The long range planning committee (LRPC) met once this year, on March 6-7 at the AAA headquarters with AAA staff. All 2004 members were in attendance (Goodman, Liz Brumfiel (ex officio), Ben Blout, Melissa Cefkin, John Haviland, Karl Heider, Alexandra Jaffe. Ken Kennedy, Margaret Nelson, Karen Nakamura, and Carla Sinopoli). The committee did NOT meet for its traditional breakfast session at the Annual Meetings because so few members were in attendance at the Atlanta meetings.

1. Activities

Communications of the LRPC. The LRPC has been concerned with increasing communications with Sections and other groups within AAA. To this end, Sections, interest groups, publications and committees were encouraged to complete their annual reports and these reports were read by members of the LRPC and discussed at the beginning of our meeting. ~80% of sections submitted reports and LRPC members learned a great deal from reading these reports. In response, this summer I send a memo to all Sections thanking them for their reports and updating them on the deliberations and actions of the LRPC.

Long Range Objectives. Eight of the previous ten objectives were reworded for clarity. In doing so, we have tried to consider the optimal level of specificity and the length of life of LRP objectives. In addition, two additional objectives were proposed.

Objective 11 was proposed so as to begin a formal process of exploring various means of reaching beyond the association. It reads as follows"

The AAA will respond to needs for anthropological knowledge and expertise in the wider society by exploring better mechanisms for making such resources available through print, broadcast, online and other media.

Objective 12, proposed by John Haviland, was similarly proposed to explore the evolving relationship between anthropology and "groups historically studied by the discipline."

The AAA will explore mechanisms to recognize and address the needs and interests of those populations and groups historically studied by the discipline.

Operating Plan The LRPC recommended three changes to the Operating Plan that have been reviewed by the Finance Committee and the Executive Board.

* The Education Outreach Center (III. A). This initiative should be taken out of the 2005 Operating Plan since the initiative has been in the planning stage without significant action. The Anthropology in Education Committee will, hopefully, be designing a new initiative.

* We also propose that we should remove the Minority Fellowship Expansion (V. A) from the 2005 Operating Plan. We had hoped to raise funds for this initiative from foundations. However, most or all private and public foundations have deactivated these programs. In its place, the LRP supports a Finance Committee recommendation that an initiative be developed to increase minority student participation. This initiative will be reviewed by the LRPC once it is developed and be placed in the conceptual design phase. *

* The program to Improve Communication with Sections through Education (VI. B) was moved from conceptual design to planning. *

* Although no new initiatives were suggested for the Operating Plan, we are proposing a rethinking of the means for increasing minority participation in anthropology and the AAA and we expect that the Education Outreach Center will soon return as a newly formulated initiative.

2. Proposed Activities for 2005

In addition to reviewing the activities of section, progress on initiatives, and the LR Objectives, this year I propose to consider:

* The relationship between the long-range plan and the budget process, in particular the need for developing a budget reserve. This year, Douglas Swartz (School of American Research and member of the Finance Committee) will give a presentation on financial planning. In addition, I hope to hear reports on the financial impact of the 2004 Annual Meetings and any issues arising out of the continuing development of AnthroSource.
* The role of the LRPC in labor issues, the relationship of the LRPC to the newly formed Labor Relations Commission, and in particular, the role of the LRPC in a potential hotel strike or lockout during future AAA meetings
* The development of new membership categories such as under or unemployed and the potential for income based membership fee strcture
* The viability of small sections and the relationship of the LRPC to the newly formed Governance Commission

3. Responsibilities and Objectives.

The responsibilities and objectives of the LRPC seem to be changing once again. As noted above, there are activities of three or four other committees that I feel the LRPC needs to work with in an efficient way.

* I think the LRPC needs to consider financial long range health and objectives, and in so doing, needs to work in conjunction with the Finance Committee and the Resource Development Committee
* Labor issues may continue to loom large on the AAA horizon and thus the LRPC needs to coordinate efforts with the Labor Relations Commission
* Last, the LRPC may need to be involved in governance issues, and for this reason, the newly formed Governance Commission.

4. Issues for the Executive Board

I would like the executive board to consider the objectives and functions of the LRPC in relationship to the issues and committees noted above.