President's Note

Abstract

President's Note Amy Singer The "President's Note" briefly summarizes recent OTSA news. Time-dependent news and information are sent to members by email and/or posted to H-Turk, our H-Net network (https://networks.h-net.org/h-turk). OTSA is a membership organization. OTSA holds its regular members' meeting, including the announcement of awards, in conjunction with the annual Middle East Studies Association conference in the fall of each year. Annual dues entitle members to receive the Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, stand for election to become Board members and officers, and to serve on OTSA committees. Annual dues and contributions fund the annual OTSA awards and cover the minimal administrative costs of the organization as well as those associated with publishing and delivering JOTSA. Recognizing that earning power varies enormously among our current and potential members, we invite you to choose the membership category that best fits your budget. There is no difference among the categories in the status and benefits they offer. If you are not currently an OTSA member and would like to join, please access our website at http://www.ottomanturkishstudiesassociation.org/ and look for the "join" or "renew" link. A warm welcome to newly joining and rejoining members. Hoş geldiniz! News of OTSA The 2020 OTSA elections took place electronically in September. Our thanks to the members of the 2020 Nominating Committee for their thorough and considered preparation of the slate of candidates. The committee was chaired by Tijana Krstić (Central European University), serving together with members Aslı Iğsız (New York University) and Seçil Yılmaz (Franklin and Marshall College). Tijana now rotates off the committee as Antonis Hadjikyriacou (Panteion University, Athens) joins it. Our sincere appreciation to Tijana for her work on the committee! [End Page 5] Board Members Senem Aslan (Bates College) and Murat Yıldız (Skid-more College) have completed their terms, and we thank them for donating generously from their wisdom, time, and energies to OTSA matters, in addition to all their other responsibilities. Giancarlo Casale (University of Minnesota), Emine Evered (Michigan State University), and Will Smiley (University of New Hampshire) are now joined by newly-elected Board members Aslı Bali (UCLA) and Shirine Hamadeh (Koç University). We welcome them and look forward to the contribution that new ideas and perspectives bring to the OTSA Board. We deeply regret that Maureen Jackson (Independent Scholar) will be leaving her position as OTSA Secretary.* It has been a pleasure to work with her and we are grateful for her careful attention to OTSA matters, especially during the long months of the continuing COVID pandemic. Nominated and confirmed by the OTSA Board, Carole Woodall (University of Colorado Colorado Springs) now takes up the position of OTSA Secretary. Patricia Blessing (Princeton University) continues as OTSA Treasurer. Effective 1 December 2020, Baki Tezcan (UC Davis) has succeeded me as OTSA President. I will continue to serve on the Board for one year as Past-President. I am delighted to be passing this responsibility to Baki, who steps into the role with welcome new energies and ideas. He is well-known to all of us as a prolific and innovative scholar. He has already inaugurated a Zoom seminar series called "W'OTSAp in Ottoman and Turkish Studies?" launched in November 2020. The first event featured the 2020 Fisher Article Prize winner, Erik Blackthorne-O'Barr (See prize details below). We are all looking forward to meeting regularly in this forum! Baki steps into this OTSA leadership position at the beginning of our 50th-anniversary year. He and I have begun a project interviewing our predecessors in this role in order to create an oral history record of our organization at this jubilee juncture. We look forward to sharing these interviews with you during the coming year. 2020 Prize Winners We applaud the 2020 OTSA Prize winners, and thank all the committee members for volunteering their time and expertise to read and evaluate this year's submissions. Over the past two years, different members of OTSA have suggested that we need to evaluate critically the names attached to our prizes, in particular [End Page 6] those of...