Executive Board Meeting - March 19, 2001

SVU Executive Board met on March 19, 2001 in SVU President’s residence in Rockville, MD.
Present were Mila Rechcigl, Frank Safertal, Frank Mucha, Vera Borkovec, George Glos, and Dagmar White.

Treasurer Mucha informed the Board of his sending out annual notices to members for payment of their dues, indicating that he will send another notice since many have not responded. The Executive Board appeals to members to pay their dues right away to avoid sending out additional reminders which are time-consuming and costly. There are a number of members on our rolls who have not paid their dues for several years, while receiving Zpravy SVU. These members are asked to pay their dues right away or they will be dropped from our rolls.

There have been some difficulties with distribution of the last issue of Kosmas which have been largely resolved. If there are any subscribers among SVU members who have not received their copy, they are asked to contact Kosmas Managing Editor, David Chroust.  To avoid future distribution problems, Managing Editor will work closely with the SVU Treasure on Kosmas subscribers’ list. In addition he will prepare a marketing strategy to enlarge the subscribers’ base..  As per Editor Machann’s report, the new issue of Kosmas has been completed and will be sent to the printer soon. The contents of the issue are discussed separately. VP Machac is in charge of coordinating the interface between Kosmas and the Executive Board.

Vera Borkovec gave a brief report on the progress of the planned anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry in honor of Frank Marlow. Advisory Board responsible for the selection of poets is in place and a tentative Table of Contents is being prepared. Because of the Copyright stipulations,  one needs to get permission from the poets or their families or publishers for publishing selected poems, which slows down the work. Since we are planning to have the anthology bilingual some of the poems will need to be translated into English.

Dagmar White and Judith Fiehler reported on their efforts to prepare for publication Zdenka Fishmann’s papers on Czech musicology. They have prepared a tentative table of contents and Z.  Fischmann’s bibliography. With reference to publishing, arrangements have been made with Prof. Fischer-Galati to publish the book in his East European series under the University of Columbia Press label. To speed up the preparatory work, it was decided to have the previously published articles scanned rather than retyping them. The Executive Board agreed to have Mr. Jiri Eichler of Prague scan the papers and format them for publication. Dagmar White and Judith Fiehler will be responsible for the final proofreading.

Mila Rechcigl reported on the preparation of the SVU Conference in Nebraska, scheduled for August 1-3, 2001 at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He informed the Board of the enthusiasm with which the Nebraska organizers have approached their task and praised in particular SVU new member, Cathy Oslzly, who is doing an extraordinary job in sending invitation letters nationwide and worldwide. The details of the progress made to date are elaborated elsewhere.

Rechcigl also briefly reported on the preparations for the SVU World Congress in Pilsen next year, tentatively scheduled for 24-30  June 2002. The Congress will be held under the patronage of the Lord Mayor of Pilsen and the Rector of the University of West Bohemia. The local SVU, jointly with the Faculty of Humanities at University of West Bohemia, will be responsible for local arrangements and the planning of the program. The main theme of the Congress will be "Transformation of the Czech and Slovak Society on the Threshold of the New Millennium and its Role in the Contemporary Global World". The program will, however, be much broader and will include practically every aspect of arts and sciences. Karel Zastera and Ivo Budil have assumed the leadership roles in the Congress planning.

Anna Vysoka sent a brief report of her Youth Advisory Committee, on her work on the database and the plan to prepare a compilation of grants and scholarships available to students from the Czech and Slovak Republics and those interested in pursuing Czech & Slovak scholarly studies. Rechcigl also mentioned some of his own efforts to involve young people in the SVU work. Since several important Executive Board members were absent, the subject of revitalization of SVU with younger members and the new initiative “Accent on Youth” was discussed only briefly, leaving it for the most part for the next meeting of the Board.

A part of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of the new SVU Website on which great progress has been made. The content, for the most part, has been prepared by Mila Rechcigl, while Jiri Eichler did all the technical work, in his capacity as a Webmaster. The details are reported elsewhere. There has been increased “traffic” on the SVU Website as indicated by the Website counter. Whereas before, the work on the Website focused primarily on the SVU-related matters, lately the emphasis has shifted toward making the Website useful to anybody interested in Czech or Slovak matters.

Rechcigl also reported on the progress made on the new initiative to elect SVU Fellows and select candidates for the Elias Tolerance Award.

And finally, at the recommendation of Mila Rechcigl and Frank Safertal, Executive Board appointed Milan Kocourek, the present President of SVU British Chapter the new SVU Communication Coordinator.

The next Executive board meeting will be held on June 10 at Mila Rechcigl’s residence in Rockville.

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