Members Present: President Ann Crigler; Program Chair Tim Kaufman-Osborn; Treasurer Gilbert St. Clair; Council Members Michael McCann, Michelle Saint-Germain, Barbara Norrander, Barbara Morris, Manuel Avalos, Charles Lockhart, Diana Dwyre; Ex-Officio members Ron Hrebenar; Harold Clarke; Ken Godwin, and Executive Director Elizabeth Moulds and Associate Director Elsa Favila.

Guests Present: Bill Haltom, Ted Jelen, Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, Ron Schmidt

Introductions: Elsa Favila, WPSA Associate Director

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Ann Crigler, WPSA President, at 8:01 am.

I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the September 2, 2000 Executive Council meeting in Washington, D.C. were approved.

II. REPORTS

Executive Director's Report: Elizabeth Moulds
Betty reported on the following items:
1. There was a nominating slate mix-up in our effort to get two years ahead with nominations, the Nominating Committee proposed twice as many names as were needed for this round. The committee was told to pare down the list and apologies were sent to all of those who were cut from the list. Betty suggested to the Council that they be nominated in the next round.

2. As follow-up on the nine motions that were not allowed from 2000 meeting because there was no prior notice of them, Elizabeth Moulds reported that the Council had developed a method for placing items on the agenda. Members were duly notified in November, but there were no submissions made. Items may be brought from the floor, but they cannot be voted on without a quorum of one third of the membership. However, issued may be submitted to a mail ballot of the entire association.

3. The WPSA has signed a contract with the Long Beach Hilton for next year's meeting. There will be a different pattern of days (Friday through Sunday), because the hotel's guest room prices are substantially lower over the weekend.

4. The WPSA will give a $500-600 subsidy for the Minority Scholars' reception for wine and food. UNLV is paying for the graduate student reception this year. Thank you to Ted Jelen for speaking with his dean about this.

5. Finances: Both Gil St. Clair and Betty Moulds agree that we need more long-term planning. There was a drop in membership, and San Jose was not a very lucrative convention-we didn't lose money but we were short on expected revenue. We need to maximize convention revenue and minimize expenses. For example, Web-based pre-registration is less expensive. This year we Web registered 280 more than last and solved the dead-beat problem. Many thanks to Elsa Favila for setting up these Web capabilities. We moved the management of convention finances to Sacramento instead of the host city. We have set up a direct billing system to collect from groups at the conference, reduced printing and mailing expenses with Web-based preliminary program. Recent changes to Web site-the site now includes all minutes, mailing and registration for the meeting, plus e-mail notices are sent to participants regarding directions, hotel overflow, etc.

6. 2002-2005 Convention Planning: Betty has done a lot of research for San Francisco, is exploring Monterey as an alternative and has more data on Portland.

7. Elsa Favila: Since about 1986, Elsa has been the right hand of the WPSA, and the Council agreed to give her an official title, WPSA Associate Director, with much thanks for her hard work on a variety of duties. The motion passed unanimously.

8. Finally, President Ann Crigler thanked Betty Moulds for all the wonderful work she does every day for the association. The WPSA would be in serious trouble without her.

Program Chair's Report: Tim Kaufman-Osborn
Tim thanked Ann Crigler, Betty Mounls, Elsa Favila and Ted Jelen.
This size of this year's meeting is impressive: 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 will be over 1000.

Local Arrangements Las Vegas 2001: Ted Jelen
Ted thanked Anne, Betty, Tim and Elsa. There were some difficulties with the hotel (e.g., required guests to prepay), and people were scattered over 4 hotels in immediate area and some on the Strip.

Local Arrangements Long Beach 2002: Ron Schmidt
Ron noted that they are very excited about hosting next year's meeting. The meeting will be Friday-Sunday, March 22-24, 2002 at the Long Beach Hilton Hotel. The Rate will be $121 single or double.

Membership Report: Elizabeth Moulds
Betty distributed the membership report. 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.

Financial Report: Gil St. Clair
Gil distributed the financial report, and he expressed concern that our expenses exceeded revenue in the past year. He noted that recent changes (such as Web pre-registration and preliminary program-approx. $5,000 by not sending out program in mail) should help improve our financial situation. One reason expenses went up is because there was an increase in taxes and fees. For example, we now have to pay payroll taxes because we have crossed the threshold of number of hours worked.

Political Research Quarterly Report: Harold Clarke and Ken Godwin
They distributed the report. Both Harold and Ken are changing institutions. They have been able to improve PRQ's financial situation and would like to offer $1,000 cash prize for the best paper. Authors will be asked to give an electronic copy with their submission so that all editors and staff can have access to the manuscripts. The report does not include about 40 revise & resubmits that Harold and Ken inherited, some from several years' back. Also a number of papers cut across different fields. They again encouraged Council members to submit articles and thanked those on editorial board. Turnaround time for reviews is about three months. It is sometimes difficult to get reviewers, and other times reviewers do not respond, thus creating turnaround delays. If we can make PRQ more prestigious, we will have fewer problems with reviewers. Paper Prize: Harold, Ken and some editorial board members proposed offering a $1,000 cash prize for the best submission and honorable mentions for best paper from each field (with no cash award) in an effort to create a better incentive structure. The prize would exclude research notes. Concerns were raised about representing a variety of different methodological approaches. Harold noted that submissions are not pre-screened in terms of methodology, and judgements about substance and methodology are made by reviewers.

Nominating Committee Report: Elizabeth Moulds for Christine DiStefano.
The Nominating Committee Slate was distributed. Slate was accepted. 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

III. OLD BUSINESS

Site Selection 2004-5: San Francisco is a big problem because the hotel rates are so high, so SF is on the back burner for now. Portland: Both the Marriott and the Hilton are available for 2004 and 2005. Monterey: Ann Crigler's idea. Marriott and Doubletree are possibilities. Neither has enough meeting rooms, but there is a conference center next door to both hotels. The yet-to-be-negotiated rates are $169 for the Marriott and $155 for the Doubletree-they always start out higher. Betty recommended we approve Portland for 2004, with a preference for the Marriott, and that she investigate Monterey further for 2005.

Executive Committee Members as Committee Liaisons: Ann Crigler
The Council heard from some who had served as liaisons in the past year. They reported mixed success. A resolution was recommended to make executive council members ex-officio members on all committees. Charles Lockhart suggested that perhaps we should not rotate people off of committees automatically if they want to continue to serve. Peregrine Schwartz-Shea noted that some committees do not need to work every year (e.g., Constitution and Bylaws Committee).

IV. NEW BUSINESS

2001/2002 Budget: Gil St. Clair
Gil moved to accept the budget as presented, seconded by Charles Lockhart. Passed unanimously. Gil noted that we need to budget for travel on the higher side and hope that it comes in lower.

Increased Use of the Web for WPSA Communications: Elizabeth Moulds
Betty proposed rather than doing one to three snail-mail mailings, that we send a post card or letter with information about upcoming meetings and where to find more information on the Web site. Ann Crigler noted that she has talked to folks from other associations and they note that fewer people look at news letter on the Web, yet they do look at the preliminary program. Perhaps we could send the newsletter as an attachment to an e-mail, but we do not currently have a complete e-mail list. Others expressed a need for at least one paper mailing.
RESOLUTION: Be it resolved that the WPSA will send a May mailing to all members as usual via U.S. mail with reference to the Web site and send a pared-down mailing in October-November. Passed unanimously

Constitution and Bylaws
Proposed resolution to WPSA Policies and Procedures:
Proposed new #8 (old #8 will become #9)
RESOLUTION:
9. Committees:
a. The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws, Committee on Nominations, Committee on Professional Development, and committee on Membership, Attendance and Registration normally will include at least one member of the WPSA Executive Council, serving ex-officio on the committee, as a liaison. Any other committees desiring such a liaison may request one. The WPSA President will appoint any such liaisons.

b. The terms of committee members will be renewable with the mutual consent of the member and the appointing authority.
Moved by Diana Dwyre; seconded by Manuel Avalos.
Adopted unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Diana Dwyre