Reforms to the ASECS Annual Meeting Program Committee
The ASECS Executive Board has approved the following changes to the Program Selection Process for the Society’s Annual Meeting, beginning with the process leading up to our meeting in Toronto in 2021. These reforms will be implemented for Toronto alongside a one-time procedure to roll over Sessions that had been scheduled for St. Louis.
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Reforms to the ASECS Annual Meeting Program Committee
Membership and Selection Procedures
Beginning with the Program Selection Process for the ASECS 2021 Annual Meeting in Toronto, the following reforms will be implemented:
I. Composition of the Program Selection Committee
A. Committee members do not need to reside in the metropolitan area in which the Annual Meeting is
being held to serve on the Committee.
B. The Committee membership will expand from three to five people.
C. The Chair of the Committee will be appointed from among the Committee members who served in
the previous year.
D. The Committee will include one member of the ASECS Executive Board.
E. One member of the committee will be a graduate student, a non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF)
member, or an independent scholar.
F. No more than two Committee members may be from the same disciplinary field, as those fields
are defined in Bylaw 3 of the ASECS Constitution.
G. No more than two members of the committee will be working within the same geographic field.
II. Limitations on Panel and Paper Submissions
A. By decision of the Executive Board, no more than 195 sessions may be mounted at the Annual
Meeting.
B. Society members may submit only one proposal in response to the initial call for panel proposals.
There are no exceptions to this policy.
C. The Society’s rules permit members to present only one paper at the meeting. Members may, in
addition to presenting a paper, serve as a session chair, a respondent, a workshop facilitator, or a
roundtable participant, but they may not present a paper in a session they chair. No member may
appear more than twice in the program (excluding sessions sponsored by ASECS).
D. No member may submit a proposal to more than two sessions. If a member does submit more
than one proposal, the member must, when submitting their proposal, indicate to each respective
session chair that they are submitting a proposal to another panel. Members must also notify both
session chairs if they are proposing both a paper and a roundtable version of the same material,
since paper and roundtable versions of the same presentation may not be given at the meeting.
E. Second sessions are exceptional, and only granted as follows:
1. Panel organizers requesting a second session must submit the appropriate paperwork by
October 1. No spaces are reserved in advance for second sessions.
2. Second session assignments are dependent on the number of sessions initially accepted that
are cancelled because the panels do not fill. If no sessions are cancelled for that reason,
there will be no second sessions.
3. The Program Selection Committee holds two session time slots in reserve in case of last-
minute additions requested by the President, or in case of other scheduling snafus.
F. All requests for second sessions will be forwarded to the Program Committee. In evaluating these
requests, the Committee will give priority to sessions that cross disciplinary or geographic
boundaries and/or enhance the range of topics offered by the Annual Meeting as a whole. Session
chairs will be notified about the second session by October 15.
III. Rules Regarding the Selection of Panels and Papers
A. The Committee will not vet proposals anonymously at any stage of the Program Selection process.
B. Society members should address queries about the program to the Business Office
at asecsoffice@gmail.com, not to the Program Selection Committee members.
C. Prior to the initial call for session proposals for each Annual Meeting, the Society will endeavor to
post the proposals for sessions guaranteed to ASECS Affiliates and Caucuses. These sessions
count towards the mandated limit of 195 sessions at each Annual Meeting.
Approved by the ASECS Executive Board 3/12/2020