ASR News & Announcements
Rachel Kraus, Executive Officer
Preparations for this summer’s 82nd Annual Meeting are in full swing. The meeting will be held August 7-9, 2020 at the Hotel Nikko San Francisco, located in Union Square and around the corner from the ASA hotel. We will begin with a Welcoming Reception on the evening of Friday, August 7th. Similar to last year, we are planning a joint Closing Reception with the ASA Religion Section for the evening of Sunday, August 9. The Presidential Address will be given by James C. Cavendish, and the Furfey Lecture will be delivered by Kelsey Burke. The ASA Sociology of Religion Section day is Monday, August 10th.
The hotel reservation link, meeting registration page, and information about San Francisco are available on Annual Meeting page of the ASR website, www.sociologyofreligion.com. If you have not yet made your hotel reservations, please do so immediately. ASR’s discounted room rate is good only through July 16. Please double check the nights that you want to stay in the hotel. The ASR understands that the hotel may be expensive. Unfortunately, costs in San Francisco are generally very high. The $279 room rate is a discounted rate, and the ASR got the best deal that we could. Rest assured that although San Francisco may be more expensive than other places, costs in Chicago (including the hotel room rate) will be much lower. Also, the ASR doubled the amount of money we are devoting to the Gallagher Travel Grants for our student members and international colleagues. Please know that you are contributing to the vibrancy of the ASR by staying at the ASR hotel:
* The cost to rent our meeting space is kept to a minimum.
*The amount of food and beverage the hotel requires us to purchase for our meeting is more reasonable.
* Our nightly hotel rates for future meetings are more competitive.
* We have access to high quality hotels for future conferences that may not otherwise offer to host our meetings.
Simply stated: The more sleeping nights we book at our hotel, the better deal the hotel can give our conference attendees and our association.
* Specific to the Hotel Nikko, guests have complimentary high-speed internet in their hotel rooms; coffee/tea maker in their hotel rooms; complimentary access to a glass enclosed pool and a health club that includes dry saunas and steam rooms; a business center
If you haven’t already done so and you plan to join us in San Franscisco for our annual meeting, please register for the conference as soon as possible. Pre-registration is required for people presenting a paper and/or participating in any sessions (including Author-Meets-Critic sessions, workshops, etc.) or panels. Even if you are not part of the conference program, please consider pre-registering as the cost is cheaper and it will help with a smooth check-in process at the registration desk. You may pre-register for the conference by visiting the Annual Meeting page on the ASR website. ASR members and non-members are invited to register for the conference. You should automatically be directed to PayPal to complete your registration. If you are not, simply log directly into your PayPal account and “send money” to ASREO@bsu.edu with a note stating that your payment is for the 2020 Annual Meeting. You and I will both receive receipts and your registration will be complete. If you do not have a PayPal account, please email me at ASREO@bsu.edu and we will arrange a credit card payment by phone. Registration fees help cover the costs of many annual meeting expenses, such as printing programs, name badges and holders, meeting room rental fees, food and beverage minimums for our various receptions, AV equipment, hotel labor to assist with our AV equipment, and wages for people working at the registration desk.
As always, thank you for your participation in the ASR. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Looking forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco!