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The ASR meeting in Atlanta 2003 will combine the best traditions of ASR and some carefully chosen innovations. As ever, the meeting will offer a variety of sessions both within and outside the converence theme. It will overlap with the ASA meeting, allowing members to attend both conferences if they so wish, and it will offer informal as well as formal possibilities for meeting friends and colleagues. Please put the date in your diary now and begin thinking carefully about your contribution.

Lina Molokotos-Liederman (our energetic program chair) is already putting together an exceptionally rich three days—I advise you to send her your abstract sooner rather than later. A number of sessions are already in place, including four joint ASA/ASR sessions. As well as these, we are exploring some new ideas, including (we hope) a visit to the Martin Luther King Center while we are in Atlanta—an opportunity not to be missed for those coming for the first time.

Another new idea will find expression in a special session, or sessions, for graduate students. At the last Council meeting we agreed to co-opt a graduate student to the Council to assist our liaison with this constituency. We are looking forward to working with Marie Friedmann-Marquardt on this front, who will be introducing herself elsewhere in this newsletter. Please respond generously to her requests.

The aim of this conference is to look more carefully at the agenda of the sociology of religion and why it has taken the form that it has. Particular attention will be paid to the comparative nature of this task, asking why sociological communities from different parts of the world have taken up different aspects of the work, and how each might contribute more fully to the common task. Is the sociological agenda in step with the realities of modern living? If not, why not?

Our Furfey lecturer will be David Martin. Few people are better qualified than David to help us pursue this theme. We are also hoping to welcome la délégation française—a group of scholars interested in exploring the differences in religious life between Europe and the United States. Drawing from the French tradition, they will bring to the debate different frames of reference and different conceptual tools.

Take a look at the Call for Papers, and prepare your abstract ahead of time. Both Lina liederman5aol.com and I g.r.c.davie@exeter.ac.uk would be delighted to hear from you about possible sessions, papers, books/authors (not to mention critics) or any other contribution. Above all we look forward to meeting you in Atlanta where we promise plenty to distract you from the heat!

Grace Davie

University of Exeter, UK

Each year the ASR offers three grant/award programs, all of which require ASR membership either at the time of application or previously. The following list details the 2002 procedures, which supersede any previously published submission guidelines:

The McNamara Award in the amount of at least $500 is given annually to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion, although the award committee is always free to withhold the award in the event that no papers of distinction are received (as it did in 1998). This year’s committee members are Peter Kivisto, David Sikkink, and Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist. Marion Goldman is the chair. Authors must be currently enrolled students who have not defended the Ph.D. when the paper is submitted. Submission for McNamara consideration is separate from program participation; students who wish their papers considered for the program must submit paper abstracts to the Program Chair following the guidelines of all standard paper submissions. Sociology of Religion has the right of first review of award-winning papers.

Submissions must be received by 15 June 2003 to be eligible for the 2003 awards. Submission should be in the form of articles with a maximum length of 40 single-sided pages inclusive of all material: text, titles, notes, tables, figures, etc. The title page should include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Text should not exceed 12,000 words, i.e., approximately 36 double-spaced pages of 12 point (or 10 cpi) type.

Submissions should be by one of the following methods: (a) IBM-formatted virus-free disk, with the text in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, or plain ASCII; (b) Four (4) paper copies, typed double-spaced and single-sided. Responsibility for the timely submission of useable materials to the proper address rests entirely with the applicant. Send submissions to: Prof. Marion Goldman, Sociology, 1291 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1291. Questions: Mgoldman@oregon .uoregon.edu.

A total of $13,000 is available to fund promising research on women and religion, gender issues, and work using feminist theory and methods. The allocation of the total amount is entirely at the committee’s discretion; historically, however, the money has been divided among several proposals. The competition is open to all categories of members at all levels of their careers, including those seeking funding for dissertation research, but funding for already completed research or the publication of research is excluded. This year’s committee is composed of Manuel Vásquez (chair), Paula Nesbitt, and Julia Howell.

A proposal of not more than five double-spaced pages should outline the rationale and plan of research. A detailed budget and vita should be attached. Simultaneous submissions to other grant competitions are permissible only if the applicant is explicit about which budgetary aspects the Fichter grant will cover that do not overlap with other submissions. Send four copies of the application packet to Manuel at Religion Department, 125 Dauer Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. All submissions must be received by 1 March 2003; awards will be announced 1 May 2003, at which time the moneys will also begin to be available. Questions? Phone Manuel at 352-392-1625 or e-mail mvasquez@religion.ufl.edu.

Gallagher grants to assist with travel to attend the ASR annual meeting are offered annually by the Council to graduate students and non-US/Canadian scholars whose papers are accepted for inclusion on the program. Note that these are assistance grants, and participation cannot be made contingent upon their receipt. A total of $7,500 is available for the 2003 meeting. Grants have never exceeded $1,000 for foreign colleagues or $300 for domestic graduate students. Application must be made to the Program Chair (Lina Molotokos-Liederman), and final grants are determined by an ad hoc committee composed of the Program Chair, President, and Executive Officer. Persons in need of travel assistance should indicate their circumstances at the time they submit their program proposal or abstract. This should take the form of a letter in which the applicant indicates a specific dollar request, states the reason for the request, and provides reasonable evidence that funds to cover the balance of the trip are in hand.

The Religious Research Association (RRA) will make $12,000 available in the spring of 2002 through its Constant H. Jacquet Research Awards program. One-year-advance RRA membership is normally expected of applicants, but students may join at the time they apply for a grant. An official RRA grant application form is required. Preference is given to applied (client-centered) research, but basic research proposals are also considered and the majority of actual awards are normally in this category. Individual awards are usually limited to $3,000. The Committee especially welcomes proposals from scholars who are in the early stages of their careers, as well as from students. Contact: Dean R. Hoge, Sociology, Catholic University, Washington, DC 20064; hoge@cua.edu. Also check the RRA website: http://rra.hartsem.edu. Applications must be received by 1 April 2003.

The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion will make several thousand dollars available in research grants, a minimum of one-fourth of which is available to junior scholars. Membership in SSSR for one year prior to application is required. Individual awards will not exceed $2,000. Contact: Rodney Stark, 170 Camino Rayo del Sol, Corrales, NM 87048; socstark@aol.com. Applications must be submitted prior to 5 February 2003.

Some of you will be receiving dues notices with this newsletter. Regardless of whether or not you have dues now owing, please consider a tax-deductible, year-end contribution to assist with one of the ASR’s designated funds—Fichter, Furfey, and McNamara. Although the ASR is still financially very secure, this year has hardly been a good one for our investments. Contributions can be included with your dues, or if your dues are already paid, room has also conveniently been made on the reverse of the green directory information sheet. Please be attentive both to paying your dues on time and to keeping your directory information up to date. Each year the association spends the better part of $1,000 collecting late dues and paying for postal address corrections. "It’s your money."

You can also make an important contribution to ASR by using influence at any point you can to effect a new library subscription to our journal. Library subscriptions are crucial to the ASR’s organizational health. At least do your utmost to ensure that library subscriptions are not canceled. Assignments for students and pulling the journal off the shelves yourself when you go to the library help a lot and cost little. This year we will be contacting members whose institutions are not library subscribers in the hope that you will take the necessary steps to get a journal subscription from your library.

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