Minutes of the VSG Meeting 2009
Vietnam Studies Group Annual Meeting
7pm, 27 March 2009 at AAS in Chicago
1. Self-introduction of the Chair and Board Members
Chair: C. Michele Thompson, SCSU
Executive Committee:
Judith Henchy, University of Washington
Ken MacLean (Secretary), Clark University
Lien Hang Nguyen, University of Kentucky
Christina Schwenkel, U.C. Riverside
Christopher Goscha, U Quebec at Montreal
Shaun McHale, George Washington University
David Biggs (Treasurer), U.C. Riverside
Wynn Wilcox (Chair of Grad Prize Committee) Western Connecticut State Univ.
2. Attendees
See Appendix A
3. Minutes from the VSG General Meeting of 2008
Unanimously approved
4. Chair’s Report on SEAC Meeting – Michele Thompson
Area Studies Library
Urge home institutions to provide financial support to libraries
Special curators for SEA are at risk (as are other area studies programs)
Consult with libraries and seek possible solutions to problems
Book reviews in Journal of Asian Studies sought
Dr. Susan Rogers (College of the Holy Cross) encourages “border crossing” reviews (cross discipline and/or country).
Please contact her to propose books to be reviewed and then write them if requested. Email: srodgers@holycross.edu
AAS supports innovative panel formats (engagement within panel and audience)
Such panels will receive favorable treatment
5) Treasurer’s Report (David Biggs)
Report
Overall numbers are good (see 8(b) below)
Initial call for contributions
The following earmarked funds were collected from those present:
Dues: $600
Student Prize: $220
Student Travel: $175
Senior Scholar Panel Fund: $75
Total: $1070
> An email request to current and prospective VSG members will be sent shortly
Discretionary Funds Update (Michele Thompson)
6) Report on the List Serve and Website (Judith Henchy)
Sufficient funds for next 2.5 years to cover costs
Approximately 700 listserv members at present
Call to register and/or update record in the directory of scholars
Approved: Vote to provide annual subsidy $500 (unanimous)
7) Report on the Texas Tech Conference (Ed Miller)
Theme: Role of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in the Vietnam War.
Papers by academics and non-academics (excellent presentations)
Panel on 6 recent declassified CIA document sets
Next Conference March 2010: War Post-Tet (1968-1975)
> The deadline for papers will be in the fall and there will be call for papers put out on the VSG list.
8) AAS, 2010 (Philadelphia)
a) Call for sponsored panels (1 month prior to AAS deadline, approx. 7 July)
Erik Harms (suggested panel on Hanoi’s 1,000 th anniversary)
Steve O’Harrow (suggested panel on VN film)
b) Long-term project and funding (Michele Thompson)
Current funds for core activities for next 2.5-3 years
Estimated $3,000 in addition to earmarked funds plus $400 from SEAC
Proposal: Use portion of funds to bring 1 or more (senior) scholars from abroad
Ideas for matching funds:
AAS often provides some support / Corporate support (e.g. Amex)?
Use AAS meeting to set up regional speaking tours
Agreed: Executive Committee is authorized to spend up to $3,400 to cover costs of visitor with expectation to spend less through matching funds if possible (17 yes, 7 no)
To Do: Form subcommittee to solicit nominations and review possible visitor(s).
9) New business, old business, discussion and votes
Old Business
a) VSG Graduate Student Prize ($500 level)
Thanks to donors for their support including voluntary contributions
Funds sufficient for next two years
Request subsidy from membership dues $100 (approved unanimously)
b) VSG Graduate Student Travel Award
Not utilized for the past two years (discussion how encourage more graduate student participation)
Agreed: Proposal to separate VSG Travel Award from Paper Prize
If winner of Paper Prize can attend, he/she will receive it
If winner of Paper Prize cannot attend, other graduate students eligible
Agreed: Travel Award Subsidy
$100 to be earmarked from membership dues
Keep standard level for AAS 2010 (Philadelphia)
Request additional funds for AAS 2011 (Honolulu)
Agreed: VSG Graduate Student Travel Award Subsidy
To do: form subcommittee to discuss appropriate amount and criteria for selection
To do: circulate proposal(s) to dues-paying members for adoption
SEAC TPG Translation Project (Judith Henchy)
Volunteers from country groups sought to join committee for TPG activities
George Dutton
10) Announcements and News
a) Graduate Student Prize
Committee: Wynn Wilcox, Joe Hannah, and Christina Schwenkel
Richard Quang (Ph.D. Candidate UC Berkeley, Department of Rhetoric), “The Epistemology of Homosexuality Morphology in Renovation and Post-Renovation Vietnam (1986-2005)”
b) Notable Awards and Nominations for Awards
Michele Thompson, CT State University Trustees Research Award
Heonik Kwon, George Keenan Prize for Ghosts of War
Judith Henchy Labor Prize from Government of Vietnam for Microforms Project
John Balaban received Prize from Government of Vietnam for Han-Nom Microform Projects
c) Seattle Workshop on Vietnam Report (Judith Henchy)
Beyond Dichotomies Conference (May 2008)
d) 3 rd International Hanoi Conference Report (December 2008)
Peter Zinoman
International Association of Vietnamese Studies proposed (Phan Huy Le)
d) Upcoming Conferences
Property Rights in Vietnam at Harvard (May 2009)
Agent Orange: Landscape, Body, Image at UC-Riverside (May 2009)
Beyond Borders Conference at UW-Seattle (May 2010?)
e) Journal of Vietnamese Studies (Peter Zinoman)
Reminder to renew subscriptions and to encourage institutional ones to provide financial support as this is crucial to JVS’ survival
Thanked Julie Pham for her hard work and contributions to the growth of JVS.
11) Other announcements
VASI (Vietnamese Advance Summer Institute)
UC-Berkeley will administer it (20-25 applicants)
Primarily graduate students will participate
Simplify organizational structure (in HCMC only with one resident director)
Focus on language boot-camp and less on extra-curricular activities/trips
GUAVA meeting (Group Universities for the Advancement of Vietnamese Association)
To be held in UW-Seattle
VN Literature Project (Dan Duffy)
Maintain separate Wiki (200+ references)
Site cleaned and updated with interviews with authors
Will solicit further entries for VSG members and authors
d) Publication Announcements (Books and Articles)
12) Moment of Silence for Huỳnh Sanh Thông
Details on memorial service
Appendix A (name and affiliation)
Anne Marie Leshkowich, Holy Cross
Allison Truitt, Tulane
Melissa Pashigian, Bryn Mawr
Stephen O’Harrow, U Hawaii
George Dutton, UCLA
Liam Kelley, U Hawaii
Tracy Barrett, North Dakota State University
Lorraine Paterson, Cornell
Trang Cao, UC Berkeley
Chan Phan, Harvard
Tony Do, Columbia
Erica Peters, Independent Scholar
Dan Duffy, VN Literature Project
Van Tran, SSRC
Azunhui Tseng, UW-Seattle
Nicolas Lainzes, Ecole des Hautes Studies en Sciences Sociales
Kate Baldanza, U Penn
Harriet Phinney, Seattle University
Larry Ashmun, U Wisconsin-Madison
Nhung Tuyet Tran, U Toronto
Charles Keith, Michigan State University
Richard Ruth, US Naval Academy
Ed Miller, Dartmouth
Huong Nguyen, Ohio University
Harry Aveling, Ohio University
Danille Belanger, U Western Ontario
Sarah Grant, UC Riverside
Erik Harms, Yale
Emily Siemer, U Michigan-An Arbor
Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Harvard
Hien Thu Luong, Temple
Sophie Quinn-Judge, Temple
Jamie Anderson, UNC-Greensboro
John Whitmore, U Michigan-Ann Arbor
Heonik Kwon, U Edinborough
Peter Zinoman, UC Berkeley
Martina Nguyen, UC Berkeley
Appendix B.
Chair's Supplemental Report
Finances
C. Michele Thompson
As of the start of the annual VSG meeting at AAS in Chicago Friday March 27th our holdings in our AAS account were, according to the AAS comptroller Alicia Williams, $7,537.24. We took in at the meeting funds for dues, funds earmarked for the graduate prize, funds earmarked for the graduate student travel prize and funds earmarked for the project to bring senior scholars to VSG at AAS in 2010 to a total of $1,070. Our financial situation with regards to our major annual expenditures is as follows.
We have $2,990. earmarked for web and list support. At an annual expenditure rate of around $700 this gives us over 4 years worth of support for the web and the list serve in the bank.
We have $1,425. earmarked for the graduate prize. With the prize at the $500. level we have almost enough already earmarked and in the bank to support this prize for 3 years. We anticipate more contributions to come in following our treasurer's call for dues recently.
We have $675. earmarked for the graduate travel prize and at the $150. level we have enough earmarked and in the bank for this prize for the next 3 years. We may also get some contributions to this in response to our treasurer's call for dues.
This leaves $3, 517.24 plus we will have $400 from SEAC for the Senior Scholar Project for a total of $3,900.24.
Therefore, even if the Ex Comm spends all of the $3,400. that we were authorized to spend on the Senior Scholar Project we would still have $500.24 as an unearmarked rainy day fund.