I. Call to Order
President Ann Crigler called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

II. Awards

Howard Gillman, for committee members Patricia Goff and Bradley Macdonald, presented the Dissertation Award to Elisabeth Hilbink of Princeton University for "Legalism Against Democracy: The Political Role of the Judiciary in Chile, 1964-1994."

Arturo Vega presented the Chicanas/Chicanos and Politics Award to Cristina Beltran of Rutgers University for her paper "The Hybrid as Hierarchy: Theorizing Mextizaje in Chicano Political Discourse."

Ann Crigler, for committee members Bruce Cain, Elizabeth Gerber and Eric Schickler, presented the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper at the previous WPSA meeting to Robert W. Mickey of Harvard University for his paper "Ruling Parties in a Bind: The Transitions of South Carolina and Mississippi in Comparative Perspective."

Ann Crigler, for Mark Sawyer and the Committee, presented the Blacks and Politics Award to Seth Masket of UCLA for his paper "You've Got Mail: The Impact of Partisan and Racial Cues in Direct Mail Campaigns."

Barbara Morris presented the Charles Redd Award for Best Paper on the Politics of the American West to Stephanie Di Alto of UC Irvine for her paper "The Role of Policy, Discourse and Institutions in the Social Construction of Group Identity: The Japanese-American Experience, 1890s to the Present."

There was no Betty Nesvold Women and Politics Award presented this year.

III. Reports

Las Vegas Convention
Program Chair Tim Kaufman-Osborn. Ann Crigler thanked Tim and noted that this year's WPSA meeting had the largest attendance ever. Tim thanked all panel chairs and noted that the increased size of this year's convention: last year there were 162 panels, this year there are 190; last year there were 724 registered, this year there are 940 pre-registered and with on-sight registration 1004. Prior to 1996, the best attended meeting was in San Francisco with 847 registrants. There were only one or two requests for a hard copy of the preliminary program, so we will continue to make it available on the Web only at a big savings to the WPSA.

Political Research Quarterly
Harold Clarke and Ken Godwin invited all members to send manuscripts to PRQ. They had a good panel earlier in the day featuring the editors. Many good ideas were discussed, and they invited new and innovative ideas from the entire membership. PRQ is on an upward trajectory, and there is no reason it should not be as good as other regional journals. Harold and Ken noted they needed the members' help by submitting manuscripts and reviewing papers.

Executive Director's Report: Elizabeth Moulds
The Financial Report, Membership Report and Nominating Committee Slate were distributed.
Future Conventions:

2002 Long Beach Hilton, March 22-24 (Fri.-Sun.)
Ron Schmidt-local arrangements chair
2003 Denver - Downtown Hyatt
2004 Probably Portland
2005 Had hoped for San Francisco but it is too expensive. We are exploring Monterey

Membership: Individual and institutional memberships are up over last year but not to 1999 levels. However, the numbers do not reflect the large increase in participants for this year's meeting. Membership follows attendance at conventions, so desirable sites help boost our numbers.

Treasurer's Report: Gil St. Clair
Gil noted that the WPSA is solvent and at the end of the year we have net assets totaling $85,308.40 (see report). He projects that revenues will exceed expenses and add to our g rowing assets.

Nominating Committee Report
The Nominating Committee's slate of recommendations was distributed, and the motion to accept the slate was passed unanimously. It was noted that the slate included recommendations for two sets of officers this year so individuals agreeing to serve will have more notice of their future duties with WPSA. Subsequent rounds of nominations will seek one set of candidates for service two years out. The recommendations were:

Vice-President and Program Chair 2001-2002: Amy Bridges, UC San Diego

Vice-President and Program Chair 2002-2003: William Haltom, University of Puget Sound

Recording Secretary 2001-2004: Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, University of Utah

Executive Council 2001-2004:
Region A: Mary Caputi, California State University, Long Beach
Raphael Sonenshein, California State University, Fullerton
Region B: Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Texas Christian University
Region C: Andrea Simpson, University of Washington

Executive Council 2002-2005
Region A: Al Harris, Humboldt State University
Mark Petracca, University of California, Irvine
Region B: Victoria Farrar-Myers, University of Texas, Arlington
Region C: Ann Costain, University of Colorado

IV. Old Business

Actions Taken at March 2000 Business Meeting: Ann Crigler
The nine motions passed at the Business Meeting held in San Jose in 2000 were passed outside the confines of California law, so they were not valid. However, since they were passed in good faith, President Crigler informed the APSA President and others of the resolutions. APSA said that it had already done many of the things suggested, but the GRE and selection of APSR editorial board items have not been implemented. However, all editorial boards have agreed to promote diversity on their boards.

The WPSA is not permitted to have new items voted on at the Business Meeting without prior notice to the membership first unless there is a quorum of one third of the membership present. There is a new resolution clarifying how a motion can be added to the agenda. Items may be requested by e-mail.

Request for Discussion of APSA Rule for Gender Rotation of President
There was a request from the floor for a discussion of the APSA rule for rotation of male and female presidents and a further request for a motion for a Sense of the Meeting Resolution on the topic. Incoming WPSA President Tim Kaufman-Osborn was asked to send a letter to APSA President Robert Jervis regarding the issue. He sent the following to President Jervis on March 23, 2001:

In my capacity as president of the Western Political Science Association, I have been asked to communicate to you a sense of the meeting resolution that was unanimously adopted at our annual business meeting, which was conducted on March 16, 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The resolution in question encourages the Nominating Committee of the American Political Science Association to affirm the commitment, first adopted by the Western Political Science Association in 1982, to insure that persons of the same gender not serve as president-elect for more than two consecutive terms. This practice has proven quite successful for us over the course of the past two decades, and we consider it a vital expression of our commitment to diversity within the discipline of political science.

Meeting Adjourned 6:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Diana Dwyre