Business Meeting

Society for the Philosophical Study of Education (SPSE)

SPSE business meeting, November 2, 2007, 4:30

Meeting convened by Jason Helfer, President. Jason clarifies rules regarding posing of motions, avoidance of motions within motions, need to second motions.

Jason distributes a copy of the notes from the last meeting, asks that they be reviewed and accepted. Alex Makedon approves the notes, Charlie Blatz seconds the motion. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOLUSLY.

Jason gives his report as president. 2006-07 described as an uneventful year. The 2004-2005 proceedings have been published by AuthorHouse, and are available for purchase from the AuthorHouse website. Jason reports on work for organizing spring 2007 APA sessions and on serving as chair for the SPSE sessions at the conference.

Alex Makedon gives support of Jason's comments, mentions that the proceeding are out. Alex suggests that the names of the authors of articles in the Proceedings be mentioned under "author" in the space provided for such purpose in the AuthorHouse publisher web site, so that such authors' work in the Proceedings can be located by web searches, such as with Google.

Guillemette Johnston gives her report as vice president. Editing of the SPSE Roundtable and the listing of the 2007 SPSE conference on the CPF listserv are mentioned. Guillemette mentions that for the next conference, the conference committee should put together a poster that can be downloaded and posted, so as to advertise the conference.

Marge Oliker gives her report as treasurer. SPSE has approximately the same amount of money as last year. Details of accounts are included in the treasurer's report. There is discussion of an uncashed check for $72.00. Because of the delay in cashing the check, AuthorHouse requested that SPSE issue a written request to AuthorHouse for a new check.

The committee discusses payment of royalties from AuthorHouse. AuthorHouse refuses to pay royalties from sales of the Proceedings to SPSE, claiming it can only write checks to a person. Discussion of who the checks should be addressed to ensues. It is suggested that checks be addressed to Marge, but this increased income might cause tax problems. Phil Smith suggests that the society pay Marge to cover for any tax liability she may incur due to accepting royalty checks. Joseph Freedman suggests that these concerns are best addressed by a tax accountant. Jason states that he will speak to an accountant. Alex points out that the bank SPSE worked with previously (as MPES) had an account for the society and would accept checks made out to MPES. Alex suggests that AuthorHouse make out checks to the treasurer by name, indicating job title. Phil Smith suggests that the officers of the society decide which policy to pursue.

Alexander Makedon gives his report as WebMaster. Alex discusses posting of the Roundtable. He canvassed SPSE officers and presenters at the SPSE sessions at the APA-Central conference, and got papers presented at the APA conference. Papers were reviewed by Alex, Guillemette Johnston, and Allan Johnston, and were either accepted or returned to authors with suggestions for revision. Papers are still being reviewed for inclusion at the time of the meeting. SPSE now has two publications, the Conference Proceedings and the Roundtable (SPSE Newsletter). Alex describes the review process for the Roundtable as "civilized" and good, involving serious peer review.

Alex discusses his upgrading of the website, which includes archiving documents since 1975. He asks for any materials that members of SPSE may have pertaining to the society that can be scanned. Alex mentions Phil Smith and Ron Swartz as two members who because of their seniority may have pertinent documents for scanning. Alex hopes to improve the aesthetics of the website.

There is discussion of posting strategies. Alex mentions that PDF files are not located or searched by Google searches. PDFs however keep the formal integrity of the original documents. There is debate over whether to post documents in PDF or in HTML. Richard Pipan suggests appending HTML copies to PDF documents to ensure that they can be located in Google searches.

Jason directs the officers to unfinished business. Now SPSE is part of APA, and special interest is growing in this side of things. APA has set 2 sessions for SPSE at the April conference, on April 17 and 18 respectively. There is discussion of how to organize the conference. Should there by 30 presenters in two sessions (as last time), or limitation? The first conference had a good showing; each presenter had 6 to 7 minutes. One of the topics suggested as a topic was the role of philosophy in education. There was an avalanche of proposals.

Should participation this year be limited to five to six participants? Discussion on how to organize the conference centers on several issues. Phil points out that having too many presenters might cause SPSE to not be respected. On the other hand, Alex says, refusing papers for any reason than that they came after the deadline discourages participation, so that those who send proposals never come back. Guillemette mentions that this might be due to the need for funding from universities to come to the conference-only those who present papers get funded. The format of the roundtable is suggested-one central paper with several respondents. It is agreed that this is the best approach. Jason suggests that members of SPSE submit topics to respond to, then officers will select from submitted topics. Allan asks if papers submitted for APA can be considered for SPSE. Alex says only if deadline is missed. There is discussion of the fact that presenters often bring too much material. It is agreed that the Oxford Roundtable approach be used-2 to 3 main papers are presented, respondents get 15 minutes each to respond. Guillemette suggests that main papers be posted on a website. Phil mentions again that the worst thing that can happen at the APA is that SPSE be given low status. Patrick Roberts moves that the Oxford Roundtable approach become the model for the APA presentations. Seconded by Alex, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Topic to be decided later; topics will be e-mailed to Jason, voted on by board, then sent to Alex, who will post them on the website.

Meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.-buildings closing!

Allan Johnston,

SPSE Secretary