4th AGM of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

4:30pm Tuesday, 2 October 2007
University House, University of Melbourne

Minutes

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The Chair welcomed delegates and the member organisations they represented.

1. Confirmation of members participating

The Secretary read the list of Members Organisations and invited the person representing these organisations to indicate their presence:

Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)	Julie White
Art Education Australia	Stuart Hamilton*
Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities (DASSH)	Gail Crossley*
Australasian Society for Classical Studies	K.O. Chong-Gossard
Australasian Society for Classical Studies	William Dolley
Australian Academy of the Humanities	John Byron
Australian and New Zealand Communication Association	John Tebbutt
Australian Business Deans Council	Stuart Hamilton*
Australian Catholic University	Gail Crossley
Australian Council of Deans of Education	Sue Willis
Australian Dance Council	Julie Dyson
Australian Federation of Modern Language Teacher Association	Jane Orton
Australian Film, Television	Stuart Hamilton*
Australian Historical Association	Marian Quartly
Australian Library and Information Association	Derek Whitehead
Australian Major Performing Arts Group	Helen O'Neil
Australian National University	Stuart Hamilton*
Australian Screen Production Education Research Assoc. (ASPERA)	Leo Berkeley
Australian Society for Music Education	David Forrest
Collections Council Australia	Margaret Birtley
College of the Arts, University of Sydney	Kim Walker
Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA)	Nigel Palmer
Craft Australia	Catrina Vignando
Division of Education Arts & Social Sciences, University of South Australia	Gerry Bloustien
Division of Humanities, Curtin University of Technology	Gregory Craven*
Faculty of Arts, Monash University	Rae Frances
Helpmann Academy	Stuart Hamilton*
Independent Media Foundation Inc. in Victoria	Vincent O'Donnell
Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology	Denise Meredyth
Monash University	Stuart Hamilton*
Murdoch University	Stuart Hamilton*
National Council of Tertiary Music Schools - NACTMUS	Mel Waters
QUT Creative Industries	Stuart Cunningham
Research Institute of Humanities and Social Science (RIHSS)	Stuart Hamilton*
School of Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney	Stuart Hamilton*
Screenrights	Toss Gascoigne*
Tertiary Dance Council of Australia	Julie Dyson*
University of South Australia	Stuart Cunningham*
Cornell Chapter of the University of Adelaide	Stuart Hamilton*
Victoria University	Linda Rosenman

*Proxy

 

Moved: That the delegations and proxies submitted to the meeting be recognised. (Stuart Cunningham/Catrina Vignando))

Motion carried.

2. Apologies

Apologies were received from:

• Sue Richardson
• Ross Homel

Moved: That the apologies be accepted (Stuart Cunningham/Mel Waters)

Motion carried.

3. Minutes of the previous meetings

The minutes of the 2006/07 Annual General Meeting (Darlington Centre, University of Sydney, Tuesday 19 September 2006 at 4.30 pm) were considered.

Moved: That the Minutes of the 2006/07 AGM be accepted as true and accurate records. (John Byron/Gerry Bloustien)

Motion carried.

4. President's Report

The President reported on the progress of CHASS over the previous 12 months, using the headings of the CHASS report to DEST. He said that the previous year had built the credibility of CHASS as a peak council representing the interests of the sector.

The President touched on the highlights of the previous year. On the issue of Consolidation of the organization, he said that the retention and building of membership was the big story. The funds generated from membership had enabled CHASS to increase its research capacity and make an appointment of a membership liaison officer.

On Policy, the President referred to the submissions CHASS had made over the year. Successive submissions to the Productivity Commission had induced a change of attitude by the Commission as to the significance of the humanities, arts and science to innovation.

On Contribution to Policy Making, and Enhance Understanding of the Sector, the President said the annual symposia for the directors of university-based centres of research and education was an example of the valuable role CHASS played. The "Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences on the Hill" event enabled our sector not only to speak directly to parliamentarians about their work, but also gave them insights into the operation of the Parliamentary processes.

He invited questions from the floor.

To the question about the meeting CHASS organised on the use of metrics in history and philosophy, he discussed the potential value of "enhanced" metrics and the problems associated with establishing these figures.

Moved: That the President's Report be accepted. (Helen O'Neil/John Byron)

Motion carried.

See also: President's Report

5. Consideration of audited accounts FY 2006/07

The Treasurer presented the accounts which had been distributed with the meeting papers, and invited questions.

Moved: That the audited accounts for FY 2006/07 be accepted as presented. (Julie Dyson/John Byron)

Motion carried.

6. Election of the Board

The President asked Executive Director Toss Gascoigne to explain the voting process and describe the work of the Search Committee. The Director said that the Search Committee had commented on the difficulty of selecting a balanced "slate" of candidates given the high calibre of candidates put forward by Member Organisations.

He said that Members had two options in voting: they could either vote "above the line" for the slate as nominated by the Search Committee, or they could vote for up to nine candidates as they were individually listed on the ballot paper.

Nominations were invited for the position of returning officers. Melissa Lamprecht and Gemma Black were nominated (Toss Gascoigne/Stuart Cunningham). There being no other nominations, Melissa Lamprecht and Gemma Black were declared elected.

The voting papers were distributed to all eligible individuals, collected and taken to be counted.

7. Appointment of Public Officer

Nominations were invited for the position of Public Officer. Julie Dyson was nominated (Margaret Birtley/Catrina Vignando). There being no other nominations, Julie Dyson was declared elected.

8. Appointment of auditors for FT 2007/08

Moved: That Walter Turnbull be appointed auditors for the financial year 2007/08. (Julie Dyson/Vincent O'Donnell).

Motion carried.

9. Constitutional amendments

Stuart Hamilton explained that the amendments were to clarify process for the election of the Executive; the nomination of candidates for the presidency; and direction of proxies on how to vote in elections.

Moved: That the amendments to the Constitution as set out in the agenda be accepted. (Kim Walker/Vincent O'Donnell)

Motion carried.

6. Election of the Board (resumed)

The returning officer handed the results of the election to the President, who announced that the candidates as listed on the Search Committee's slate were successful:

• Professor Sharon Bell DVC, University of Canberra
• Dr John Byron, Executive Director, the Australian Academy of the Humanities
• Professor Greg Craven, VC, Australian Catholic University (from 2008)
• Mr Stuart Hamilton, Chief Executive, Open Universities Australia
• Professor Ross Homel, Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University
• Ms Helen O'Neil, Executive Director, Australian Major Performing Arts Group
• Ms Catrina Vignando, General Manager, Craft Australia
• Professor Kim Walker, Dean, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
• Professor Sue Willis, Dean of Education, Monash University

(Professor Stuart Cunningham was elected President for two years in 2006.)

Moved: That the successful candidates for Board membership be so appointed. (Linda Rosenman/Nigel Palmer)

Motion carried.

See also: About CHASS > Board members

10. Any other business

John Byron thanked the President and Board for their work over the year. Toss Gascoigne spoke of the contribution that the four retiring Board Members had made: Linda Rosenman, Julie Dyson, Elizabeth More and Sue Richardson.

The President presented certificates of service to the four retiring Board Members.

Moved: That the outgoing Board be thanked for their contribution. (John Byron/Toss Gascoigne)

Motion carried by acclamation.

11. Date of next general meeting

It was agreed that the next CHASS AGM would be held in the latter half of 2008, in accordance with the Constitution, at a date and place to be decided.

At 5.30 pm, the President declared the meeting closed.

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