Plan to join your friends and colleagues in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland, November 23–26, for the 2013 AAR & SBL Annual Meetings.

Annual Meeting Registration and Housing Is Open! Register online for the 2013 Annual Meetings Baltimore. Registration rates increase on June 16, so lock in the savings today. If you haven't renewed your 2013 membership, now is the perfect time. Reap the savings of your AAR membership!

Annual Meeting Brochure: Hot off the press! Everything you need for the upcoming meeting in one convenient place — hotels, local transportation, tours, workshops, registration and housing forms, and much more.

Additional Meetings Registration: Reserve space today for your reception, editorial board meeting, business meeting, or breakfast/lunch gathering. Register by August 1 to ensure your event is listed in the Annual Meeting Program Book.

Labor Situation at Baltimore Hotels

2012 Annual Meeting Videos from Chicago: Marty Award winner Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza interviewed by Judith Plaskow, plenary addresses by Ivone Gebara and Harvey Cox, the plenary panel on migrants' religions, and more.

AAR is a member of the International Association for the History of Religions. The IAHR March e-Bulletin Supplement is available here.

AAR Endorses ACLS Statement on NSF Funding for Political Science Research.

New Member Discount Program: Member discounts available from more than a dozen academic journals and book publishers! See the complete list here.

Call for Committee Nominations: Members of the AAR are invited to nominate persons to fill open positions on AAR Committees, Task Forces, and Juries. You may submit your nominations online! Deadline: August 1.

Teaching and Learning Committee: Seeks nominations for the AAR Award for Excellence in Teaching. Nominations of winners of campus awards, or any other awards, are encouraged. Online submissions now accepted. Deadline: October 1.

New Committee! The AAR has created a Status of People with Disabilities in the Profession Committee to assure the full access of people with disabilities in the Academy and to advance their status within the profession.

Academic Abby
Do you have a problem you don't feel comfortable bringing to your colleagues? Ask Academic Abby about what's bugging you right now.

Ask the Diva
If you are experiencing issues of special concern to LGBTIQ scholars of religion, the Diva can help! What questions do you have about graduate school, career development, teaching, etc.? Submit your question online and members of the Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee will respond. Your confidentiality is assured; you may use an anonymous e-mail address if you wish. With your permission, the questions will be posted anonymously in Religious Studies News.

Religion in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains Conference, Denver, June 22, 2013: Special one-day conference on religious identity and practice, supported by an AAR Regional Development Grant.

Regional meeting dates for 2014 are available in the May issue of Religious Studies News. Support your region and plan to attend your 2014 regional meeting!

Call for Student Editors: Seeking applications for From the Student Desk editor (deadline: October 31) and Speaking of Students editor (deadline: November 1).

The May issue of Religious Studies News is available and includes news about the upcoming 2013 Annual Meetings, how to get involved in AAR leadership, a new Spotlight on Teaching, and much more!

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, March 2013, is published. Includes articles, essays, book reviews, and a special section featuring artwork from Dorothy Braudy's photographic project "Sacred Los Angeles."

Oxford University Press publishes new and recent titles in the AAR Book Series.

2013-2014 Research Grants Online Submission System Now Open! Research grant proposals may be submitted between May 1 and August 1. Please see here for information about the application process.

Regional Development Grants: Have you considered applying for a 2013–2014 Regional Development Grant? Regional Development Grants provide funds for special projects within the regions that benefit the scholarly and professional life of AAR members. Deadline: August 1.

In Memoriam
Otto Maduro
April 14, 1945 – May 9, 2013

It is with great sadness that the AAR announces the passing of Otto Maduro, Professor of Religion at Drew University and the AAR's immediate past President. A philosopher and sociologist of religion, Professor Maduro was the author of more than 100 books and articles in a dozen languages. First and foremost, his work focused on the interrelation of religious traditions (the Christian churches in particular) and the yearnings for liberation among the economically, racially, culturally, and/or sexually oppressed peoples. Please join the AAR staff and Board in keeping Otto's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers in this time of loss. (Read the full announcement here.)

Awards and Accomplishments
Nancy J. Davis, DePauw University
Davis's book, Claiming Society for God: Religious Movements and Social Welfare in Egypt, Israel, Italy, and the United States (Indiana University Press, 2012) co-won the gold medal in the Religion category of the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards. It also received the 2013 Scholarly Achievement Award of the North Central Sociological Association.

John L. Esposito, Georgetown University
Esposito received the Lifetime Achievement Award: American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, "In Recognition of His Outstanding Contributions to the Study of Islam and Muslim Societies and for Promoting Muslim-Christian Understanding."

Pankaj Jain, University of North Texas
Jain was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship for Environment Leadership Program to study the Culture and Ecology of the Indian Himalayas.

Scott M. Kenworthy, Miami University of Ohio
Awarded Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study Residential Fellowship (fall semester 2013) and Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (18 months) for book project on "Patriarch Tikhon Bellavin, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Russian Revolution."

Anthony Byrd, Emory University
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is pleased to name Byrd a 2013 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow. Byrd is a doctoral candidate in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. His dissertation, As a Benefit for Mankind: Qādī 'Abd al-Jabbār's (d. 1025) Free Will Theodicy, explores moral identity and the formation of religious orthodoxy in classical Islamic thought. Each 2013 Newcombe Fellow will receive a 12-month award of $25,000.

Cristina Richie, Boston College
Cristina Richie, a PhD student at Boston College, won the 2013 Catholic Health Association's [CHA] Annual Theology and Ethics Colloquium graduate student essay award. Richie was flown to St. Louis to present "Building a Framework for Green Bioethics: Integrating Ecology into the Medical Industry" in March and was awarded $500.

Christopher D. Rodkey, Penn State York
Honored with the 2013 James H. Burness Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is given annually to recognize any aspect of excellent instruction that contributes to the academic quality of the Penn State York campus.

Lavanya Vemsani, Shawnee State University
Awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award at Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, OH. The Distinguished Teaching Award honors a full-time faculty member at SSU in recognition of outstanding commitment to teaching at Shawnee State University. Vemsani was presented with the Award at the Commencement Ceremony on May 4, 2013.

Books and Major Publications
Sayed Hassan Akhlaq Hussaini, Center for the Study of Islam and the Middle East
From Tradition of Balkh to Modernity of Paris (Kabul: Afghanistan, Nebras Research Institute, 2010).

Patrick S. Cheng, Episcopal Divinity School
Rainbow Theology: Bridging Race, Sexuality, and Spirit, Seabury Books, April 2013, ISBN: 978-1596272415.

Bradley S. Clough, The University of Montana
Early Indian and Theravada Buddhism: Soteriological Controversy and Diversity, Cambria Press, 2012, ISBN: 978-1-60497-829-2.

Monica A. Coleman, Claremont School of Theology
Yes Ain't I a Womanist Too?: Third Wave Womanist Religious Thought, Fortress Press, May 2013, ISBN: 978-0800698768.

Jodi Eichler-Levine, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Suffer the Little Children: Uses of the Past in Jewish and African American Children's Literature, New York University Press, April 2013, ISBN: 978-0814722992.

John L. Esposito, Georgetown University
The Future of Islam, Oxford University Press, March 2013, ISBN: 978-0-19-997577-8.

Ronald A. Kuipers, The Institute for Christian Studies
Richard Rorty (Bloomsbury Contemporary American Thinkers), Bloomsbury Academic, March 2013, ISBN: 978-1-4411-8238-8.

Carl Olson, Allegheny College
The Allure of Decadent Thinking: Religious Studies and the Challenge of Postmodernism, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-19-995983-9.

Leslie E. Sponsel, University of Hawaii
Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution, Praeger, July 2012.

Manuel A. Vasquez, University of Florida
The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions, Leiden: Brill, 2013, Co-edited with Cristina Rocha (University of Western Sydney), ISBN13: 9789004236943.

Pamela D. Winfield, Elon University
Icons and Iconoclasm in Japanese Buddhism: Kukai and Dogen on the Art of Enlightenment, Oxford University Press, 2013.

Career Transitions
Michael Jerryson, Youngstown State University
Michael Jerryson has accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Youngstown State University.

Ronald A. Kuipers, The Institute for Christian Studies
Appointed Director of the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics at The Institute for Christian Studies.

AAR Member Notes: Let your AAR colleagues know about your professional milestones. Member Notes are published monthly in the AAR e-Bulletin. Recent Member Notes may also be found on the Member Notes page.