2007 Feminism & Family Studies Section Minutes (pdf document)
2007-2008 Feminism & Family Studies Section Plan of Work (pdf document)

Feminism and Family Studies Section Business Meeting
Thursday, November 8, 2007
NCFR 69th Annual Conference
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Section Meeting Minutes (submitted by Karen Blaisure)

Lee Ann DeReus  (FFSS Chair) convened the meeting at 8:25 pm

Welcome Activities (Student/New Professional Representatives: Margaret Manoogian, Elizabeth Sharp, & Lisa Taylor)
A. Lisa Taylor led the section in a group activity. In groups of two or three, section members found one or two other members they did not know or did not know well and introduced themselves and asked each other a “what if” question. For example, “What if you could choose a super power, what would it be?” or “What if you could eliminate one social problem, what would it be?” The room quickly filled with laughter and conversation.
 
B. Margaret Manoogian encouraged members to share reasons for celebration. Members celebrated: earning tenure, promotion, and new positions; completing books; having a babies; graduating; buying a house; taking trips; being elected to the NCFR board; marrying; and anniversaries. In recognition of her contributions to feminist scholarship, the 2007 Feminist Scholarship Award of the Council on Social Work Education was given in honor of Edith Lewis.

C. Announcements

• Anisa Zvonkovic, the NCFR Program Chair for 2008, announced the theme of the upcoming conference, Lenses on Family. One lens is feminist. The plenary speakers will be announced on Friday.
• Bob Milardo, the editor of the new NCFR journal, Journal of Family Theory and Review, reported that he received the first manuscript for review, and it was submitted by a member of the Feminist and Family Studies Section. He also invited members to the two remaining focus groups on the journal to be held at the conference: Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 10 am. The Friday focus group will be geared toward new professionals. A sign-up sheet for those interested in being reviewers was passed around. Members are encouraged to email Bob if interested in being a reviewer.
• Two faculty positions are open at Messiah.
• Section members are invited to submit papers for the Theory Construction and Research Methods pre-conference.
• Family Science Association’s conference is scheduled for June 2008 in Savannah, Georgia.

Chair’s Report (Lee Ann De Reus)
A. The chair introduced Jason Samuels, Member Information Associate & IT Manager on the NCFR staff. Jason reported on upcoming advances in information technology at NCFR that will have a direct affect on members. sharepoint.ncfr.org will be a log-in, internal NCFR site. The new software will allow small groups to do online collaboration on a task, for example, document sharing. A section chair site will be launched. The community portal is community.ncfr.org where members can find Nancy Gonzalez’s blog and an events calendar. There are other features that will be rolled out, including space for sections to have photos. The purpose of launching the software is to provide members a location to interact and work together.

B. The chair introduced current officers:
            Lee Ann De Reus- Chair
            Áine M. Humble – Section Vice Chair
            Karen Blaisure – Section Secretary/Treasurer
            Sandra Bailey – Section Newsletter Co-editor
            Joyce Chang – Section Newsletter Co-editor
            Margaret Manoogian – Section Student/New Professional
            Elizabeth Sharp – Section Student/New Professional
            Lisa Taylor – Section Student/New Professional

C. The 2007 Program

• There were 42 submissions for the 2007 conference.  This was the highest number of submissions in 7 years. Submissions had been hovering in the 30s. However, we used to have 65-70 submissions. The chair recognized and thanked reviewers.
• The section is represented at the conference by the following: 1 symposium, 4 paper sessions, 2 roundtables, and 12 posters. The section could have used additional slots.
• Future reviewers are encouraged to remember that proposals must include a theoretical framework/lens related to feminism. Just because about a proposal is about violence or GLBT does not make it feminist.
• The section co-sponsored the following sessions: Intimate Terrorism (with Research and Theory, and Family Therapy), Mother’s Time Allocation (with Research and Theory), and Lesbian and Gay Parenting (with Research and Theory, and Ethnic Minorities)

D. The 2008 Conference, Lenses on Family, is scheduled for November 4-8, 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Remember to submit a proposal. Let’s increase the number of submissions. Generate ideas for symposia. The nomination forms for 2009 are available. Be sure to nominate someone. If interested in running and you need a nomination, see Lee Ann. Section members running on the 2008 ballot are: Connie Shehan, Katherine Allen, Ramona Oswald, and Karen Blaisure.

Jessie Bernard Awards Committee (Áine Humble)
A. The Best Paper from a Feminist Perspective Award goes to Abbie Goldberg for her 2007 co-authored paper published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, “Imaging Men: Lesbian Mothers’ Perceptions of Male Involvement During the Transition to Parenthood.” She will be recognized at Friday’s plenary. There were 12 papers submitted for consideration this year, compared with 9 submitted last year. Ten members served as reviewers. Thank you reviewers. Congratulations Abbie!

B. The Outstanding Proposal from a Feminist Perspective Award goes to Lyndal Bee Lian Khaw for her proposal, “Exploring Boundary Ambibuity in the Stages of Change Model for Abused Mothers: A Grounded Theory Analysis.” She will be recognized on Friday. There were 14 proposals submitted in 2007 compared with 7 proposals in 2006. Eleven members served as reviewers. Thank you reviewers. Congratulations Lyndal!

C. Electronic submissions and reviews
Submissions and reviews are sent electronically. Future reviewers are requested to provide written feedback; those who submit appreciate the feedback. Some student reviewers gave great written feedback.

D. Sally Lloyd announced that a portion of the royalties from the upcoming Feminist Family Theory Handbook, edited by Katherine Allen, Sally Lloyd and April Few, will be donated to the Jessie Bernard Fund.

Secretary/Treasurer Report (Karen Blaisure)
A. The 2006 minutes, available to members online and as they entered the section meeting, were approved.

B. Review of Section’s Expenses and Income for 2006 and 2007
As of 30 September 2007, the section has 317 members. We ended 2006 with a balance of $3,727.29. Income from membership dues and interest on the reserves equaled $1,634.40 and expenses equaled $1,898.10, resulting in a $263.70 loss for the year. Conference expenses were higher than expected due to the 20th anniversary celebration and to the financial support of session speakers in 2005 and 2006 whose expenses were posted in 2006.

Income from membership dues posted in 2007 will be less than budgeted by approximately $250. This decrease may be due to some members only paying for one-year membership in light of the upcoming change in the funding of sections. Conference expenses will be posted by the end of December. It is expected that the section will end the fiscal year with a profit.

The Jessie Bernard Fund ended 2006 with a balance of $44,688.13. The Fund earned $2,644.21 in interest from June 2005 to December 2006. This 18-month interest was due to the change in the fiscal year. Beginning in 2007, the fiscal year is now January through December. Income from the 2005 and 2006 fund-raisers was $407.00 and the “Pass the Hat” at the section meeting in 2006 raised an additional $400.00. Expenses for 2006 totaled $1,797.90.

The budget trend sheet for the section and for the Jessie Bernard Fund was updated with 2006 data and distributed at the section meeting.

NCFR invests money in order to obtain a 5% return. It is a conservative but more secure strategy than seeking a higher return. There were a few years in the first part of the 2000s that investments returned at a 3-4% rate, but with changes in strategy, the expectation is that funds now will receive at least a 5% return.

C. Proposed 2008 Budget
Beginning in 2008, NCFR sections will be credited with $2500 in lieu of dues. The $2500 is to be spent by the section each year, with any remaining money returned to the NCFR general fund. Sections will not be charged for expenses related to program meetings held during the conference. Sections will keep any reserves they have as of December 2007. This new funding will mean approximately $900 extra in the budget compared to the budgets of the last few years.

MOTION: Michael Johnson moved to allow the incoming officers to finalize a budget for 2008. The motion was seconded by Sandra Bailey. The motion was PASSED.

Members indicated the expectation that the $2500 be used to cover the chair’s travel expenses to the spring board meeting and fall conference, and that the executive officers then determine how must to budget for 2008 conference speakers.

Newsletter Editors (Sandy Bailey, Joyce Chang)
Lee Ann recognized the wonderful job the newsletter editors have been doing! Sandy and Joyce urged members to submit articles.

GLBT Focus Group  (Gary Horlacher)
Gary encouraged members to come to the focus group and GLBT sessions. He reported that many members of the focus group were involved in the Groves conference this year.

NCFR Board Representative (Gary Bowen)
Our section’s NCFR board representative is Gary Bowen.

Old Business
Lee Ann recognized the outgoing officers and introduced the incoming officers:
      Áine Humble – Section Chair
      Joyce Chang – Section Vice-Chair
      Cheryl Peters – Section Secretary/Treasurer
      Margaret Manoogian – Section Newsletter Co-editor
      Lisa Taylor – Section Newsletter Co-editor
      Brian Masciadrelli – Section Student/New Professional
      Maria Walker – Section Student/New Professional

New Business
A. Áine thanked Lee Ann for her service as chair and presented her with a plaque and framed photos.

B. Focus Groups. The new executive director of NCFR would like feedback from sections about focus groups. Focus groups as currently practiced are out of compliance with NCFR rules. Focus groups are to be temporary and then either disbanded or turned into a section. They are not to be “appendages” to sections. Members voiced support for keeping the current focus groups by changing the rules or calling the groups something else. It was recognized that money is an issue. With sections receiving $2500 each, how will allocations be made among different focus groups? Another question raised was, given the new financial structure ($2500 per section in lieu of section dues), will a focus group be required to obtain $15 from 100 people in order to begin a section. Members noted that focus groups served to build relationships among members and a provide a sense of belonging. Also, an NCFR task force studied the practice of focus groups about 10 years ago and recommended that they continue. Some members said that focus groups serve a purpose and do not need to be a section to fulfill that purpose. Áine will report this feedback and questions at the April board meeting.
     
C. Áine requested feedback about the annual conference program availability. Instead of mailing the annual conference program to attendees before the conference it was made available on line. Most members said it was fine. A few disliked it.

D. A member raised a question about the amount of money received from Blackwell for downloads. It was reported that Blackwell paid $980,000 to NCFR for 18 months. Members would like to know where the money is going, how much is generated per download, and how much Blackwell is making.

E. Áine requested feedback on the use of discussants for paper sessions. Is it working? Sometimes a good moderator can keep presenters on time and without a discussant there is more time for questions. Members suggested moving away from discussants because often there is not enough time for questions. In a session today that had three papers, the audience served as the discussant, although it was recognized that by only have three papers there was time for the comments to develop along those lines. Another session had a positive experience with a discussant and with audience discussion. Someone suggested that we consider having sessions with and without discussants. Some paper sessions do well with a discussant, but if it does not make sense, then there is the audience. One member noted that the advantage of a discussant is that the presenter is sure to receive feedback. Another noted that many discussants do not receive the papers in time to offer meaningful responses. Then someone said that if the function of a discussant is to give feedback on papers, then perhaps the oral presentation is not necessary.

F. Áine requested suggestions for special sessions and members suggested:

• Asking longstanding members who have not presented recently to be involved in special sessions.
• More qualitative research methodology
• Raise awareness of ethnicity/race/feminism
• Structural oppression, prevalence of racial disparities and how they affect people’s lives.
• Single parent and poverty; single parent scholarship, intersection with racial issues, mental health diagnoses that may not be justified
• GLBT issues today--focus group will brainstorm a topic
• Email additional ideas to Anisa.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm.
Approx 80 in attendance.