Dear Colleagues:

This is to give you a report on actions taken by the American Anthropological Association Executive Board at its meeting this past weekend.  It is brief, but we wanted to get this information out as soon as possible so that you would have a better sense of what the Executive Board is working on and improve communication of those actions so that you are up to date on decisions that make a difference for the organization and its members.

Decisions were made by the Executive Board to submit the following proposed changes to AAA’s bylaws to a vote of the AAA membership:

(a)  to make the Section Convenor (directly elected by the Section Assembly by a 1-section/1-vote formula) a voting member of the Executive Board.

(b) to replace one existing undesignated Executive Board seat with a seat for a Section Assembly representative and add a second Section Assembly representative seat to the EB.  The Board voted to propose to the membership that these two seats be elected by the AAA membership-at-large but that the Section Assembly determine the slate of nominees to be forwarded to the membership.

(c) to lower the minimum number of members required to maintain a section in good standing from the present 250 to 225, based on an average of a section's highest point of enrollment over three years. This minimum number will be applied to determine Section Assembly voting rights for selection of the Section Convenor and nominees for the two Section Assembly representative seats on the Executive Board only.

(d) to grant permanent standing to the following AAA sections: the Association of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA), Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA), Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (SOLGA), Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA), Association of Senior Anthropologists (ASA) and the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC).

A permanent Committee on Labor Relations was established.  The Committee will have five members.  Its charge is to provide information about labor conditions to the Executive Board relevant to Board decisions on the location of AAA’s Annual Meetings and AAA vendors and contractors, and to seek exchanges of information with other scholarly associations.

A Mentoring/Shadow Program was established, the purpose of which is to provide a unique opportunity for young professional anthropologists to learn about AAA, leadership opportunities and encourage future leadership in the association.

Pricing for AAA journals subscriptions was adopted for 2009, as was a revised sales model for library subscriptions.  Beginning in 2009, libraries will have the option to subscribe to individual titles, the AnthroSource bundle of all AAA titles, or to AAA publications as elements of Wiley-Blackwell’s larger journals collections.

Washington, DC was selected as the location for the 2014 Annual Meeting.

A policy was adopted that will require disclosure of sources of financial support and relationships with entities which might constitute a conflict of interest by authors of articles in American Anthropologist.

Selection was made of 2008 recipients for the Boas Prize, the AAA/Oxford Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in anthropology, the Anthropology in Media Award, and the Alfred Vincent Kidder Award.

A one-year extension to the probationary status of the Society for Anthropological Sciences (SAS) was granted.

Authorization was granted to establish an interest group on The Anthropology of Aging and the Life Course.

In addition to these actions taken, the Board received a report from the Committee on Ethics outlining their progress in incorporating language adopted at the 2007 Business Meeting into the current ethics code. The Board anticipates receiving recommendations from the Committee on Ethics during the next months.

AAA’s Nominations Committee, Resource Development Committee, and Long Range Planning Committee were reviewed.

Finally, the Board received annual reports from Sections, Committee’s and Journals, as well as the 2007 AAA Audit.

With best wishes,

Setha Low

President