In attendance: Naomi McGloin (President); Wesley Jacoobsen (President-Elect); Seiichi Makino (Past President); Mutsuko Endo Hudson, Janet Ikeda, Kazumi Hatasa, Junko Mori, Yoshiko Mori, Keiko Schneider, Paul Warnick, Yasuko Ito Watt. Lindsay Amthor Yotsukura (Board members); Tim Vance (Journal Coordinating Editor); Kathleen Ajisaka, Susan Schmidt (ATJ office).
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. The minutes of the Fall 2005 Board meeting were approved with corrections to Jacobsen’s remarks.
Executive committee reports: President McGloin said that preparing for the ICJLE has taken up most of her time during the year. The conference is shaping up to be a major event, and it has been a pleasure to work with the members of the conference steering committee.
McGloin announced the results of the 2006 election. Joan Ericson (Colorado College) is the new President-Elect; she will serve on the Executive Committee from 2006–2009, first as President-Elect, then as President, and last as Past President. New Board members for 2006–2009 are Kazumi Hatasa (Purdue University), Masumi Reade (Woodlands High School, TX), and Paul Warnick (Brigham Young University).
Past President Makino is retiring from the Executive Committee after three years of service. He said it had been his pleasure to serve and to deal with the challenges of planning the ICJLE and the inauguration of the AP Japanese program. He will continue to be active. He feels that the future of ATJ will lie in maximizing the areas that are represented by the SIGs: study abroad, heritage language learning, professional development, and culture. He believes that the “triumvirate” system of President-Elect/ President/President-Elect is working and should be continued for a few more years before any changes are introduced.
The gavel was passed to Jacobsen, as the new President (for 2006-07). Jacobsen said he felt that his year as President-Elect was a good warming-up period; he feels in step with the work, thanks largely to the work of the steering committee preparing for the ICJLE.
Jacobsen commented that, from the broader perspective of the Japanese education field, China is beginning to become the center of attention rather than Japan, compared to the 1980s and 1990s. Japanese faculty used to be able to sit back and the students would come; at Harvard, this changed in 1994 when Japanese language enrollments dropped 40% and Chinese language enrollments went up. In the Midwest and West, by contrast, where high schools were becoming the center of Japanese language education, this drop in enrollments did not occur, and high-school language education may be the future of the field. A Japan Foundation conference in February (which Jacobsen attended) was attended by college faculty who discussed the future of the field and the importance of closer ties with high school teachers. AP will raise the standard or set standards for high school teaching. It will affect the kinds of students who will be coming out of high schools. If university faculty understand better what and who is coming out of high school programs, they can do a better job. An important role for college-level teachers is helping to train and find employment for new teachers. The ATJ website is the most important resource for people looking for employment. It’s important to network with NCJLT and to integrate high-school teachers more effectively into the conferences that we sponsor.
Membership report (Schmidt): Membership at the end of March 2006 stood at 661 members (425 regular members, 29 part-time faculty, 61 students, 10 retirees, and 136 institutions). This number will rise to about 875 by the end of the year, with many new members as a result of Seminar attendance. The numbers have remained essentially unchanged for several years, in spite of efforts to recruit new members. New members do join every year, as students or as Seminar attendees, but the renewal rate among those categories of new members is low. ICJLE may draw new members, but because presenters are not required to be members (as they are for the Seminar), the additional numbers may be lower in 2006. This year for the first time renewal online was an option, and this may help to retain some members. Makino noted that we may attract more international members at the ICJLE; we should try to attract more members from outside the U.S.
Financial report (Schmidt): The Association’s expenses for calendar year 2005 totaled $570,178, and income totaled $540,537. Because of carry-over balances of $190,048, the final amount available at the end of calendar 2005 was $159,407.
The major expenses ATJ incurs are Bridging Scholarships (which are funded by a grant from the US-Japan Bridging Foundation amounting to exactly the amount paid in scholarships) and an annual deposit to the University of Colorado, which pays for salaries and benefits, postage (including mailing of the newsletter, election ballots, and other publications), telephone and internet, and office facilities and supplies. In 2005 this deposit was $80,000. it is paid ahead one year, so ATJ is pre-paying these expenses. In addition, approximately $15,000 is spent annually on publication of the journal Japanese Language and Literature, approximately $8,000 on four issues of the Newsletter and the annual Membership Directory, and amounts ranging from $6,500 to $15,000 for the annual Seminar and Board meetings.
Sources of income are membership dues, small amounts for ads and mailing list purchases, and grants. An annual grant for administration of the Bridging Project ($72,000 in 2005-06) pays for salaries; without this grant, which must be applied for and renewed annually, ATJ could not have a paid office staff. In addition, revenue-sharing income from the JSTOR archive of past issues of the journal has been going up, and will continue to do so. In 2005 this income was about $1,200; in 2006 we will receive more than $4,000 in revenue-sharing income.
Newsletter and website report (Schmidt): The next issue of the Newsletter will be published in May, with am April 20 deadline for materials. The May issue will contain the program for ICJLE, as a 20-page supplement. The Board discussed the idea of publishing the newsletter primarily online (with paper for institutional subscribers and members who request it). Many other organizations are switching to online publication. A PDF version of the newsletter is already posted on the website, and “publication” could consist of an email message to members notifying them that an issue has been posted. It could also be sent as an attachment. HTML publication by email is also a possibility.
It was noted that this would require having a regularly updated, reliable email list for all members. Because most membership renewals are now done online (with our new e-commerce site), more reliable email information is collected.
Watt moved that beginning in September the newsletter be published only online for individual members, and in paper to institutions and those who specially request mailed copies or who do not supply an email address with their membership data. Makino seconded the motion. It passed with one opposed and one abstention.
The May issue of the Newsletter will announce the new publication policy and ask for suggestions or feedback from the membership.
It was also decided to bring the proposal to the General Membership Meeting to be held April 1, 2006 [the day following this Board meeting] for discussion and approval.
[Update: At the general membership meeting, the proposal to publish online was overwhelmingly approved by those in attendance. However, it was decided to delay the online-only publication of the Newsletter until 2007, to begin with the February 2007 issue.]
The e-commerce website is up and working well; it was created in October and November 2005, in time to process membership renewals, and is now being used for ICJLE registration. Many membership renewals were processed online, and 95% of conference registrations are coming in online rather than by mail. In the future the website can be expanded to serve other functions. Designing, setting up, and testing the e-commerce website did cost some money, as professional help had to be hired, but it seems well worth the expense.
Bridging project report (Schmidt): More than 400 applications were received in March and early April for the Bridging Scholarships for Fall 2006. About 70 scholarships will be awarded. The selection committee of 12–15 ATJ members reviews the applications (which are read by 2 or 3 people), and selection is made taking into account demographic factors as well as academic potential and financial need. The application consists of a short essay, a recommendation letter, and a transcript as well as the application form. New members of the selection committee are always being sought. (Of the Board members present, several–including Makino, Ikeda, Watt, Warnick, and Vance–have served on the selection committee in the past, and have found it very rewarding.) The selection process takes place from mid-April to early May and again from mid-October to early November; each committee member reads no more than 25–30 applications.
The grant to fund the administration of the scholarships is what provides staff for ATJ; it has been renewed for ten years so far, but there is no guarantee it will continue.
Alliance report (Schmidt): The Alliance (which was established in 1999 and is funded by grants) is the official representative of the field to organizations like JNCL-NCLIS and NCOLCTL; it provides infrastructure services to NCJLT as well as ATJ (membership lists, newsletter production and publication, etc.). The grant (from the Japan-US Friendship Commission) supporting the Alliance also funds the September joint Board meeting, which is the ATJ Board’s major meeting of the year. The Alliance also sponsors professional development activities (grant-funded) like summer institutes for K-12 teachers in Japan; it is currently working on the multi-language LangSource project with the National Foreign Language Center (University of Maryland).
Journal editors report (Vance): Vance reported that the Volume 40, No. 1 (Spring 2006) of Japanese Language and Literature will be rather late in being published and mailed. The Special issue of Fall 2005 was very large and took a lot of time to lay out and produce. Issue 40:1 will be a reasonable-sized issue without Dissertation Abstracts. There is a great deal of material for future issues.
Vance was thanked by the Board for his long service in editing and producing the journal.
ICJLE may result in a special issue of JLL; how would the papers to be included be selected? One way would be ask some presenters to submit papers. The keynote presentations should definitely be included; other presenters should be asked to submit their papers. It was suggested that panel moderators at the conference be asked to recommend outstanding papers from their sessions.
Nominating committee report (Watt): For the 2006-07 slate of Board members and incoming President-Elect, the committee solicited a slate of 3 candidates for President-Elect and for each of 2 at-large positions and one pre-college slot on the Board. Makino was thanked for his efforts in recruiting and talking with candidates. Watt said she is not sure we can continue to justify having a pre-college position; it was difficult to find candidates for the position, and noted that none of the 3 nominees was an ATJ member at the time of nomination and election. Watt suggested a change in the bylaws to eliminate the designated pre-college position on the Board. The discussion was postponed for a later time (when that position will again be open).
Culture SIG report (Makino): Six people attended the first meeting of the newly inaugurated Culture SIG, including Takahashi sensei from the San Francisco Consulate. The group discussed cultural discourse, cultural education issues, connections between language and culture. For the coming year, the SIG will prioritize and select one issue to come first. The SIG will also put together a panel for next year’s Seminar.
Other SIG matters: Representatives of other SIGs were not represented at the meeting. Makino raised the question of a new SIG for Translation. It was suggested that a special issue of JLL could also be devoted to translation.
Seminar/Conference report (McGloin /Endo): The ICJLE program has been set and will be published in the next issue of the Newsletter. Posters advertising the conference are available (copies were distributed to Board members). Funding has been received from the Shoyu Club, the Toshiba Foundation, and several departments and institutes of Columbia University, as well as from ATJ–a total of a little more than $40,000 so far. The Japan Foundation received a request for support, and will certainly supply some funding, but probably less than requested. Additional income will come from registrations (200 paying registrants are expected) and from advertising in the program book and exhibits onsite. However, if this does not suffice to cover all costs, ATJ may be asked to pay for housing during the conference for steering committee members. Schneider moved to approve contingency funding for committee members’ housing; Yoshiko Mori seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously.
McGloin reported on the international plenary session that will be part of the conference, featuring delegates from Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe, Korea, and the U.S. Both ATJ and NCJLT representatives will participate.
The Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai is working very hard to publicize the conference in Japan and to encourage teachers in Japan to attend. A total of more than 300 participants (including invited presenters) is expected.
The Board thanked Endo for her hard work as chair of the seminar committee, which oversaw the evaluation of submitted proposals (more than 300) and the scheduling of the program for ICJLE.
Old business: Lindsay Yotsukura will represent ATJ at a special session at the AAAL conference in Montreal in June.
The question of possible affiliation with MLA was revisited. Ikeda investigated and found that while MLA was interested in such an affiliation, from ATJ’s point of view it would not be advantageous: MLA would not provide slots for sessions at the annual conference nor provide free space for a Seminar held in conjunction with the conference (as AAS does). So ATJ will remain affiliated with AAS.
In 2007 we will have the Seminar in Boston in conjunction with the AAS conference March 22–25. The possibility of a stand-alone conference can be revisited.
The National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations was mentioned–why are we not members? This will be investigated and more information brought to the September meeting.
New business: For 2006-07, the Nominating Committee will consist of Endo, Yotsukura, Junko Mori, and McGloin.
For 2006-07, the Seminar Committee will consist of Ikeda, Zimmerman, Yoshiko Mori, and Jacobsen. Suggestions for the Seminar included a mock interview or talk on getting a job in the field, a repeat of the panel on publishing (ATJ’s designated session at the AAS conference, which was excellent but not well attended), and a Culture SIG panel.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Schmidt