider, Yasuko Ito Watt, Eve Zimmerman (Board members); Kim Jones, Sarah Strong (Journal editorial committee members); Susan Schmidt (ATJ office).
The minutes of the previous meeting (April 1, 2005) were read and approved.
President’s Report: McGloin reported on progress in the planning of the International Conference on Japanese Language Education (ICJLE), which will be held in August 2006 and will be co-hosted by ATJ (with NCJLT, and with support from the Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai). The Call for Proposals has been distributed in Japanese and English. Invitations to participate have been sent to eight organizations of Japanese language education around the world. Funding proposals will be sent to the Japan Foundation, Toshiba Foundation, and several other organizations.
McGloin attended the annual meeting of the Joint National Committee for Languages/National Council for International Studies (JNCL/NCLIS) in Washington, DC, in May as representative of ATJ. The meeting was a chance to talk with people from other language fields and to meet Congressional representatives. One impression was that national organizations have less power than state governments where education policy is concerned.
Past President’s Report: Makino reported that he will be on sabbatical in the 2005–06 academic year and plans to work on ATJ projects, including the ICJLE, as much as possible. He has noticed that student numbers at Princeton have increased; he expects that the advent of the AP program and better articulation between high school and college levels will lead to strong enrollments and strong college-level programs in Japanese.
President–Elect’s Report: Jacobsen noted that ICJLE planning is taking a lot of time. He spent two weeks during the summer at Columbia and was able to see the facilities; they look very good. It is important to continue ATJ’s tradition of leadership and keep it open to people from all fields. Being inclusive is important—including all constituencies. He is also seeing more cases of students coming out of high school and placing as freshmen directly into upper-level courses at Harvard. Freshmen placing into third-year Japanese, which was virtually unheard of a decade ago, is now not uncommon, and there have even been one or two exceptional cases of freshmen placing into the fourth-year course. It is impressive to see this increase in the ability of students coming out of high school.
Membership Report: As of August 31 ATJ had 859 members (561 regular members, 99 student members, 41 part-time faculty members, 12 retired faculty members, and 146 institutional members. The part-time faculty category was new in 2005. The number of International (outside North America) members was 140.
It was noted that the extra amount charged for overseas postage does not nearly cover the cost of mailing four newsletters, a directory, two issues of the journal, and other publications by airmail. An increase in the membership fee for international and institutional members was discussed. Endo moved that the international postage and handling charge added to membership be raised to $25. Makino seconded. The motion passed.
The Board discussed the need to recruit more members. Suggestions included sending email reminders that membership renewal time is coming up; if possible, include on the membership renewal form a box to check for automatic renewal (credit card payment) every year. Schmidt noted that a secure website for online processing of membership and renewal payments will be up and running in time for 2006 membership renewals; hopefully that will improve the renewal rate and encourage more people to join and renew on time.
Zimmerman offered to take membership materials and promote membership at the annual AJLS conference of literature scholars, to be held at Dartmouth.
Financial Report: The balance in ATJ’s checking and money market accounts as of August 31 was $163,122. In addition, sufficient funds are available at the University of Colorado to cover salaries, benefits, postage, and other costs handled through the University until June 30, 2006. Major sources of income are membership dues, newsletter and web site ads, sales of the mailing list, journal royalties from JSTOR, and a grant from the Japan–US Friendship Commission that covers partial salaries and benefits through its grant in support of the Bridging Project for Study Abroad in Japan. (Schmidt explained the history of this grant and the Friendship Commission’s support for ATJ over the past nine years. The support has been strong and continuing, but there is no guarantee that it will continue indefinitely; the grant must be applied for and approved each year.)
It was noted that membership income does not cover the cost of member services that are offered (publications, Seminar, etc.) It would be good to diversify the sources of income, because membership income is probably never going to increase by a very large amount. (It has been steady for several years, in spite of many efforts to increase it.) Both grants and income from services should be investigated. Jacobsen moved to accept the financial report. Zimmerman seconded. Accepted.
Newsletter Report: It was suggested that the quarterly Newsletter have photographs and other more graphically interesting material. The membership form should be in each issue. The next issue will be published in November. Board members were asked to solicit articles and news items in their regions.
Website Report: Schmidt reported that new online services will be available during the coming year: membership renewal and registration for the international conference will be handled online as much as possible She plans to work with a nonprofit website developer to redesign the website in 2006 (the current design has been in place since 1998). It was suggested that ideas for the website be solicited from the membership in the newsletter or an e-bulletin. (E-bulletins are sent to the membership once a month.)
Journal Report: Kim Jones reported on behalf of Tim Vance for the Editorial Committee of JLL (Japanese Language and Literature: The Journal of ATJ). The October issue will go to press at the end of September; it is a special issue on linguistics (discourse and pedagogy). No more special issues are scheduled right now. The April issue will have three linguistics articles. Submissions have been good. Literature Editor Sarah Strong has been editor for 3.5 years: when she started there were no literature articles in submission, but the situation has improved greatly. Two literature articles are being readied for the printer. Some new submissions have resulted from requests from the editors to screen manuscripts. Interesting articles are scheduled for next year, including a reproduction of an Edo-period manuscript. Strong asked whether she should solicit submissions on listservs and publicize the journal there. The Board thought this was a good idea.
It was noted that culture is a “hot topic” now, and Zimmerman suggested visual culture or pop culture as a topic for a future special issue. It was suggested that an article be published in the newsletter soliciting submissions and mentioning that a broad definition of literature includes culture. It was also suggested that teachers be reminded that the journal is archived online through JSTOR and that JLL is a good source of articles for course packs.
Pedagogy specialists also have the impressions that JLL is not the place for them. Maybe because we serve so many audiences, JLL is not considered a first-line place to submit articles by any one of them.
Jones noted that the majority of articles submitted are in applied linguistics. A special issue on translation was suggested, and this was strongly endorsed by the Board.
In response to a question from the Board, it was confirmed that the language of the journal is English (not Japanese). There are many outlets for publication in Japanese in our field.
Nominating Committee Report: Watt reported that suggestions for Board nominees had been solicited from the membership. Board members may suggest names until September 23. The Nominating Committee will review the suggestions and draw up a slate of candidates in October, taking into consideration issues of diversity in native language, geography, gender, and so on. For 2006 one Board member will be elected from the K–12/community college sector; two will be at-large. Watt will try to recruit three candidates for President (Elect) this year rather than just two (as in the past). Watt asked the Board to consider whether the current system of presidential election is best for ATJ. Will it be possible to find good candidates for presidency every year?
Seminar Committee Report: Endo reported on behalf of the ICJLE program committee. (In 2006 the Seminar will be replaced by the ICJLE. Keynote speakers and invited panelists on selected subjects have been invited. A RFP for individual and panel presentations is posted on the website. Submission will be online only (except in special cases by request). RFP web pages are posted in both languages. Three readers will review each abstract (blind review). Endo asked Board members to volunteer to read in their specialty areas and to suggest other readers. Readers in literature are especially needed. Strong, Zimmerman, and Ideka offered to advise the conference program committee on literature/culture readers and submissions. The deadline for submission is October 31.
It was noted that the announced theme of the conference—Japanese language education—will not attract literature specialists. It was suggested that in sending messages about the conference and the RFP to listservs, it is important to put literature and culture in the subject line along with language.
Bridging Project Report: Schmidt noted that applications are coming in for the scholarships that will be offered for Spring 2006 study in Japan. Scholarships are offered twice a year—about 100 given annually, total of more than 600 since the project began in 1999. The selection committee consists of 12–15 people, and Board members who are interested in serving are cordially invited. Makino, Jones, Watt, and Ikeda have served on the committee and strongly encouraged others to do so: committee work is mainly reviewing 25–30 applications in one or two rounds twice a year (April/May and October/November). The Bridging Project has been a very successful effort to encourage more students to study abroad and has raised the profile of programs in Japan. Study abroad officers at colleges around the US are now aware of the project and of Japan as an option for students.
Old Business
Increasing Membership: Tools for recruiting new members (and keeping old one) were discussed. Makino sensei suggested a One-for-One membership campaign, asking each member to recruit a new member. Faculty members can promote membership to their graduate students. It was noted that many lecturers and other younger members join once (often in order to present at the Seminar) and then fail to renew their memberships.
Ideas were discussed for providing services that would attract and keep members. Ikeda and Mori (Yoshiko) suggested holding mock interviews at the Seminar (like ADFL/MLA does). These would be practice interviews with experienced faculty members and talks with people who have recently secured positions. Another idea was providing discounts for members on publications from Kodansha International, Kuroshio, and other publishers.
It was suggested that the Job Line section of the website have a banner saying: “Do you find this useful? Become a member of ATJ!”
It was suggested that we work with local and regional organizations and offer discounts for ATJ membership (CATJ, CLTA, NECTJ). A possible problem is that many of these organizations are already affiliated with our sister organization NCJLT. Membership could also be promoted at the meetings of regional organizations.
New Business
2006 Association for Asian Studies Conference: Because of the ICJLE in August, there will not be an ATJ Seminar in conjunction with the AAS conference in San Francisco in April. The board will meet on Friday night. SIGS have been asked if they would like to organize sessions on Thursday, the usual Seminar time slot: Heritage, Study Abroad, Classical, and Culture SIGs will hold meetings or mini-seminars. (The JHL SIG will present refereed papers by new faculty or graduate students.) Instead of a booth in the exhibit hall, ATJ will buy an ad in the AAS conference program, advertising the ICJLE. The ATJ-designated panel will be a round table on getting published for language and literature specialists (Schmidt organized, with five presenters from journals and book publishers in the field). Three other AAS conference sessions also were endorsed by ATJ: one on teaching about the war and the atomic bombings (chaired by Hosea Hirata), one on teaching and articulation (chaired by Masahiko Minami), and one on keigo (chaired by Lindsay Yotsukura).
The future of the ATJ Seminar was discussed. It was decided to hold the ATJ Seminar in conjunction with AAS rather than repeating an independent conference in 2007.
The history of ATJ’s affiliation with AAS was reviewed. Early in the history of the organization ATJ was affiliated with MLA, but most members felt MLA was too Euro-centric and felt more comfortable with the Asian focus of AAS. Problems of timing and schedule are different but are barriers with both organizations. At AAS problems include the difficulty for K–12 teachers and lecturers of attending the Seminar on Thursday; the lack of guaranteed slots in the AAS program for affiliates; unwillingness of job candidates to attend the expensive conference just for interviews; lack of language-focused sessions on AAS program. A stand-alone conference may be the solution ultimately, but it is a great deal of work for a small office and staff. Ikeda offered to research the possibilities of affiliation for the Seminar with MLA.
AAAL Invitation: AAAL has invited a representative of ATJ to attend its annual conference in Montreal June 17–19, 2006, and participate in a round table of reps of other organizations. The Executive Committee has accepted the invitation; will decide later how ATJ will be represented. Mori (Junko) may be attending the conference in any case and can represent ATJ as well if needed.
Katrina Relief Fund: A request for help from Japanese teachers in the Gulf Coast who were affected by Hurricane Katrina was discussed. It was agreed to publicize the fundraising effort and notify the membership of the campaign via the e-bulletin in early October.
PR Brochure: It was suggested that a PR brochure for ATJ be developed. Ikeda offered to draft the text; Schneider and other Board members will send information and samples from ACTFL and other sources.
Respectfully submitted, Susan Schmidt