Message from the CAAS President

On April 30, 2005, the CAAS Board of Directors conducted the first of what will become annual day-long spring meetings. During this meeting the Board adopted a number of structural changes to our association. The most significant of these involves a change in our Bylaws that will require ratification at the Business Meeting of CAAS during our October conference (the Business Meeting will be held during dinner on Friday, October 7). Please read Proposed Bylaw Amendments for the text of the current Bylaws, the proposed revisions, and the rationale for these changes.

I would like to add a few words of explanation. In the last several years, CAAS has been evolving as a more professional, structured, and member-responsive organization (e.g., adopting new Bylaws, changing from twice-yearly small meetings to an annual larger meeting, etc.) During this process, it has become increasingly obvious that there are many necessary administrative tasks that do not fall under the prescribed duties of any of our officers and that, in fact, should not be called for on a volunteer basis.

The Board therefore voted to reconfigure the Executive Director position to include more administrative duties, including that of maintaining the website and editing the newsletter, and to offer an annual stipend as compensation for performing these duties; this reconfiguration requires the Bylaw change described below. In the meantime, since there is an immediate need for these administrative functions, the Board created a one-year Assistant Director position, with stipend, to begin September 2005. The Assistant Directorship was advertised, and the search committee selected Minna Duchovnay, recently retired from her APA position as Coordinator of Meetings, Programs, and Administration. However, our current Executive Director, Robert Boughner, has recently decided not to complete the final year of his term in office because of his many other professional responsibilities. The CAAS Executive Committee has therefore appointed Minna Duchovnay to complete Bob's term while also carrying out the duties assigned to the Assistant Director position; her title will thus be Executive Director.

On behalf of the entire association, I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to Bob Boughner for all he has done for CAAS. In his years as Executive Director, Bob has made significant contributions to our evolution as a more professional organization, most notably the streamlining of all our membership operations by his adoption of the services of the Philosophy Documentation Center. Bob has shown his devotion to CAAS by giving unselfishly of his time and energies as Executive Director, and we are all in his debt. CAAS will present a more formal thanks to Bob this fall.

We are also very grateful to Lawrence Gaichas for his service as the CAAS webmaster for the last several years; by designing and maintaining the CAAS website, Larry has also helped make CAAS a more accessible and professional association.

I shall be happy to discuss these matters further or answer any questions; my email address is <bmcmanus@cnr.edu>. Please check the News section of the CAAS web page for further announcements. I look forward to seeing many of you at Wilmington in October!

Barbara McManus, CAAS President