- IUS Leadership
I write with good news, some announcements, and requests for assistance. In summary, we are doing well, but maintaining our base of Fellows is an ongoing challenge. Here are some specifics: McCormick Tribune Foundation grant renewalI am happy to announce that the McCormick Tribune Foundation has renewed our "general support" grant for another year. It is a tribute to the work of our Fellows that the Foundation agreed to continue its support at a time of financial retrenchment there. In addition, general support not tied to particular projects of interest to a prospective donor is especially difficult to get. Clearly the Foundation is impressed by the importance of the work we do and the excellence with which we do it. Congratulations to all of us. |
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Biennial International Conference, October 26-28, 2007The next biennial international conference will be in the traditional IUS venue, the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. After careful consideration of several alternatives, it became clear that the Palmer House Hilton was the still best option for us. We owe a debt Bob Vitas and Sandy Stanley for their early work on arrangements, scheduling, and the contract. Check our website, http://www.iusafs.org/, for continuing announcements and deadlines.  IUS President John Allen Williams (left) with former IUS President Sam Sarkesian. IUS SecretariatAdina Sigartau continues to serve ably as Secretariat Manager, using office space provided by Loyola University Chicago. The Secretariat may be reached by phone, 773-508-2930, or fax, 773-508-2929. IUS Council ElectionThe next Council election will be held in 2008. For administrative reasons it is better to have the elections on non-Conference years. One third of the Council positions (10) will be up for election by the Fellows at that time. Please consider whether you wish to serve for a six year term and let me, Bob Vitas, or a current Council member know of your interest. |
 IUS President John Allen Williams (right) with former IUS Presidents (left to right) Charles Moskos, Sam Sarkesian, and David Segal. IUS web pageWebmaster and Assistant Executive Director Doc Hunter directs our web page activities, hosted on the mainframe computer of Loyola University Chicago. We purchased http://www.iusafs.com/, as well as http://www.iusafs.org/, our usual address. We wanted to ensure no one else acquired that address and it has the additional advantage of helping those of us who occasionally mistype addresses. At the present time our web page works only in Microsoft Internet Explorer, as noted on the site. Making the web pages cross-platform compatible - to work, for example, in Netscape or the increasingly popular Mozilla Firefox - is underway, but it is a long process with implications for maintaining the site in the long term. A question for the Fellows: is this priority of sufficient importance or time sensitivity to devote more resources to it?  IUS President John Allen Williams (left) with former IUS President Charles Moskos. |
Armed Forces & Society transitionThe high intellectual quality of our flagship journal continues, under the able (and tireless) direction of editor Pat Shields, assisted by her board of editors. You will have noticed some changes in format as we transitioned to Sage Publications beginning with Volume 32, Issue 1. Our association with Sage has several benefits for us, including Sage's in-house copy editing, reduced costs, increased revenues, and access to the Sage full-text collections in Sociology and Political Science for all Fellows via our website, http://www.iusafs.org/. (Please try this!) Sage combines marketing expertise and a strong desire to extend the impact of Armed Forces & Society. All of this depends on the excellence of our journal, and all measures of scholarly impact show that this is continuing. We owe a special debt of gratitude to James Burk and his Publications Committee for their advice and counsel during the transition. IUS RegionsCanadian IUS Fellows are continuing their strong success with IUS Canada. Their next biennial conference will occur September 29 - October 1 of this year at the Lord Eglin Hotel in Ottawa. See our website, http://www.iusafs.org/, for conference details. I hope to see many of you there. Paul Viotti continues to lead the IUS Rocky Mountain region, surmounting the problems caused by the great distances. One solution is to combine IUS events with related meetings. We appreciate his continuing efforts on our behalf. Bob Goldich has agreed to take the lead in reinvigorating the IUS DC region, a longstanding need. For many reasons, including a critical mass of Fellows and proximity to decision makers and media, it is the natural place for a successful region. I ask anyone wishing to assist Bob in organizing the meetings to contact him at rgoldich@cox.net. He would be especially appreciative if anyone is able to provide administrative support. MembershipWe must ensure that members of the next generation of scholars are exposed to the IUS and encouraged to join our number. To that end there is a special student rate of $45. I ask that each of you think about which of your promising students should be invited to join, and consider whether you or your department could subsidize their membership for a couple of years. We want to ensure that we do what we can to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities, but we remain interested in Fellows at all levels of professional development, irrespective of gender or ethnicity. The best recruitment tool is a recommendation from a colleague who understands the professional and personal benefits of being an IUS Fellow. Fellow recruitment ensures our future. It is a very high priority and I ask that each of you consider what you can do to help out. Final thoughtsMany thanks for your scholarship, your contributions to public discourse, and your work on behalf of our organization. We follow the example of Morris Janowitz in many things, including the avoidance of a large bureaucracy. Several very talented and dedicated individuals give an immense amount of their time to ensure the continuing success of our organization. We are particularly indebted to Armed Forces & Society Editor Pat Shields, Executive Director/Treasurer Bob Vitas, Publications Committee Chair James Burk, Assistant Executive Director Doc Hunter, and Secretariat Manager Adina Sigartau for all their work for the IUS. Please let Bob Vitas or me know if you have any suggestions for the benefit of the IUS. Warmest regards, |
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