SBCS Holds Its Second Online Annual Meeting November 19–20, 2021

Abstract

SBCS Holds Its Second Online Annual Meeting November 19–20, 2021 Sandra Costen Kunz For the second year in a row, the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS) held its annual meeting online due to the corona virus pandemic. For several decades prior to the pandemic, we met face-to-face in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) as one of its "related scholar organizations." Having applied in 2020 to continue as an AAR "RSO," we were delighted that AAR renewed our status in March, 2021, because we see our own mission as having some important overlap with AAR's. (For these two mission statements, see: https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/mission and https://www.aarweb.org/AARMBR/Who-We-Are-/Mission-and-Values.aspx.) This year, in addition to its face-to-face sessions at San Antonio's convention center and downtown hotels, AAR again offered an online video conference platform on which we held our paper sessions late Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We sincerely hope that conditions are such that early next fall we can commit to meeting in person in conjunction with the 2022 AAR meeting in Denver. Our Friday governing board meetings and members meeting this year were hosted by SBCS President Leo Lefebure on Georgetown University's Zoom platform. board of directors morning meeting Approval of the Minutes and Slate of Nominees The president called our meeting to order at 9 a.m. CST. After the minutes from the 2020 meeting were unanimously approved, the board's Nominating Committee presented the following slate for new board officers and directors and committee members: Vice president:Carolyn Jones Medine Journal co-editor:Kristin Johnston Largen Journal book review editor:Jason VonWachenfeldt [End Page 377] At-large board directors:Elizabeth Tyler (four-year term)Anh Tran (four-year term)Insook Lee (three-year term) Streng Book Award Committee member:Jason VonWachenfeldt Social Media and Website Committee members:Julius-Kei KatoAlaina Keller Using Zoom's anonymous polling function, we voted for each person in turn. The result was that each committee nominee was elected, and the officers and at-large board members were given approval to be presented on the board's slate during the online election during the members meeting. To honor their needs for sleep, we moved next to the reports of our two board members who were zooming in late at night from East Asia. Social Media and Website Committee Chair Jonathan Seitz reported from Taipei. Prior to the meeting, he had emailed the board a summary that included statistics that Chera Jo Watts, executive associate for digital services, had collected. The news was very good—and demonstrated the importance of this committee for the Society's work and growth! In this article, I've included both written and oral parts of Jonathan's report. Website During 2021, journal co-editor Thomas Cattoi, past president Kristin Largen, vice president Mark Unno, Leo, and Jonathan posted articles and announcements on the blog. These totaled seven posts, which were more than in 2020. The traffic on our website increased during the months in which new content was posted: a pattern also noted in prior years. If you're interested in writing for the blog, you can find tips at: https://www.society-buddhist-christian-studies.org/topics/2022/2/7/write-forus-submittinga-blog-post-to-sbcs. Our 6,623 total website visits showed a 25% increase over last year. Membership Statistics We currently have 218 dues paying-members who receive a hard copy of the journal. This is a 25% increase over last year! The membership categories and fees are: [End Page 378] • 79 students (60 in 2020) $10; • 94 (75 in 2020) practitioners and adjunct, independent, or retired professors $25; • 45 (39 in 2020) assistant, associate, or full professors $45. Members' Online Access to the Journal Not long after our publisher, University of Hawai'i Press (UHP), began publishing the journal online as well as in print, issues were made available to our membership electronically through Project Muse via a link from UHP: a very useful research tool for...