1st Meeting of the Executive Committee (Szeged, Hungary, 6-7 October 2004)

Appendix: Budget Report 2003/2004
Appendix: Grant Request 2004/2005

Executive Committee of the CEACS/AECEC

First meeting

Szeged, Hungary

6-7 October 2004

A. Afternoon session, 6 October (3.30-7.00p.m.)

Present:

Don Sparling (President, /DS/)

Janos Kenyeres (Treasurer, /JK)

Vesna Lopicic (Secretary, /VS/)

Katalin Kurtosi (CE Journal of Canadian Studies, /KK/)

Ana Olos (Vice-President) sent her apologies; she had suddenly fallen ill and was in hospital in Baia-Mare

1. Opening

The meeting opened at 3.30 p.m., immediately upon the arrival of all members of the Executive Committee.

2. Adoption of agenda

The agenda was adopted as proposed having been earlier sent by email to all members of the EC.

3. Approval of reports

- The report on the 10th meeting of the CE Steering Committee held in Krakow, Poland, 30 April-1 May 2004, was prepared and sent by email to all members of EC in August 2004. Since there were no comments, it was approved as submitted.

- The report on the 1st General Meeting of the CEACS/AECEC held in Krakow, Poland, on 2 May 2004, was prepared and sent by email to all members of EC in August 2004. It was approved as submitted.

4. Financial report
-Financial report for fiscal year 2003/2004:
DS presented the financial report for the fiscal year 2003/2004 in its final form (see Appendix 1). The preliminary financial report was discussed at the meeting in Krakow and the deadline for submitting the final report to FAC (June 2004) necessitated its preparation before the first meeting of the EC in October 2004 so that DS had prepared and sent it to FAC on time. Nevertheless, all the items of the report (revenues, expenses, human resources costs, and activities) were thoroughly elaborated on by DS and discussed by the members of the EC. The report shows an apparent surplus of 5,617 CAD, while in fact that money was already earmarked for forthcoming events. Taking this into account, the budget is balanced and as such was approved by the members of the EC.

-Budget request for fiscal year 2004/2005:

The budget for the new fiscal year was also discussed at the meeting in Krakow in May 2004, and DS after that prepared the budget request for 2004/2005, which had been sent to FAC before the meeting in Szeged in order to meet the deadline (see Appendix 2). Most of the items on the budget request correspond to the last-year budget and the total sum requested for this fiscal year is 21, 900 CAD.

5. CE Canadian Studies Secretariat in Brno

DS reported on the activities of the CE Canadian Secretariat in Brno since the meeting in Krakow in May.

·A number of CE students did research for their doctoral theses and MA degrees in the library of the CS Centre at Masaryk University in Brno. DS will subsequently inform EC members of the exact numbers of students there. It was also decided to inform all potential users of this grant on time about the holiday period of the library (which was closed this summer). DS also pointed out that the catalogue at the library could be accessed but with some difficulty, so he promised to do a complete revision of the stock of about 3500 books, make a list by subject and put it on the web.

·The Central European Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol.4, is getting ready and the expected date of publication is December 2004.

·The proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Central European Canadianists held in Krakow are being prepared and the expected date of publication is spring 2005.

·A redesigned web-site of the CEACS was launched in summer which is easier to access and use, besides its being visually more attractive. It is the intention to put more material in French on the site. Each Canadianist also has his/her own entry which can be regularly updated personally; from time to time the Secretariat will also remind members to update their pages.

·A questionnaire from the International Council for Canadian Studies (ICCS) was received and distributed electronically to all CEACS members. They would like this information in order to have a better idea about the Canadianists in this region, about our contact data and about our fields of interest. In relation to that, VL said that ICCS should be asked not to use files in PDF format, which is usually very difficult to download (referring to a recent message from Catherine Bastado-Boileau).

6. Publications

The forthcoming publications are the following:

· Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Central European Canadianists held in Krakow. DS explained that FAC had decided to give the funding for the conference in two installments in two successive years and in the third year the money for the proceedings. This request is included in the budget request for 2004/2005. This was a joint conference organised by CEACS and PACS, which subsequently called for some redefinitions of the previous agreement. DS referred the present members of EC to his correspondence with Anna Reczynska, former President of PACS and the main organiser of the conference, and distributed copies of his letter to her. The disagreements concerned the costs of certain services related to the publication of the Proceedings and details concerning the cover. The budget breakdown suggested by PACS for the publication of the Proceedings includes including the surplus of 2,268 CAD made by the Conference (this has been agreed upon by Marie-Laure de Chantal). However, DS and the rest of the EC agreed that some economising could be achieved by publishing it in some other place, preferably Brno, and distributing it through the embassies. JK suggested that the copies could also be distributed on the occasion of the next CS conference. KK suggested that it should be made clear that whatever the case, Anna will be editor-in-chief, which was accepted by all. DS advised getting a cost-estimate from a few countries for the sake of comparison.

·During a short break DS explained to the new members present the essence of the European Network for Canadian Studies (ENCS), which is a coordinating body for Canadian Studies in Europe. It was started in 1991 by Cornelius Remie and its meetings are organised twice a year. Each CS association delegates one representative; one point on the agenda of the ENCS meeting also held in Szeged was to be whether to admit a PACS representative. This was followed by a discussion on the relationship between CEACS and PACS (whose new President is Agnieszka Rzepa), which is actually not represented in CEACS.

·KK having had to leave, the report on Vol.4 and Vol.5 of the CE Journal of Canadian Studies was postponed, and instead the last item under Publications was discussed. DS reported on the Proceedings of the CS graduate seminars organized by the ENCS. These are always published in Brno for economic reasons. In principle, the local organisers prepare the material for the Proceedings and send it to the Secretariat in Brno, which is expected to publish it before the next year's seminar. However, because the material from the Barcelona seminar (October 2003) had not yet been received in Brno, publication of this volume for the current seminar in Szeged was not possible.

7. Grants for attendance at conferences

·These grants were introduced three years ago by the CE Steering Committee with the idea of helping Canadianists in Europe to attend CS conferences any where in the world. There are fifteen grants of 300$ each and the grantees are selected by the EC. They are announced twice a year, in spring and autumn, according to the following key. In spring: Poland (2), Hungary (2), Romania (2), Czechs + Slovaks (1), Serbia and Montenegro (1), all other countries (2). The remaining five grants are announced in October/November for the conferences to the end of the fiscal year, and in principle anybody could apply. By common agreement, members of the Executive Committee are not eligible. This year exceptionally only five grants have been allowed so far, meaning that ten more remain, for which an announcement will soon follow. The grants will be valid in retrospect.

· EC members also discussed possible rules for allotting the grants. DS said that the rules should not be rigid but take into account if the person got the grant a year before, where the conference takes place, etc. It is obligatory that the applicant presents a paper. Rough guidelines should, nevertheless, be made and sent to all Canadianists. It was also pointed out that the payment usually comes some time after the event, particularly in the case of conferences held at the beginning of the fiscal year, when the CEACS has not net received its new grant from Ottawa.

***

B. Afternoon session, 7 October (4.00-7.30p.m.)

6. Publications (cont.)

KK reported on the forthcoming Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 of the CE Journal for Canadian Studies:

·The papers for Vol. 4 arrived before July. It is a rule of the editorial board that there should be one review from each country plus a review by KK. This makes five reviews in all. For this volume the problem appeared with Romania, whose contact person, Margareta Gyurcsik, left for a study visit to France. Monica Bottez was contacted several times but there was no reply so Ana Olos agreed to take it over and hopes to do the reviews by mid-November. The final decisions will be reached by the end of November and it is to be expected the volume will be published by January. KK pointed out that having four readers is a good educational process and also an objective ground for refusal of low-quality papers. JK suggested that an evaluation form should be designed and distributed to all readers. He undertook to familiarise EC members with the one used in his department.

·KK reported on the state of affairs regarding Volume 5 of the CE Journal. The call for papers should be sent in mid-January, the reminder in March and the deadline for application is 30 April. The authors should be warned that the journal does not provide a language editor.

EC members, prompted by KK came to the following conclusions:

·Since there are no more copies of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 available, a website for the CE Journal should be designed so that earlier volumes could be presented in electronic form.

·Vol. 3 should be sent by post to all Canadian Studies centres.

·The editor of the Catalogue for the Travelling Book Display should be asked to include the CE Journal in the Catalogue.

·The Proceedings of the triennial Central European international conferences should also be put on the website of the CEACS.

·The CE Journal and the Proceedings should be sent to major libraries.

8. CE Association for Canadian Studies

· Division of responsibilities: Responsibilities of EC members are legally worked out in the constitution of the CEACS and officially distributed among the four members: DS as President, AO as Vice-President, JK as Treasurer and VL as Secretary. However, DS insisted on clearing up in practice individual responsibilities. So, it was by common assent concluded that the Secretary should take the minutes and send them to all EC members for brief inspection before they are put on the website. It was also decided that the President should visit PACS and work out the best form of collaboration with them. The Treasurer will be responsible for financial reports and budget proposals. JK suggested that financial transactions should be handled by the President, whose signature is deposited at the bank. DS said that in that case he should have been the Treasurer, which had been his original idea. JK as Treasurer showed great concern about the finances, namely that from Hungary the Treasurer cannot keep accounts, manage the finances of the Association and, consequently, take responsibility for the finances of the Association vis-a-vis the Executive Committee since the invoices and the bank account are held in the Czech Republic. He believes the Treasurer is not in a position to monitor cash-flow and has no access to the bank account. JK also suggested that the funds of the Association should be held in the Association's own bank account and not in a bank account which is in the President's (a private individual's) name. The issue was left unresolved for now being very complex; DS said he would check with the bank in Brno to see what the possibilities are for changing the account; also with the official accountant required by Czech law to see what he might suggest.

Under this heading the responsibilities of the Executive Council were also discussed. Each member will be responsible for the country report. JK suggested that there should be two reports, the first one for the period up to 30 June, and the second up to 31 December. The reports should be due by mid-July and mid-January.

·Membership fee: they were collected by October 2003 for 2004. The deadline was set for 2005, which is early next year. Collecting the fees in each country by the end of February will be the responsibility of the individual Executive Council members. The fees should be collected in cash and handed to DS. If a member fails to pay his/her fee on time, his membership expires after a grace period of two months. The membership fee is paid in Canadian dollars or Euros: regular membership: 10 CAD (7 Euros); student membership: 7 CAD (5 Euros).

·Auditors: The Constitution of CEACS obliges us to have two auditors elected from the CEACS members. DS suggested that the auditors be from the Czech Republic or Slovakia for the sake of language. He also volunteered to check who would be able to accept this responsibility.

·New activities:

- Class-set grants were discussed as an activity which was abolished after having proved very useful, so there is an initiative to revive it. However, this activity will be financed out of the CEACS budget, which means, as DS explained, that something will have to be cut out. It will probably decrease library support grants for Central Europe. Class-set grants imply ten grants of 1000 CAD each awarded every other year. The set of criteria should be worked out; the syllabus should be included, and the form for applying should be electronically distributed. The grantees will be selected be the EC. It will be advertised in February/March and the deadline for application should be the end of May. The conclusion was reached that EC members should also be eligible, in which case another body or individual should be selected to make the selection.

- Summer schools for Canadian Studies students were elaborated on by DS. He explained that the former CE Steering Committee had agreed on a series of three: in Debrecen, Brno, and Katowice, in three successive years. The idea was to seek special financing from FAC. The students would be expected to pay a modest fee of about 30 Euros and get tuition, accommodation and meals, while the teachers would be provided with accommodation, meals and transportation expenses and would not receive any fees. ECTS credits would probably be included and the number of students would not exceed 25. DS said he would follow this up with FAC.

KK reported on her experience with the summer school project in Croatia on the island of Rab. She was contracted as a teacher of a survey course on Canadian literature in English and she had four hours of lecturing every morning followed by afternoon discussions. Six students attending the course were given background material and assigned the reading for the next day. They were not asked to write a paper, since ECTS was not included. She felt the course had been very successful; DS reported that the University of Zagreb had written him saying how pleased they had been with the teaching.

- ICCS biennial conference in Ottawa, May 25-27, 2005: it was suggested that each national chapter should nominate one student (including a CV, his/her own letter explaining the nature of research, a letter of support by the mentor). DS volunteered to send an email message to all CE Canadianists and the deadline is 30 November 2004.

· ICCS doctoral student grants

DS explained that ICCS offered doctoral student grants for which candidates should apply through CEACS. The propositions are listed on the website of the ICCS. We are expected to send our candidate by 31 December 2004. DS said he would see to the announcement being sent out.

Also, one student can be nominated for the best doctoral thesis published in the preceding two years; for this the deadline is 15 November 2004. The content of the thesis has to be at least 50% Canadian and the details are on the website. The EC agreed that because of the complicated nature of this programme, we would not submit a candidate this year.

·Cooperation with PACS

As mentioned above (under the heading Division of responsibilities) DS as President agreed to negotiate the relationship and cooperation between CEACS and PACS.

9. 4th International Conference of CE Canadianists (Debrecen, October 2006)

It had already been decided that the 4th International Conference of CE Canadianists will be held in Debrecen in October 2006, coinciding with the biannual conference organised by the Canadian Studies Centre in Debrecen.

10. Next meeting of Executive Committee, meeting of Executive Council

DS suggested that a good opportunity for the next meeting of the Executive Committee, which would coincide with the first meeting of the Executive Council, might be in Prague on the occasion of the regular annual meeting of Czech and Slovak Canadianists. It is scheduled for March 2005. He promised to make enquiries as to the feasibility of this.

The third meeting of the Executive Committee will take place during the second international conference on Canadian Studies organized by YACS in Nis in October 2005.

11. Any other business

There were no contributions under this heading since all points were explored under the previous ones.

12. Closing

The first meeting of the Executive Committee closed at 7.30 p.m. with all members present.