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ASR NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Volume 38, Number 3 Spring 2004

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SAN FRANCISCO: THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

The 2004 ASR preliminary program is now on our Web site: www.sociologyofreligion.com. Persons without Web access who want a paper copy or who want a Word file emailed to them may contact the Executive Office bill4329@hotmail.com. It is an exciting program, which promises to be the largest in our history, and we hope you will attend. For the first time that any of us can remember, we will have five concurrent sessions in virtually all time blocks. Sessions feature outstanding colleagues from around the world. Now it is time for you to respond by completing your preregistration materials.

Your preregistration entitles you to save money and also is of enormous assistance to us in making adequate plans for the meeting to serve everyone most effectively. Preregistration requirements will be strictly enforced, both in terms of program participation and charges. Try to firm up your plans in the next few days, and send in your materials.

Please note, in particular, the following:

× If you are on the program, you must be a current ASR member. (In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement is met by one of the authors being a member, but note that all co-authors attending the meeting must pay registration fees. )

× If you are on the program, you must be preregistered.

× The deadline for preregistration is July 1. If mailing, use only first class/air mail to return your preregistration forms.

× Those not on the program are also encouraged to preregister. On-site registration fees will be higher for all categories of attendees.

× The New Attendees Welcoming Breakfast is available only by preregistration.

Preregistration forms and hotel reservation forms are part of this mailing. Note that the hotel has a later reservation date than the preregistration date. Don’t confuse the two. You do need to mail, fax, or phone the hotel directly. You are urged to ask for a written confirmation. The hotel does not accept email reservations.

Note, too, that you may pay 2005 dues at this time, using the preregistration form, even if you are not attending the meeting. If you choose this option, make sure you put your name on the form!

America West Airlines has made us an event discount offer that may be attractive to those of you traveling within the U.S. or entering the U.S. from Europe. The ASR discount code is AP4499. You will need to have this when you call America West. If you purchase your tickets a minimum of 60 days before travel, you are ensured a discount of at least 10%. America West flies to either San Francisco or Oakland airports, both of which are on BART rapid transit lines. If you are coming from Europe, you may wish to investigate the relative economies of purchasing a discount ticket to New York or Boston from an international consolidator and then taking an America West direct flight into the Bay area. Amtrak also serves San Francisco, for those who wish to see the Great American West by train. We will send instructions on getting in from the airports when we confirm your preregistration.

We are based at the Ramada Plaza Hotel International. This is a restored, historic early-twentieth-century hotel, close to the ASA properties. You can either walk directly up Market Street to the Hilton/Parc 55 complex or take the BART one stop northeast from right outside our door. For San Francisco we have an excellent rate, but you do need to reserve early, since this is a popular time of year for Bay area tourism in general—in addition to the competing meetings that surround ASA. The ASA Sociology of Religion Section day is Monday, the 16th, and our block holds through the 17th, so you do not have to change hotels to participate in both meetings. Hotel rates are $139 single; 159 double. You must state that you are coming for the ASR meeting. The reservation phone is 800-227-4747. This number works weekdays, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., US West Coast time.

Note the hotel deadline of 13 July. It is later than the preregistration deadline, but only a limited number of rooms are available, so reserving early is in your best interest. If you have difficulty making reservations with the hotel before the deadline, please contact the Executive Office at once (309-932-2727;or swatos@microd.com). After the deadline, there’s not a lot we can do to help you.

Our registration desk will be open Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 8:00 to 3:00; Sunday from 8:00 to 1:00. We should be able to have the book exhibit open daily from noon Friday, with pick up of purchases Sunday from 8:15 to 10:15, and the final sale from 10:15 ’til noon. Doublecheck when you arrive! Also, plan to join Council for the opening reception on Thursday night. Further details of that event will be included with your preregistration confirmation.

ASR will try to provide overhead projectors in all of the session rooms. These are standard overhead projectors, using transparencies. The ASR does not provide other audiovisual equipment. You must either bring your own or make arrangements with the hotel’s a/v service provider. Consult the ASR Executive Office for contact information for the service provider.

In addition to increasing the number of sessions per time block from four to five, our program will include: Immanuel Wallerstein’s Furfey address Saturday; a memorial session Friday evening for Sister Marie Augusta Neal, who died late this winter; the New Attendees Welcoming Breakfast Saturday morning, which provides an excellent opportunity for graduate students and others new to ASR to meet and share their work informally with ASR officers and senior scholars; two additional sessions specifically for graduate students—one to focus on journal publication and another on the sociology of religion job market. In addition, separate from but immediately following our meetings and in our hotel, a group of Chinese scholars have arranged a mini-conference in which they will present their work in Chinese or English to interested members of the Bay Area’s Chinese community. If you want to brush up on your Chinese beyond restaurants, here’s your opportunity! This effort is a significant contribution of our Program Chair, Fenggang Yang, to offer the fruits of our scholarship to new constituencies.