Executive Board Meeting - September 23, 2001

After the summer break, SVU Executive Board met again on September 23rd in Mila Rechcigl's residence in Rockville. Although some members could not be present, because of the tragic terrorist events in the US, there was a sufficient number present to constitute a quorum

Executive Board agreed to add Dr. Jan P. Skalny and Rev. Michael Rokos to the Board, to fill the vacancy of Executive Vice President and Vice President, respectively.

VP Joseph Machac reported on the status of Kosmas, favorably commenting on its contents and the work of Clinton Machann as Editor-in-Chief. Some concern was expressed, however, about the lack of progress made on getting the subscription base enlarged and the need to remedy the situation as soon as possible. Recommendation was made to separate the production component from the other management functions and appoint an additional person with the responsibility for subscriptions.

VP Vera Borkovec gave an account of the status of the planned bilingual anthology "Taste of a Lost Homeland. Czech and Slovak Exile Poetry in America," which is being prepared as a tribute to Frank Marlow. The anthology which will include selected poems of some twenty poets, is almost completed and is ready to go to print. The Board gave the final approval to the budget and opted for having the monograph printed by Typos printers in Pilsen. The book should be available at the time of SVU World Congress in June.

VP Dagmar White informed the Board of some impending copyright issues that will have to be resolved before the Fischmann Papers' can be published, expressing hope that this won't delay the overall publication schedule of the monograph.

Of the other SVU publication projects, Rechcigl gave a report on SVU Biographical Directory, commenting that the new members have the last chance to send in their biographical data and the old members to update their biographical entries since the last Directory was published in 1992. He also informed the Board of the efforts to publish selected papers from the SVU World Congress in Washington in 2000 on a CD under the direction and editorship of Dr. Jan P. Skalny. Prof. Josef Mestenhauser is doing the same thing with regard to the papers from the SVU Conference in Minnesota in 1999. And finally, Mila Saskova-Pierce agreed to collect and edit the papers for another CD from the Nebraska Conference. Executive Board was also reminded of the fact that Zpravy SVU can now also be found in an electronic version on SVU Website.
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President Rechcigl then reported on the status of preparation of the SVU World Congress next year and on his discussions and agreements with the organizers in Pilsen where the Congress will be held. The dates for the Congress were definitely set for 23-30 June 2002 at the University of West Bohemia in Plzen. The overall theme of the Congress is "Transformation of Czech & Slovak Societies on the Threshold of the New Millennium in the Present Global World", with sufficient latitude to also accept papers in other areas. In terms of planning the program, the organizers will use a two-prong approach, Dean Ivo Budil together with his collaborators in Pilsen will organize panels based on speakers from the Czech and Slovak Republics, whereas Dr. Mila Rechcigl will coordinate the panels from US and other overseas participants. Ivo Budil and Mila Rechcigl have agreed on a tentative list of panels, which appears elsewhere, with the understanding that this is a working document which can be modified or augmented, as appropriate by either side.

Considerable part of the discussion was devoted to the question of budget and the logistics. We shall report on specific local arrangements and the various planned social and cultural activities later once the details have been firmed up and fully negotiated. In the meantime, the Executive Board has provided the Plzen organizers specific guidelines.

This was followed by an intensive discussion of the academic program, specifically the types of panels that could be organized from overseas and suggestions have been made regarding the people who could organize them. The topics included: Czech Military History, Czech Renaissance, Czech Theatre Abroad, US Role in Establishing Czechoslovak Independence, Current Relations between Czech and Slovak Americans and their Homeland, Sokol Abroad, Masaryk Symposium, Czech and Slovak Entrepreneurship Abroad, Teaching of Czech and Slovak Languages Abroad, International Business and Trade with Czech and Slovak Republics, Czech and Slovak Economies as Viewed from Abroad, Civil Rights and the Roma Issue in Czech and Slovak Republic: Voices from Abroad, Civil Society in Czech and Slovak Republics, News and Media, Women's Issues
and Feminism, Library Science, Computer Technology, Religion and Faith in Czech and Slovak Republics, Biomedical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Multi-culturalism vs. Melting Point, Ethics and Mortality, Czech Sports in America, Fund-raising in the US, Youth Issues, Environmental Situation in Czech and Slovak Republics, Preserving Czech and Slovak Heritage Abroad, Literature, History of Art.

Rechcigl also reported on the SVU in Nebraska which he called an unqualified success. Accounts of the conference already appeared in Zpravy SVU and are also posted on SVU Website. One of the direct effects of the Conference has been the establishment of a new SVU Chapter in Nebraska, the details on which are presented elsewhere. The new Chapter is already busy at work as announced in the SVU Calendar.

The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of the new SVU initiative, "Accent of Youth", the progress made with the SVU Website, status of local chapters worldwide and SVU publicity. Among the new items, Executive Board briefly discussed and approved in principle a newly proposed project "Lighthouse" submitted by Mr. Safertal, jointly with Mr. Orkin and Mr. Melton. It also discussed the Jan Kaplan's proposal for a new publications "Atlantic Crossing"and encouraged him to submit a proposal to an appropriate agency to support this worthy endeavor. And finally, Executive Board was agreeable to assist Jan Kratochvil's project "Czech and Slovak Exile in the 20th Century" with advise and contacts.

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