President's Message - Oct.

October 1, 2006

Dear SEB members,

I would like to begin by saying thank you to all who responded to my recent letters. It has been deeply encouraging that so many of you care so much about our disciple and where it is going. Please keep sending the e-mail messages.

During my time as an SEB member I have had several experiences that have taught me a bit about the membership’s perspectives. Serving as secretary and as the organizer of the 2001 meeting provided some insights into what happens behind the scenes in the annual meetings and some of the assumptions that the membership hold about these meetings.

The annual meetings of the SEB are usually held near the end of May or beginning of June. The rationale for this time is complex but builds upon a history of coinciding academic schedules in North America with breaks at about this time, availability of cheap dorm rooms, and the importance of not breaking up a field season in the northern hemisphere summer. This has been felt to be a good compromise time, particularly for the North American members. As our membership expands to be more international we will need to reconsider this. Comments from the membership on the timing and location of meetings are appreciated.

Two commonly held false assumptions about meetings account for some members not participating in them. The first is that the theme of the symposium session is the theme of the entire meeting. In fact, although our meetings have exciting symposium themes, the contributed paper sessions typically cover the spectrum of interests of the membership. There is almost always something for everyone. Members are strongly encouraged to contribute posters and oral presentations on their research and interested regardless of the symposium topics. The second false assumption is that one can only participate in a meeting if making a presentation of some sort. Members are welcome to participate without giving any presentation. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together people with similar interests and to promote the social and intellectual development of the membership. All members are welcome every year. The meetings are low-key with spouses and children welcome.

A few people have commented to me that they do not attend the meetings because they receive the journal and can read about the research through it rather than seeing it in presentations. The problem with this statement is that the overlap of content between the journal and the meetings is minimal. The meetings usually include 60-90 presentations and the journal 45-60 articles. Out of these only a handful will be on the same topic. The meetings and the journal should be seen as complementary rather than as redundant. In fact, some presentations in the meetings are on “over-the-horizon” topics that are not ready for publication yet contribute to much excitement and discussion. Missing these is a real shame.

The location of the annual meeting is important for many members. Not everyone can afford the time or expense to travel to meetings in different parts of the world. Because of this, the SEB council attempts to locate the meetings in a variety of places so that over the years people in different regions have opportunities to participate. The limiting factor in this process is the willingness of members to lead in the organization of meetings. Individual and groups of members are encouraged to think about organizing meetings in their areas. We need to plan these many years in advance so it is not too soon to be thinking about five or more years from now. Prior meeting locations and themes can be found in the SEB website. Anyone interested can receive more information from the SEB secretary. Organizational assistance is offered by the SEB business office and prior meetings hosts are always happy to offer recommendations from their experiences.

I look forward to discussing more about the meetings with each of you at the upcoming meeting in Chicago.

Will McClatchey, 2006-7 SEB President