ANNUAL MEETING NEWS

September 30 is the deadline for Annual Meeting registration at the Advanced rate. After this date, Annual Meeting registration rates increase to the Regular registration rate. Hotels are still available with the specially discounted hotel room rates. You must be registered to secure housing. Check the Annual Meeting Program Planner for all the details, and register and book housing online.

If you have already registered, Annual Meeting name badge materials will be mailed to you in early September.

Rooms Are Selling Fast — Reserve Your Room at a Headquarters Hotel Today!

Reserve a room at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel or the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel before they sell out! You won’t find a better deal that offers such close proximity to Annual Meeting sessions and more opportunity for those great “hall networking meetings” that make the Annual Meeting so special. What are the advantages of the AAR hotels?

• Stay at a first-class hotel for a specially-negotiated low rate.
  
• Be at the center of the action. Staying at the Hyatt or Marriott means you are only an elevator ride or a skywalk jaunt from a can’t-miss session, the exhibit hall, or the Job Center.
  
• Rely on the AAR “seal of approval.” All hotels have been inspected by the AAR staff for quality and accessibility.
  
• Networking opportunities are easier and enjoyable.
  
• Hotels are located right next to a MARTA public transit stop (Peachtree Center) — only a $2.75 ride from the airport!
  
• Your support helps the AAR keep Annual Meeting registration costs low. Hotels offer the AAR deals on the meeting room costs based on the number of hotel reservations. Staying at an official hotel helps the AAR provide its many services at such low cost during the Annual Meeting.

Act now! Guaranteed room rates expire on October 8.

Help to Green our Annual Meeting

The AAR is making it easy for members to purchase Renewable Energy Credits when traveling to the Annual Meeting. By simply clicking a box on the online registration page, members can choose to give $15 to NativeEnergy. The AAR’s Sustainability Task Force selected NativeEnergy because of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases while supporting its sustainability projects. NativeEnergy helps you to assist Native American, farmer-owned, community-based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits. These projects will displace electricity from fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions on your behalf, making up for the CO2 emissions you can’t avoid. We encourage you to make this inexpensive commitment to helping make our meetings more environmentally friendly. The AAR will collect the funds and purchase the offsets immediately before the Annual Meeting.

Nurturing the Next Generation of Scholars Workshop at the Annual Meeting

Sponsored by the American Academy of Religion and The Fund for Theological Education, this two-part workshop is designed for students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups who are considering the pursuit of a PhD or ThD in religion, theology, or biblical studies. The goals of this workshop are to introduce prospective graduate students to the professional guilds, provide opportunities for participants to dialogue with distinguished faculty and current graduate students, provide useful information on the graduate application process, and increase the pipeline for future faculty of color in the guild. Students who participate in this workshop will be preselected from an application pool. More information and application materials can be found here or e-mail doctoralinfo@fteleaders.org.

Annual Meeting Job Center Registration

Annual Meeting Job Center preregistration is currently open for candidates and employers. Preregistration will close October 11. Register early to receive full benefits. For more information, click here.

Additional Meetings

Institutions, departments, organizations, or persons who wish to hold a meeting during the Annual Meeting are invited to make an Additional Meeting Request. The Additional Meeting information will be listed in the online Program Book and the printed Annual Meeting Program Book available onsite in Atlanta.

Soren Kierkegaard Society

The Soren Kierkegaard Society will have its traditional Friday night dinner before the Annual Meeting on Friday, October 29, at 7:00 PM. Please contact John Davenport at jdavenport@fordham.edu for more information. A Saturday program is also scheduled on Saturday, October 30, from 9:00 AM–11:30 AM.

Presidential Address: Mark Juergensmeyer

Plenary Panel: Rethinking Secularism
Mark Juergensmeyer, Charles Taylor, José Casanova, Saba Mahmood, and Craig Calhoun

Plenary Address: Tariq Ramadan

The Marty Forum: James H. Cone and Cornel West

Whither the “Death of God”: A Continuing Currency?
Thomas Altizer and Slavoj Zizek

Islamic Authority and Reform
Omid Safi, Tariq Ramadan, Kecia Ali, and Ahmet Karamustafa

Plenary Panel: Global Perspectives on Religious Studies
Vasudha Narayanan, Azyumardi Azra, Shrivatsa Goswami, Koichi Mori, Kim Knott, and Sylvia Marcos

Other Annual Meeting Announcements

Childcare registration for the Annual Meeting is now open! KiddieCorp childcare is a service subsidized by the AAR for members with families attending the Annual Meeting.

Need a roommate? See who else is looking to share on the AAR Roommate Finder. Or you can Look Who’s Coming to the Meeting to see if your friends and colleagues are attending.
 
Check the Annual Meeting pages frequently to see news about AAR programming, Additional Meetings, things to do in Atlanta, and much more!

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

Renew your membership for 2010 and 2011 today! It’s not too late to take advantage of all the benefits of membership..

DONATE TO THE CENTENNIAL FUND

The AAR Centennial Fund is part of our Centennial Celebration and it supports a number of our programs, including individual and collaborative research grants, new technological enhancements, networking opportunities for members, and our new International Dissertation Research Grants program for student members. Please support these programs by making your tax-deductible gift today. Please take a moment to contribute online or by mail.

LATEST RELIGIOUS STUDIES NEWS NOW ONLINE!

We are very pleased to announce the release of the latest issue of Religious Studies News. The issue can be accessed by going online to www.rsnonline.org. Please note that you will need to login using your member ID as your username and your last name as your password. The username and password are both case sensitive.

In this issue, you will find several enhancements to the website itself. We have lots of information on our upcoming Annual Meeting in Atlanta, as well as pertinent matters in the field of religion in our Features and News sections. Our Spotlight on Teaching issue explores the pedagogical challenges and strategies of undergraduate research in religious studies.

2011 INTERNATIONAL FOCUS: MEDITERRANEAN

The International Connections Committee (ICC) invites you to nominate scholars from the Mediterranean for sponsorship to the 2011 Annual Meeting. The 2011 Annual Meeting will be in San Francisco from November 18–22. The AAR sponsors scholars to attend and participate in the program of the Annual Meeting. Program Units are encouraged to think about scholars to participate in their sessions, but the nomination is not limited to Program Units. Any member can nominate a scholar for consideration. Visit the AAR website for more information and to nominate a scholar. The deadline for nominations is August 31, 2010.

2010–2011 INTERNATIONAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH GRANTS

Applications for the 2010–2011 International Dissertation Research Grants cycle will be accepted beginning August 16. These annual grants, designed to support AAR student members whose dissertation research requires them to travel outside of the country in which their school or university is located, are intended to help candidates complete their doctoral degrees by offsetting costs of travel, lodging, and other dissertation research-related expenses. For information and to apply, please click here.

AAR AWARD FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE DEADLINE APPROACHING

The Committee on Teaching and Learning seeks nominations for the AAR Award for Excellence in Teaching. Nominations of winners of campus awards, or any other awards, are encouraged. Procedures for the nomination process are outlined on the AAR website. The deadline for nominations is October 1.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: STUDENT DIRECTOR

Nominations are now open for the 2012–2013 Student Director. For a full explanation of the process, please refer to the “Upcoming Officer Elections” article in the News section of the May 2010 issue of RSN. Nominations and self-nominations must be received by January 1, 2011, and should be sent directly to the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Rebecca Albert, at ralpert@temple.edu. Please contact Elizabeth Lawson, Student Director 2010–2011, if you have any questions regarding the position.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: FROM THE STUDENT DESK EDITOR

The Student Director is seeking a new From the Student Desk editor for Religious Studies News to fill the role which will be vacated by Carl Hughes when his term expires later this year. All current AAR student members who have been members for at least one calendar year are eligible to serve in this capacity. Previous editing experience is desired, but not required. As part of the selection process, candidates will be asked to copyedit a sample column. The term of service for the position is two years, from January 1, 2011–December 31, 2012. Please see here for a complete job description. Interested candidates should apply by September 30, 2010, by completing a nomination form.

CALL FOR MISSING ANNUAL MEETING PUBLICATIONS

The AAR is missing some of its older Annual Meeting publications and would like to ensure the completion of our archival history by asking members to generously donate the missing Books of Abstracts and Program Book to the AAR office. In particular, we are missing the 1967 Annual Meeting Program Book and the Books of Abstracts for the years of 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1993, and 2000. If you have any of these publications and are willing to part with them, please contact Stephanie Gray, Associate Director of Publications, at sgray@aarweb.org. We greatly appreciate your contribution!

1. Annual Meeting News
2. Renew Your Membership Today!
3. Donate to the Centennial Fund
4. Latest Religious Studies News Now Online!
5. 2011 International Focus: Mediterranean
6. 2010-2011 International Dissertation Research Grants
7. AAR Award for Teaching Excellence Deadline Approaching
8. Call for Nominations: Student Director
9. Call for Nominations: From the Student Desk Editor
10. Call for Missing Annual Meeting Publications

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