E-Bulletin
April 2011
American Academy of Religion
In This Issue

Colleagues:

Greetings from the Luce Center in Atlanta! This month's E-bulletin contains a number of important items: news about the Annual Meeting in San Francisco; announcements of three of our annual award winners; a new member benefit; the link to our online edition of the March Religious Studies News; nominations for committee positions; and regional development grants.

With every good wish in this early spring season, I offer you my thanks for your participation in the work of our Academy.

Sincerely yours


Jack Fitzmier
Executive Director

ANNUAL MEETING NEWS

Registration and Housing: Super Saver Rates Expire on April 30!

Registration and Housing for the 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, are now open. You must be registered to secure housing. Super Saver registration rates are in effect until April 30, 2011. Click here for the Registration and Housing brochure containing all the details, and then register and book housing online.

Annual Meeting Proposals

If you submitted a proposal for the Annual Meeting, you should have already received notification of whether or not your proposal was accepted. If you did not receive notification and submitted your proposal using the online proposal system, you can check your status by logging in to the OP3 system. If your status is not listed, please contact the Chairs of the Program Unit(s) to which you submitted.

Annual Meeting Program Planner

Update your mailing address now to receive a copy of the new Annual Meeting Program Planner, to be mailed in late August to all current members of the AAR. The Program Planner will contain full information for all AAR Annual Meeting sessions and all Additional Meetings sessions. The Annual Meeting Program Planner is a great way to begin your Annual Meeting planning.

Make sure your membership address is listed correctly in the AAR member directory by logging in to your account. Please allow 3–4 weeks for delivery. For more information on Annual Meeting publications, check out the upcoming May issue of Religious Studies News.

Help to Green our Annual Meeting Travel

The AAR is making it easy for members to purchase Renewable Energy Credits when traveling to the Annual Meeting. By simply clicking a box on the online registration page, members can choose to give $15 to NativeEnergy. The AAR's Sustainability Task Force selected NativeEnergy because of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases while supporting its sustainability projects. NativeEnergy helps you to assist Native American, farmer-owned, community-based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits. These projects will displace electricity from fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions on your behalf, making up for the CO2 emissions you cannot avoid. We encourage you to make this inexpensive commitment to helping make our meetings more environmentally friendly. The AAR will collect the funds and purchase the offsets immediately before the Annual Meeting.

Additional Meetings

The priority deadline for Additional Meetings is June 15! Submit your Additional Meetings request, also by June 15, to have it included in the Annual Meeting Program Planner. Additional Meetings reservations can be made after July 1, but will only be published in the online and onsite Program Book.

Workshops

Four workshops are available at the Annual Meeting. Registration is limited, so sign-up soon. For more information about the workshops, please click here.

Tour Information

Several tours are available at the Annual Meeting. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information about the tours, please click here.

  • Bay Area Cemeteries Tour
  • Cathedral Architecture and Stained Glass Tour
  • Edible Cityscapes — Religion, Justice, and the Bay Area Sustainable Food Culture
  • Girls in Trouble and Contemporary Jewish Museum Tour
  • Historic Castro Neighborhood
  • Muir Woods
  • Sacred and Religious Sites of San Francisco
  • San Francisco City Tour
  • Vedanta Society of Northern California
2011 MARTIN E. MARTY AWARD WINNER ANNOUNCED

The Public Understanding of Religion Committee is pleased to announce Jonathan Sarna is the recipient of the 2011 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Sarna, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, will be interviewed at the Marty Forum held Sunday, November 20, at this year's Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The Public Understanding of Religion Committee encourages and solicits nominations for future Marty Award recipients. Nominations may be made online. Nominees need not be AAR members or academics.
2011 EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED

The Teaching and Learning Committee is pleased to announce Katie Geneva Cannon is the recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Teaching Award. Cannon, Annie Scales Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary-Presbyterian School of Education, will make remarks and engage questions and answers from the audience during the Special Topics Forum at this year's Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The Teaching and Learning Committee encourages and solicits nominations for the 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award. Nominations must be received by October 1. For more information, click here.
2011 RELIGION AND THE ARTS AWARD RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED

The Religion and the Arts Award Jury is pleased to announce Gary Snyder is the recipient of the 2011 Religion and the Arts Award. The award is presented annually to an artist, performer, critic, curator, or scholar who has made a recent significant contribution to the understanding of the relations among the arts and religions, both for the academy and for a broader public. Snyder, a Pulitzer-prize winning poet, will be the focus of a Special Topics Forum at this year's Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Sunday, November 20. The Religion and the Arts Award Jury encourages nominations for future award recipients. Please see here for more information.
CALL FOR COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS

Each year, members of the American Academy of Religion are invited to nominate persons to fill open positions on AAR Committees, Task Forces, and Juries. This year, there are openings on the following groups: 

  • Academic Relations Committee
  • Audit Committee
  • Book Award Juries
  • Finance Committee
  • History of Religions Jury
  • International Connections Committee
  • International Dissertation Research Grants Jury
  • Nominations Committee
  • Planning Committee
  • Program Committee
  • Public Understanding of Religion
  • Research Grants Jury
  • Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee
  • Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee
  • Status of Women in the Profession Committee
  • Teaching and Learning Committee
  • Theological Education Steering Committee 

Nominations for positions on these groups must be made in writing, and must include: 1) A description of the nominee's academic and professional interests; 2) A summary of the nominee's activity in the AAR; 3) A statement describing the nominee's interest or promise for a particular assignment; and 4) A current copy of the nominee's curriculum vita. Members may nominate themselves. All nominees must be members in good standing of the AAR.

Nominations must be received by May 2, 2011, and may be e-mailed, faxed, or posted to:

Jack Fitzmier
Executive Director
American Academy of Religion
Suite 300
825 Houston Mill Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329 USA
Fax: 404-727-7959
nominations@aarweb.org

Kwok Pui Lan, President of the AAR, will review nominations and make selections during August and September 2011. Nominees will be notified of their status soon thereafter. If you have questions about particular assignments, please feel free to contact the AAR's Executive Staff, Board members, or Committee/Task Force/Jury Chairs. Committee descriptions and rosters are available at www.aarweb.org/about_AAR/committees.
MARCH RELIGIOUS STUDIES NEWS NOW ONLINE!

We are very pleased to announce the release of the March issue of Religious Studies News. The issue can be accessed by going online to www.rsnonline.org.

In this issue, you will find lots of information on our upcoming Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, as well as a recap of what occurred at our 2010 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. You can also read about pertinent matters in the field of religion in our Features and News sections. Our Spotlight on Theological Education issue explores the transition from graduate school to seminary teaching.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS

Have you considered applying for a 2011–2012 Regional Development Grant? Regional Development Grants provide funds for special projects within the regions that promise to benefit the scholarly and professional life of AAR members and do the work of the AAR in the regions. Workshops, special programs, training events, and other innovative regional projects may be funded through this source. Where possible, projects are designed so that they may be duplicated or transported to other regions.

Applications should include a narrative description of the project detailing how the project promises to benefit the scholarly and professional life of AAR members and the work of the region. Please include comments on how these projects or activities may be adapted to other regional groups. The application should state the time period covered by the project and provide a detailed budget (office expenses, travel expenses, honoraria, stipend, and other expenses). Institutional overhead costs should not be included in this budget. No grant will exceed $4,000.

Successful grants from prior years can be found here.

Deadlines:

  • August 1, 2011 – Grant proposals due to Regional Directors
  • September 1, 2011 – Regional Directors forward grants to Regions Committee
  • October 15, 2011 – Regional grant awards announced
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