Executive Board Meeting - March 18, 2006

On March 18, the Executive Board had another of its regular meetings. It took place in SVU President's house in Rockville and was convened at 10 AM. Sufficient number of Board members was present to fulfill the requirements for a quorum. In the absence of Frank Safertal, Zdenek David was appointed Secretary General de tempore.

After the approval of the minutes, Mila Rechcigl informed the Board about several news items, such as the confirmed attendance by President Vaclav Klaus of the forthcoming SVU World Congress. Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic may also attend, if his presence won't be required in Slovakia, following the elections there. He also informed the Board about the ceremony in the Slovak Embassy during which Commissioner Jan Figel received Andrew Elias Humanitarian Award, and about his successful meeting with representatives of Moravian College in the Czech Embassy. As a result of this meeting, the College will send several of its professors to take an active part in the forthcoming SVU World Congress. The Board noted with sadness the death of several SVU members, including Milos Halouzka of California and Frank Kanka of New York..

Since he could not be present, Treasurer Frank Mucha sent his report to SVU President via e-mail. Because of the computer problems, the report could not be accessed in sufficient time for the meeting. The Board was pleased to hear that some 25 new membership applications have been received since the last meeting.

With reference to Local Chapters, Florida SVU Chapter has started a good program, thanks to Blanka Kudej in her role as the Chapter's President. With the enlistment of Josef Cermak Rechcigl expressed hope that the Toronto Chapter will soon be reactivated.

Some concern was expressed about the difficulties Editor of Kosmas, Clinton Machann, is experiencing at his University, which may affect the future publishing of this important periodical. As for the newly planned publications, the Theatre monograph edited by Vera Borkovec, is on track. Dagmar White also restated for the record that the manuscript of the Czech Opera monograph should be in publisher's hands soon and available at Congress. The CD, with selected papers from the 2003 Conference, will hopefully be published at the time of SVU Congress, as will the SVU Directory CD, thanks to the efforts of Jiri Eichler. Based on the latest information from Dean. Bartecek, the Congress Proceedings from the Olomouc SVU Congress should be available at the June Congress in Ceske Budejovice.

Last on the agenda was a discussion of the program for the SVU Congress. Rechcigl distributed a draft of the program which included some 40 panels. He pointed out several features of the program, including Plenary session on "Diplomatic Relations between the North America and Czech& Slovak Republics," with the participation of at least five Ambassadors. In addition, a special Presidential Symposium is being planned on "University Leadership on Both Sides of the Atlantic," with the participation of University Presidents, Rectors, Provosts, and other high-level university representatives from the US and the Czech and Slovak Republics. There will also be a discussion panel on the "University Partnerships and Cooperation between the US and the Czech and Slovak Republics" and much more..

The Board noted with thanks SVU President's enormous effort to organize most of the panels and find suitable speakers for them. Rechcigl stated that he was indebted to several Board members for their assistance, particularly Karel Raska and Cecilia Rokusek who enlisted a large number of speakers. Some panels will need additional speakers but .this did not appear to be insurmountable. .

As the meeting was coming to a close, the Board agreed to have one more meeting scheduled for June 17.

~~~

SVU HOME PAGE, EXECUTIVE BOARD