In many ways, the Association for the Sociology of Religion is poised to embark on a very bright future. The planning for our 2016 meeting in Seattle — “Exploring Diversity: Varieties of Religion and Nonreligion” — is well underway, the Council just voted in support of retaining Oxford University Press as the publisher of our journal and Gerardo Mardi as its editor, and the Association has announced openings of two of its leadership positions — the editor position for our book series Religion and the Social Order and the Executive Officer position.
Annual Meeting
The 2016 Annual Meeting is being organized by our President, Lori Beaman, and our Program Chair, Ryan Cragun. Our hotel will be the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, which is located at 515 Madison St., just a short distance from the main ASA hotel. We will continue our two-day meeting pattern, with the ASA Religion Section meeting the day following. This means that our opening night reception will be on Friday, August 19th, our sessions will be on Saturday and Sunday, August 20th and 21st, and the ASA Religion Section will be on Monday, August 22nd. There will be approximately five simultaneous sessions each day, followed by the Presidential and Furfey Lectures, respectively, in the early evening on the 20th and 21st. The full details of the meeting and the Call for Papers can be viewed on the ASR website at www.sociologyofreligion.com.
Please be attentive to both the submission dates and ensuring that your 2016 dues are paid. A dues notice was e-mailed in November to remind members to renew their membership. Because 2016 membership in ASR is required for program consideration (one author, for multi-authored papers), if you haven’t joined or renewed your membership in the Association, please do so on the ASR website before attempting to submit a proposal. Please DO NOT submit a proposal if you cannot arrange to be available during any of the time slots that the Program Chair may assign your paper presentation during any of the days of the conference. Anyone who will present a paper or serve as a panelist, discussant, or book critic during the conference must be an ASR member and be willing to register for the conference. Session organizers should make this clear to anyone they invite to participate in a session or serve on a panel.
The period for submission of session proposals is strictly limited to January 1 – March 31, 2016, while the submission period for individual papers extends through April 30, 2016. Please visit the ASR website at www.sociologyofreligion.com for submission guidelines and for access to the online submission portal. All individual paper proposals must now be submitted directly through the website.
Position Announcement for Series Editor of ASR’s Book Series
ASR is searching for a series editor for its long-standing Brill series Religion and the Social Order. As the guiding intellectual force for the series, the editor will be committed to maintaining the international content and status of the series, as well as to openly soliciting high quality manuscripts on cutting edge topics in the sociology of religion. The series editor will undertake to do minor editorial work, with copy editing, solicitation of reviewers and volume production to be done by Brill. The editor will work with a small editorial board consisting of the Association’s Executive Officer and one member of the Association appointed by Council. The remuneration for this position is a modest honorarium.
Please send expressions of interest to James Cavendish, EO of ASR, at asreo@usf.edu. Those interested in being considered for the position may wish to visit the ASR website at http://www.sociologyofreligion.com/series/ to learn more about the history of the series and its 26 volumes.
Position Announcement for EO of ASR
ASR is also seeking an Executive Officer to serve a four-year term beginning August, 2016. The person we seek should be familiar with and committed to the work of the Association and should be able to organize and maintain an efficient office in support of its mission. The Executive Officer’s major responsibilities include choosing hotels for the annual meetings and managing logistical aspects of those meetings; working closely with the Program Chair to construct and produce the meeting program; managing ASR’s finances; processing memberships; providing administrative support to the ASR Council, Officers, and committees; running annual elections; maintaining and improving the ASR website; and communicating appropriately with ASR members. Compensation will be established by the Executive Council of ASR in consultation with the applicant. The full compensation package also includes a budget for office expenses, travel, and if needed, staff support.
Applications should include a) cover letter outlining your experience, qualifications, and reasons for being interested in this position; b) curriculum vitae; and c) names and contact information of three references. These materials should be assembled into a single PDF and emailed as an attachment to the Search Committee Chair: Michael Emerson at moe@northpark.edu. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Questions about this position or nominations of potential candidates may be directed to any member of the search committee: Melissa Wilde at mwilde@sas.upenn.edu, Lori Beaman at lbeaman@uottawa.ca, Michael Emerson at moe@northpark.edu, or Christopher Ellison at Christopher.Ellison@utsa.edu.
Best wishes to all of you for 2016.
James Cavendish, Executive Officer