From the Chair:
One of the items to be voted on at the business meeting in September will be a proposal by the current Religion and Politics Executive Committee to introduce an outstanding scholar award. The proposed award would be presented to a scholar who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of religion and politics. This contribution should be through a combination of excellent and widely influential scholarship, policy input/impact, public engagement and service. The award would be presented bi-annually to begin with, with the option to move to annual in the future. The award would be made following review of applications by an appointed committee. The winner will be honored at the Annual Convention with a Plaque, a monetary award and a round-table symposium honoring their work. We propose that the first such of these awards would be given at the 2018 Annual Convention.
The award is intended as an addition to, not replacement for, the practice of awarding special ‘life time achievement awards’ for scholars who have made substantial contributions to the Section on the event of their retirement.
The Committee seeks to name the award after a woman and/or person of color and would appreciate suggestions/recommendations of suitable figures. Please send these and any comments or suggestions regarding the focus and articulation of the award to the chair e.k.wilson@rug.nl by 15 July 2017.
The proposal to introduce the new award as well as who it should be named after will be voted on at the 2017 Annual Business Meeting of the section, and will also be included as part of the online voting process. If the vote to introduce the award is affirmative, a call for nominations will be circulated in the Fall, following the annual convention, in time to include the symposium in program submissions for next year’s convention.
Thanks in advance for your comments and input.
Best wishes,
Erin