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The
American Schools of Oriental Research |
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The
American Schools of Oriental Research |
1. Call to Order, 6:08 pm by P.E. MacAllister, Chairman. ROLL CALL is attached below.
2. The Minutes of the previous Membership meeting were distributed.
RESOLVED, that the minutes of the General Membership Meeting of 1999 be approved as distributed. PASSED.
3. The Chairman moved that the Agenda be changed so that Honors and Awards be presented earlier than printed. It was APPROVED by voice vote.
4. President Joe Seger lead the assembly in a few memorial moments:
IN MEMORY OF THE FOLLOWING FRIENDS:
Jim Sauer
Janet Harris
Anne Ogilvy
Omar Jibrin
Said Freij
Dan Casey
5. Chairman P.E. MacAllister tendered greetings. “I have never seen ASOR better prepared to meet its challenges.”
6. Report of the Executive Director, Dr. Rudolph Dornemann: He reminded the assembly that the Centennial celebrations in Washington, D.C. were followed by observances in the centers abroad. Planning for the Annual Meeting has taken much office and staff time. Results of that investment are now apparent. Development is expanding. Holly Andrews is working with Development as the staff person. Britt is taking on office duties which Holly Andrews has relinquished. Ingrid Wood has invested much time in developing accounting procedures in this transition period, namely with the demise of Scholars Press and its services.
7. Jerry Vincent reported for Finance in the absence of Ingrid Wood, Treasurer (report distributed):
Jerry began by reading ASOR’s Mission Statement. He stressed that we are in strict adherence to generally accepted accounting principles, which includes the principal that we spend no monies not in accordance with our mission. He pointed out that the cost of the Centennial Celebration exceeded its revenues, but the event is to be understood as a “loss leader.” Sponsored programs received about $197,050 in direct support. The Financial Statement shows benefits of former employees abroad. Looking forward at the stock market, we see that the market is not going well, but we can institute a spending rate of 3% to June 1, then revisit the issue. ASOR has weathered the downturn. The James Nies trust account was on the books, but now is declassified as an asset. ASOR is in a beneficiary relationship to the Trust, but is not the owner.
Jerry Vincent summarized the financial statement as representing a fiscal year of transition for ASOR with many changes.
8. Jeff Blakely reported for Nominations for Randy Younker. Ballots were distributed and institutional representatives were asked to vote for candidates for the ASOR Board of Trustees, for the Agenda Committee, for the Nominations Committee, and for individual members of the ASOR Board of trustees. There were no nominations from the floor. The results of the election were reported later, but are printed here:
| Class of 2004 | Class of 2004 |
| Institutional ASOR Board | Individual ASOR Board |
| Oded Borowski Tammi Schneider Martha Risser |
Nan Frederick |
| Class of 2003 | Class of 2003 |
| Agenda Committee Jodi Magness |
Agenda Committee Dave Morley |
| Class of 2004 | Class of 2004 |
| Nominations Committee Oded Borowski |
Nominations Committee Jodi Magness |
CAP—Class of 2004: David McCreery.
CAMP—Class of 2004: Douglas
Clark.
Honors and Awards Presentations by Harold Forshey
The Charles U. Harris Service Award
was presented to Philip J. King in absentia. Joe D. Seger read the citation.
The P.E. MacAllister Field
Archaeology Award was presented to Lawrence Geraty in absentia. Oystein
LaBianca read the Citation.
The W.F. Albright Award was
presented to Pierre Bikai, ACOR Director. Bert DeVries read the citation.
The W.F. Albright Award was
presented to Seymour Gittin. Joe D. Seger read the citation.
The ASOR Membership Service
Award was presented to Robert J. Bull in absentia with Jeff Blakely reading
the citation, to Billie Jean Collins with Al Leonard reading the citation, and
to Lydie Shufro with Robert Kraft reading the citation.
9. OVERSEAS CENTERS REPORTS:
Pierre Bikai reported for the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan: Hashemite University is at work on the Petra mapping projects. This year all dig directors reported success. There is preservation and presentation of all sites. This year ACOR hosted ten lectures. ACOR had 20 fellows in residence. Their research topics ranged from ancient to modern. Pierre Bikai mentioned that publications from Petra would appear in 2001. ACOR plans to institute a James A. Sauer Fellowship in the archaeology of Jordan.
Seymour Gitin reported for the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, Israel. The current situation is difficult, but there is hope for peace. The Albright is an oasis in this situation. The Albright hosted 105 events, 50 fellows, and funded $230,000 in fellowships. The Mellon Stipends fund fellows from eastern European countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Estonia. There are two new categories. The El Quds University Seminar Program brings students to AIAR Seminars. Notre Dame University sponsors an archaeology/anthropology program. Field Trips abroad included Lebanon this year. Computerization of the library continues apace. Tell Kedesh produced 2,400 bullae from the mid-Hellenistic period. Two Centennial volumes will appear: The House that Albright Built and a volume co-produced with the Wiener Laboratory in Athens on Science in Archaeology. By February two more Field Reports will be in press for 2001. AIAR will sponsor a volume on The Pottery of Ancient Israel and its Neighbors from the Neolithic period onward
David Detrich reported for the Cyprus American Research Institute (distributed). New trustees of CAARI include R.C. Ewing of Annandale, VA, G. Feissel of Santa Rosa, CA, J.A. Greene of Belmont, MA, J.S. Smith of New York City, S. Swiny of Dover, MA, and F.B. Wilkins of Washington, D.C.
CAARI has just completed upgrading the internal operations of the library with a grant from the USDOE. The J.Paul Getty Trust has granted funds to change the library records to international electronic access format.
NEH has extended their support one more year. CAARI has applied for a three-year extension beyond this.
The American Overseas Research Program of the DOS (formerly USIA) will partially fund operations in Nicosia.
Michael Fuller reported for the Damascus Center: There were nine American based excavation projects and one such survey in Syria during 2000. Leadership of the Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées has passed to Dr. Abdul Razzaaq Moa’za.
The Exhibit “Syria, Land of Civilizations” opened in Québec on May 30, 2000 and will travel to San Jose, CA, NYC, and Denver. The Trustees request that those interested consult this URL: http://www.mcq.org/syrie/aaindex.htm
Paul Zimansky reported for the Baghdad Committee: The Nies Donation enables the Committee to continue with publication of fieldwork and to fund one or two fellowships per year in Mesopotamian Studies. There were two fellows last year. These fellowships stimulate research in Mesopotamian Studies.
10. David McCreery Reported for the Committee on Archaeological Policy: There were 64 proposals, of which 62 were approved. The summary is as follows:
34 Field Projects
28 Publication Projects
7 new Projects
Of these, there was 1 project in Tunisia, 1 in Turkey, 8 field projects in Israel plus 13 publication projects.
CAP has revamped and simplified the application process. This year nearly all were electronic applications. CAP also plans to rework the “statement of standards” for future deliberations. CAP plans to produce a booklet or special Newsletter to outline a statement on standards, a policy on conservation, etc.
CAP is enlarged with five new members: Three from the ASOR board, two committee heads, namely, Damascus and Baghdad. CAP will evaluate proposals to dig directors, write their supervising administrator or director telling of their affiliation, and asking for their support. CAP hopes to build the Harris grant to assist digs.
11. Al Leonard reported for the Committee on Publications: James Weinstein, editor, as BASOR on time and within budget. NEA has three new issues in two weeks, numbers 63/1 and 2. The Committee is discussing revision of NEA. Books are appearing, including B. McDonald’s, which is debuting at the Annual Meeting. Four to five manuscripts are ready for publication.
12. Victor Matthews reported for the Committee on Annual Meeting and Program: The 2001 meeting will be in Denver, Colorado at the Interlocken Resort Hotel. We can use the Boulder Campus of the University of Colorado.
The Committee on Annual Meeting and Program recommends continuance of the Annual Meeting with the Society for Biblical Literature Meeting in the same city.
RESOLVED, that the ASOR Annual Meeting will continue in Denver and Toronto in 2001 and 2002, when the issue can be revisited. PASSED with one NO vote.
13. President’s report by President Joe D. Seger: The President pointed out that the founding societies of ASOR included the American Oriental Society and the Society for Biblical Literature. The President presented a plaque to Billie Jean Collins, representing the American Oriental Society and to Kent Richards representing the Society for Biblical Literature.
14. Austin Ritterspach made a Presentation on Behalf of the Development Committee, which represented the launching of the Torch Development Campaign for ASOR. The Development Committee is comprised of Austin Ritterspach, Chair, Ed Gilbert, John Camp, Eric Meyers, and Stuart Swiny. In addition P.E. MacAllister and Joe D. Seger serve ex officio. Vic Matthews, Al Leonard, and David McCreery have been asked to serve when possible as chairs of the operations committees. Holly Andrews will staff the committee.
The Annual Fund has collected about $96,000 as of 11/13/00, but nearly $1mill is pledged or collected as of Nov 18, 2000. Austin appealed to the audience to pledge to the Torch Campaign and help find others who will pledge and fulfill their pledges.
15. Adjournment called by President Joe D. Seger at 8:29 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
James F. Strange, Secretary
ATTACHMENT: ROLL CALL (BY SIGNATURE)
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