Minutes

Midwest Archaeological Conference
October 13, 2006
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Attendance:
William Lovis (President-Elect), Susan Martin (Secretary), Mark Schurr (Executive Officer), Jan Brashler (Editor, MCJA), Bonnie Styles (incoming President), George Milner (Executive Officer), Tim Baumann (Treasurer), Tom Emerson (Conference Organizer), John Doershuk (incoming Executive Officer), Lynne Goldstein (President)

The meeting was called to order at 12:12 pm by President Lynne Goldstein.

Tom Emerson and President Goldstein requested a change in the agenda order of business due to Tom’s meeting schedule.

2006 Meeting Report:
Tom Emerson presented initial figures relating to attendance. As of the morning of the 13th of October, there were 162 banquet reservations, and the total registration tally was in the range of $19,000 in paid registrations. There were ca. 50 persons registered as one-day Friday attendees, and Saturday’s events were expected to attract other one-day attendees. Outstanding expenses were estimated to be in the ca. $4500 range. A total of 97 hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn were reserved, surpassing the 75 rooms that were pledged by the MAC. The registration experience with the SPORG manager was generally satisfactory, with the possible exception of some semantic difficulties with users confusing registration at the conference with registration as members of MAC. Overall, the SPORG experience re: meeting registration was nearly flawless; the time saving downloads of submittals were useful and yielded error-free abstracts, titles, etc. Eleven organizations from Illinois contributed a total of $3000 for the Friday night member reception, and the Illinois Transportation Archaeology Research Program (ITARP) provided, free of charge, the use of new computers and digital projectors (with staff) to power the paper sessions, thus offsetting two major meeting expenses and headaches (especially the latter). The list of reception sponsors includes the following:

• Archaeological Consultants
• Center for Archaeological Investigations
• East Central Illinois Archaeological Society
• Environmental Compliance Consultants
• Fever River Research
• Illinois Archaeological Survey
• Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology
• Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program
• Midwest Archaeological Research Services, Inc.
• Illinois State Museum
• University of Illinois Department of Anthropology

General discussion:
SPORG costs were minimal (small charge per credit card, similar to PayPal, as well as a 50 cent charge for check processing). The annual fee for SPORG, $299 in the initial year, drops in the second year, and the averaged cost is in the range of $140/month. One suggestion from this years’ meeting organizing committee: staff a standing “Conference Committee” for continuity. An alternative would be to compose a meetings manual.

President’s Report:
There were no pressing issues to cover in the President’s report. The President suggested that the Nominating Committee be urged to heed the need for a complete candidate slate early in the spring.

The 2005 executive board meeting minutes were approved by acclamation.

Secretary’s Report:
The Secretary submitted a written report. The primary activity this year in the Secretary’s office was the completion of two elections for MAC officers and board members. The board agreed that the Secretary should continue to collect e-mail and other correspondence in a permanent CD record of MAC communications.

Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurer submitted a written report. The Treasurer is very pleased with the functionality of SPORG and wishes to promote its use to the wider membership. As noted above, it is efficient and inexpensive. Total membership numbers in the MAC are running past the 2005 level, up about 50 members, probably associated with increased numbers of Illinois members interested in participating in the annual meeting. The balance sheet is healthy due to paid registrations and the generous contribution of AV support for the annual meeting from ITARP, offsetting an otherwise large expense. The major expenses of the MAC continue to be SPORG and AltaMira Press (Rowman and Littlefield) for journal publication.

Editorial Report:
A written report was submitted. Grand Valley State University continues to provide generous logistical and release time support for the Editor. The MCJA is being published according to schedule, but the current quantity of manuscript submittals has been ca. 8 this year, lower than in the past. The Editor would like to see this number increase to insure timely publication on a range of issues and topics. The Board encouraged the Editor to archive copies of final revised drafts or page proofs, and agreed that earlier draft versions of submittals can be purged. In response to a query from authors re: pdf production, Lovis recounted that there should be no expense in producing pdfs and that the Editor should request them from the publisher.

2007 Meeting Schedule:
Mark Schurr reported that the 2007 MAC meeting is invited to the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, during October 4-7, 2007, at the McKenna Hall Conference Center on campus. There are a range of housing options including a large number of rooms at all levels. The organizing committee is soliciting ideas for activities including the prospect of area historic sites tours.

2008 Meeting Schedule:
There is no firm plan for the 2008 meeting. Jan Brashler proposed that the meeting be hosted at Grand Valley State University.

2009 Meeting Schedule:
The 2009 meeting of the MAC has an invitation from the Office of the State Archaeologist (Iowa) to come to Iowa City. John Doershuk is proposing this meeting. A brief discussion ensued regarding a joint meeting with the Plains Conference, but there was no support for this option.

MAC Mailing List/Email List Use:
After brief discussion, the board agreed to prohibit use of the mailing list or email list for non-MAC business. Members and others who wish to bring various matters to the attention of the MAC membership are instead to be encouraged to use the MAC website for communication. The motion to prohibit use was moved by Brashler, seconded by Martin, and passed by a voice vote.

Other Issues, Questions:
The board discussed formalizing procedures for the Student Paper Competition. It was agreed that three members of the Editorial Board, appointed by the President, will act as judges for the competition.

The board discussed the procedures for choosing a speaker at the annual meeting banquet, and determined that rather than involve the board, the local arrangers had the responsibility, as part of organizing the meeting, to choose a speaker.

The permanent agency and address of the MAC is at the Logan Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin, as this was the founding address when the MAC organized under Wisconsin law. This requires the Logan to reaffirm yearly that we are ‘located’ there. Occasionally the Logan needs a reminder that we expect this of them.

There was brief discussion of what to do with the proceeds from the annual meeting. The sense of the group was that we should hold any proceeds in a CD.

William Lovis reported that he authored a PowerPoint presentation about how to submit a paper to the MCJA. The board agreed that the presentation should be linked to the MAC website.

The board expressed their appreciation to Lynne Goldstein, outgoing President, and George Milner, outgoing Executive Board member, for their services to the MAC.

Tim Baumann reminded the board that our non-profit status is due for 5-year review by the federal government. This review will be finalized as of March 31, 2007. The board agreed to give the necessary paperwork to Dean Higginbotham (lawyer) in lieu of his membership fee, which has been past practice.

The meeting adjourned by acclamation at 1:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Martin
Secretary, MAC