Section on Venezuelan Studies Business Meeting   September 1998 (Chicago)    

Two counts of persons present made early and late in the meeting yielded a   count of 45-47 members in attendance out of a total of 102 members.     Members of the outgoing Coordinating Committee (1997-1998) present:  

Cathy A. Rakowski, Chair  
Daniel Hellinger, Treasurer & Election Committee  
Margaret Martin, WebPage Manager & Secretary  
María Pilar García Guadilla  
Richard Hillman  
Michael Duodoroff  
Absent: Thaís Maingon    

The business meeting was opened by Cathy Rakowski with an overview of the   agenda which had been distributed previously by email.   
1. Bienvenida   
2. Homenaje a John Martz y Enrique Baloyra   
3. Informe del Comite de Elecciones (Daniel Hellinger)    -proceso y resultados   
4. Informe del Comite Coordinador (del periodo pasado) (Cathy Rakowski)    -datos sobre miembros    -resumen de actividades 5. Informe del Tesorero (Daniel Hellinger)   
6. Informe de la Secretaria y Web Page Manager (Margaret Martin)    -informe del periodo pasado    -introduccion al nuevo foro de discusion   
7. Entrada y presentacion del nuevo Comite Ejecutivo (proximo periodo)   
8. Anuncios   
9. Discusion sobre la vision del futuro de la Seccion    -objetivos y actividades actuales    -objetivos y actividades futuros   
10. Formacion de comites de voluntarios para actividades especificas   
11. Otros   

Then refreshments were distributed. The cost of refreshments was just under   $350.

Second came "homenajes" for John Martz and Enrique Baloyra, colleagues who   worked many years in Venezuela and who passed on this last year. Homenajes   were delivered by David Myers and José Molina.

     Daniel Hellinger presented the results of the election and discussed some   difficulties that had arisen because of ties. Those present voted to accept   as officers the sole candidates for Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and WebPage   Managers (U.S., Venezuela). They also voted to accept as Council Members the   three Venezuelan based candidates who had tied and the top two U.S. based   candidates. Finally, they voted to accept as Alternate Council Members (will   full rights and privileges except for voting) the two candidates with the   highest number of remaining votes.   Results of the elections are as follows:

       Officers for the 18 month period beginning September 1998 are:   Cathy A. Rakowski, Ohio State University, Chair   Angel Alvarez, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Secretary-Treasurer   Venezuelan-based Council members:   Emperatriz Arreaza Camero, Universidad del Zulia   Gabrielle Gueron Josko, Universidad Central de Venezuela   Maria Cristina Parra, Universidad del Zulia   Rosa Amelia Gonzalez, IESA (Alternate)   U.S.-based Council members:   Michael Coppedge, Notre Dame   Brian Crisp, University of Arizona   Michael Duodoroff, University of Kansas (Alternate)   Margaret Martín, WebPage Manager U.S.   Janet Kelly, WebPage Manager, Venezuela

     Members decided that, in the future, WebPage Managers will be appointed   positions due to the special skills required.     New Officers were formally installed. A discussion followed of how to   guarantee adequate representation of "minority" disciplines in the Section   and of Venezuelans given that the majority discipline is Political Science   and about 2/3 of all members reside outside of Venezuela. One idea was to   have Co-chairs--one in Venezuela, one in the U.S. A similar idea was proposed   for the position of Secretary-Treasurer. New officers agreed to continue this   discussion among themselves

     For the benefit of new members, Cathy Rakowski summarized membership   information and major activities of the preceding 18 months, including a   summary of the decision to become a Section and the services provided by the   Section. Services include maintaining a listserver of members and "friends"   (potential future members), a WebPage, and a future Discussion Forum. Also   discussed were Section rights to sessions for future Congresses, the   organization of the panel for the Chicago meetings, and the issues discussed   at the meeting held in Caracas in December 1997. Notes from all meetings are   posted on the WebPage. Members briefly discussed ideas for future LASA   congresses, fundraising, networking and other relevant issues.

     Margaret Martin handed out informational brochures and discussed three major   changes to take place in the WebPage services offered by SVS:  

1. The WebPage has a new design and a new address. It is now housed at the   University of Michigan. 

2. There will be a mirror page housed at IESA in Caracas. The idea was to   make it simpler for Venezuelans to access the page and its links to other   sites.  

3. A Discussion Forum was formally "inaugurated" at the meeting and   instructions for joining were provided.

       Members spent some time asking questions and discussing these changes.   Margaret asked that members send in information they would like to see   included on the page and ideas for improving it.      After this presentation, it was decided to suspend further discussion because   of the late hour and the need of many people to leave for other activities.   It was decided that the new officers would meet for breakfast the following   morning and that all further issues to be discussed with members would be    -circulated by email (or postal service for those without email)   -posted to the WebPage and/or   -posted on the Discussion Forum so members could dialogue with officers   before decisions are made.    

Submitted by Cathy A. Rakowski