TO: All SHA members and HISTARCH subscribers
FROM: Pamela Cressey, President, SHA
RE: Salt Lake City Pre- and Post-Conference Workshops, January 1999
DATE: Monday, October 26, 1998
Recently there has been considerable discussion on HISTARCH about the SHA
workshops that are being offered before and after the annual SHA meeting in
Salt Lake City in January 1999. Here I'd like to provide some background
information on the topic. I appreciate that everyone dealing with the
subject wants to make sure that our conferences continue to have the same
traditional atmosphere of collegiality and scholarship. Our workshop
series is designed to maintain our tradition of learning from one another
while enhancing opportunities to gain and retain our knowledge and skills.
In response to his recent HISTARCH postings, I have talked with Bob
Schuyler about the SHA Board's intentions in establishing the workshops and
my personal commitment to continued professional development. Bob and I
are in basic agreement.
The SHA Board's decision to start SHA-sponsored workshops was multipurpose.
We recognized that archaeologists at all stages of intellectual
development want and need to learn about new methods, laws, and ethics as
well as have hands-on experience with different kinds of material culture.
While conference papers, journals, newsletters, and books provide most of
our knowledge base, face-to-face contact with respected colleagues over
several hours provides a special opportunity to master a core of knowledge
and apply it to our own needs. We want to bring this active learning
environment to the SHA meetings to advance the professional development of
our members. The workshops and individuals were carefully selected by the
SHA Academic and Professional Training Committee (APTC) with input from the
Board and the Salt Lake City conference chair. The fees provide for
expenses and some revenue for SHA to offset potential dues increases and
to offer other services for our membership. We also are examining other
ways of increasing our revenues without raising dues and conference fees.
We would appreciate any ideas from others.
We did not intend to create an unequal access to resources nor turn our
lovely conference into a carnival with individuals hawking their respective
skills for fees. However, when seating must be limited to promote good
learning, access to all conference participants is not feasible. The APTC
has worked diligently to minimize the cost of the workshops so that the
registration fees can be kept in a range that is affordable to most
members. We seek a professional conference with up-to-date information,
companionship, books, tours and now, in 1999, good SHA-sponsored workshops.
If anyone has ideas about future workshop topics and an appropriate fee
structure for students and non-students, please pass them along. I am sure
the committee will consider various options so everyone can be included as
much as possible.
Secretary-Treasurer Tef Rodeffer and President-Elect/APTC Chair Terry
Majewski have researched the SHA archives to provide a history of the
workshop issue since 1988 and have conferred with SHA Parliamentarian Rick
Sprague. They prepared the following overview so the membership can
understand how the Board made the decision to start the 1999 workshops.
The workshops are consistent with purposes of the society and the
Long-Range Plan. I look forward to the time when we can all go to SHA
meetings and acquire more skills in this positive way. I thank Terry, Tef
, Mike Polk and everyone on the committee for their time and creativity in
establishing the workshops.
I welcome other discussion, which you may direct to me at
[log in to unmask] or to Terry Majewski at
[log in to unmask]
Pam Cressey
Brief History of the Workshop Issue since 1988
On January 15, 1988 [at the SHA business meeting in Reno], following a
statement that two workshops were held at the conference that charged
substantial fees, Robert Schuyler presented the following resolution to
"ensure that costs are kept down so students and those on fixed incomes can
continue to participate" (Minutes of the Business Meeting, Newsletter 21:2:7):
"Be it resolved that fees for all scholarly activities at or in any way
associated with the annual meetings of the Society for Historical
Archaeology be covered by the general registration fee; that there be no
separate additional or special fees for such activities (seconded Roberta
Greenwood)."
The minutes of the business meeting recorded the following discussion on
the topic:
"Subsequent discussion indicated that tours would be excluded since they
are not scholarly activities and roundtable lunch fees are excluded since
they are per diem costs. Mary Beaudry stated that it was wonderful that
people devoted an entire day to giving workshops and providing a special
opportunity. Individuals must make the choice if they can afford to go.
[Garry Wheeler] Stone stated that it is increasingly common for national
societies to include training sessions before and after the meetings for
the convenience of people attending the conference. Costs of our workshops
are modest compared to organizations like the Association for Preservation
Technology. [Bill] Adams stated that a fee will probably need to be charged
to cover the cost of the hotel room. The resolution was carried, although
it in no way reflects on the excellence of the workshops."
During the period since this motion was passed, the University of
Nevada-Reno has conducted workshops for which fees were charged immediately
preceding the conference. These sessions have been well attended. No
issues have been raised to the Board of Directors about these
workshops.
The Board of Directors is empowered to make society policy, including
modifying previous policies as necessary to meet the needs of the
membership. The Board again addressed the issue of workshops in its May 10,
1997, meeting. Then-President Henry Miller "suggested that SHA sponsor
material culture workshops presented by recognized experts. Following
extensive discussion [which included discussion of the resolution passed in
1988], the Board determined that workshops would improve services to our
members, enhance available revenues, and improve the society's position in
hotel negotiation. [Sue] Renaud moved that the Board and the society
sponsor workshops by recognized experts to be held in the day or two ahead
of the regular sessions for the benefit of the membership. Registration
fee would be charged (seconded [Julie] King; carried unanimously.) Miller
will request the Academic and Professional Training Committee, in
consultation with the Conference Committee and the Secretary-Treasurer to
work out the details" (SHA Newsletter 30:3:5).
The preceding statement was published in the Fall 1997 Newsletter. Until
Bob Schuyler's two postings on HISTARCH of October 7, 1998, the Board had
not received any questions or complaints about the policy change. The
Academic and Professional Training Committee, following instructions from
then-President Henry Miller, proceeded to arrange for five workshops to be
presented in advance of the 1999 Conference, for which fees would be
charged. The Heritage Resources Management Program at the University of
Nevada-Reno and the National Preservation Institute are also offering
workshops.
The purpose of the Society for Historical Archaeology, as stated in its
constitution, is to "promote scholarly research and the dissemination of
knowledge concerning historical archaeology, to exchange information in
this field, to hold periodic conferences to discuss problems of mutual
interest relating to the study of historical archaeology; and to obtain the
cooperation of the concerned disciplines for projects of research." The
Board of Directors believes that offering these workshops is consistent
with the defined purpose of the society. Providing such educational
opportunities also is consistent with the Long-Range Plan adopted by the
Board.
These workshops also provide continuing-education opportunities in a format
that can be effectively integrated with employment outside of academia. As
this is a large component of the society's membership, and few similar
opportunities regularly exist for this type of continuing education, the
Board believes that providing this kind of educational forum is both
appropriate and needed.
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