Registration and Housing for the Annual Meeting in Chicago is open. November 17–20, 2012. Register before June 15 to receive the Early Bird discount!

Important Annual Meeting Dates. Don't miss out!

The Annual Meeting Brochure (click here for the PDF version) has been mailed to all members. For the latest Annual Meeting news, see the May issue of Religious Studies News.

Additional Meetings Reservation Information. Reserve event space at this year's meeting for your institution, department or group. Register by August 17 to ensure a listing in the Annual Meeting Program Book.

Annual Meetings Employment Center 2012. Registration for employers opens August 1. Candidates may register now through the Annual Meetings registration process.

Acceptance to the Annual Meeting Program: Notifications have been sent. If you did not receive notification and submitted your proposal using the online proposal system, you may check your status by logging in to PAPERS. If your status is not listed, please contact the Chairs of the Program Unit(s) to which you submitted.

2012-2013 Regional Development Grants available. These grants provide funds for special projects within the regions that promise to benefit the scholarly and professional life of AAR members. Workshops, special programs, training events, and other innovative regional projects may be funded through this source. Application deadline is August 1.

Don't miss the May issue of Religious Studies News for the latest on the upcoming Annual Meeting in Chicago, and for the current issue of Spotlight on Teaching: Distinctive, Not Disposable: Religious Studies in American Public Higher Education in the Twenty-first Century.

New and Recent AAR Titles. For the latest AAR books, published by Oxford University Press, see here.

Call for Book Series Editor: The AAR Publications Committee seeks a book editor for the Religion, Culture, and History Series sponsored by the AAR and published in cooperation with Oxford University Press. Application deadline is June 1.

Academic Abby
Do you have a problem you don't feel comfortable bringing to your colleagues? Ask Academic Abby about what's bugging you right now.

Ask the Diva
If you are experiencing issues of special concern to LGBTIQ scholars of religion, the Diva can help! What questions do you have about graduate school, career development, teaching, etc.? Submit your question online and members of the Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee will respond. Your confidentiality is assured; you may use an anonymous e-mail address if you wish. With your permission, the questions will be posted anonymously in Religious Studies News.

Apply today for an AAR Individual or Collaborative Research Grant! Each year the AAR awards grants of up to $5,000 for individual and collaborative research projects. Apply today using the online submission system. The application deadline is August 1.

2012 AAR Award Winners Announced:

Excellence in Teaching Award: Congratulations to Martha Reineke, winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award. Reineke, a professor of religion at the University of Northern Iowa, will make remarks and engage questions from the audience during a Special Topics Forum at this year's Annual Meeting.

Marty Award: Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, is the winner of the Marty E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Congratulations to Prof. Schüssler Fiorenza, who'll be honored at a Special Topics Forum at the 2012 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Religion and the Arts Award: Congratulations to Holland Cotter, recipient of the Religion and the Arts Award. Cotter, a staff art critic for The New York Times, will be the focus of a Special Topics Forum at this year's Annual Meeting.

International Dissertation Research Grants Awarded:

Michelle Bakker, Concordia University
Research destination: Kenya

Arun Bhrambhatt, University of Toronto
Research destination: Gujarat, India

Call for AAR Officer Nominations. Nominations sought for the following elected positions for 2013: Vice President, one At-Large Director, Program Unit Director, and Student Director. Deadline for nominations is September 1.

Join today as a Sustaining or Supporting Member!
Let your partially tax-deductible membership support your professional guild.

In Memoriam
Ada María Isasi-Díaz passed away on May 14. She was a leader within the field of liberation theology, a mentor, and a brilliant scholar. A member of the AAR for over 25 years, Isasi-Díaz touched many within her career. A reflection on her life can be read at Religion Dispatches.

Awards

Mark Jordan, Harvard University
Received the 2012 Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction for his latest book, Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk About Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2011). The announcement is here.

Matthew S. Rindge, Gonzaga University
Received an Exemplary Faculty Award from Gonzaga University for excelling in publishing, service, and teaching. The award, with $2,000, is given to five tenure-track faculty each year.

Books and Major Publications

Jon Armajani, Saint John's University
Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, ISBN: 1405117427.

Candy Gunther Brown, Indiana University
Testing Prayer: Science and Healing, Harvard University Press, ISBN: 9780674064676, April 2012.

Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Michigan State University
Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). ISBN13: 9780199796663. ISBN10: 0199796661.

Sheila J. Nayar, Greensboro College
The Sacred and the Cinema, Continuum, May 2012 release date.

John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Prolegomena to a History of Islamicate Manichaeism, Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2011. ISBN: 9781904768524.

Karen G. Ruffle, University of Toronto
Gender, Sainthood, and Everyday Practice in South Asian Shi'ism, University of North Carolina Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-8078-3475-6.

Michael D. Swartz, The Ohio State University
The Signifying Creator: Nontextual Sources of Meaning in Ancient Judaism. New York: New York University Press. Released April 2012.

Jeff Wilson, Renison University College, University of Waterloo
Dixie Dharma: Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South, University of North Carolina Press, April 2012, ISBN: 978-0807835456.

Tobias Winright, Saint Louis University
Green Discipleship: Catholic Theological Ethics and the Environment, Anselm Academic Press, October 2011 (editor), 978-1-59982-024-8.

Tobias Winright, Saint Louis University
Violence, Transformation, and the Sacred: "They Shall Be Called Children of God" (coedited with Margaret Pfeil), Orbis Books, April 2012, 978-1-57075-969-7.

AAR Member Notes: Let your AAR colleagues know about your professional milestones. Member Notes are published monthly in the AAR e-Bulletin. Recent Member Notes may also be found on the Member Notes page.