2018

Minutes

BC Political Studies Association
Annual General Meeting, 3 May 2018
Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC
Arts and Education Building, Rm. AE 204

Attendance:
Alex Netherton, VIU
Terry Kading, TRU
Stephen Phillips, Langara College
Linda Elmose, SFU
Paul Rowe, TWU
Derek Cook, TRU
Ayla Kilic, Okanagan College

 Call to order and acknowledgements

   – The Chair (Alex Netherton) called the meeting to order and acknowledged that the meeting was being held on the traditional unceded land of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc people.

Approval of the Agenda
Agenda approved as circulated
Approval of  Minutes of BCPSA 2017 AGM
Minutes of AGM of 4 May 2017 approved

 Reports
A) Secretary Treasurer

In the absence of Jeanette Ashe, Alex gave a brief report on the 2017 AGM, held at Douglas College.  The sum of $1600 was transferred to the BCPSA.   Of this sum, $200 was allocated to student prizes, for a net transfer of $1400. The BCPSA had a balance in its bank account as of 1 April 2018 of $5,600.

Preliminary figures for the 2018 AGM suggest total receipts of $3,000 [?]

b) Chair’s Report

  • The Chair participated in a review of the Canadian Political Science Review.  He suggested we need to rekindle ties between the BCPSA and the CPSR.  For example, we should encourage conference participants to submit their papers to the CPSR. 
  • Business Arising from Previous Minutes

a) BCPSA Website

  • There were problems with the BCPSA website, so Alex rebuilt it with help from IT at VIU.  We will need to move the site from Net 9, who plan to charge us $80 a month, perhaps to VIU.  No imminent need, though.
  • BCPSA AGM and Articulation to be held at Langara College, May 2019.
  • Equity and Diversity
    • Alex noted that the BCPSA’s two undergraduate essay prizes are named after white males.  He argued there is a need symbolically to recognize others.
    • Alex added that with the growth of the BCPSA, and the participation of more graduate students, we need to be more transparent and standardized in our practices.

New Business

  1. Conference proceedings.   Where should they go? Should they be housed in an open-source site?  This may create complications for authors wishing to publish their paper in certain journals.
  2. Weller Prize
    1. Alex reported that a record number of books by BC political scholars (7) were received this year. A winner will be chosen this summer.
  3. Edited Books are currently ineligible for the Weller Prize
  4. Moved (Derek Cook / Ayla Kylic) that the BCPSA create a prize for the best edited volume and that the prize be named after Lynda Erickson. Carried.
  5. Award for best BCPSA conference paper
  6. Moved (Alex Netherton /  Stephen Phillips) that we confer an award on the authors of the two best papers submitted to the BCPSA annual conference and that the award be named after Marjorie Griffin Cohen. Carried.
  7. BCPSA Ph.D. and MA conference papers
  8. Moved (Derek Cook / Paul Rowe) that the awards for best Ph.D. and MA paper be dropped from the annual BCPSA student essay competition and that the focus be placed on undergraduate awards and conference papers.  Carried.
  9. It was agreed that papers submitted for adjudication panels need to be anonymous, with relevant criteria to be posted in advance on the BCPSA website.
  10. Expanded Executive

By the authority vested in the Chair, pursuant to the BCPSA Bylaws, Alex proposed to make the following additions to the BCPSA Executive:  (a) a representative in Indigenous Studies from the Political Science Articulation Committee, (b) a representative of the Canadian Political Science Review, and (c) a graduate student officer.

11. Elections

  • The following persons were acclaimed as members of the BCPSA Executive for 2018-2019:

-President:  Alex Netherton
-First Vice President:  Stephen Phillips
-Second Vice President:  Terry Kading
-Secretary Treasurer:  Jeanette Ashe
-Executive Members:  Linda Elmose, Paul Rowe, Derek Cook, Paddy Smith

AGM 2018 Contest Winners

-Mike Meade Prize:  Oliver Harrison (Langara)
-Norman Ruff Prize:  Morgan Buckner (UVic)
-Best Honours Essay:  Alberto Alcaraz Escarcega (UBC)

Next AGM:  Langara College, Vancouver BC, May 2-3, 2019. t.id)&&(