Call to order—President David Lipsky called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. He welcomed LERA members and guests, acknowledged new members, and introduced Eileen B. Hoffman, LERA President Elect.

Committee and Officer Reports

     Report from the Finance and Membership Committee—Chair Paula Voos reported the Executive Board approval of the 2007 budget with a deficit, due to the expiration of the Sloan grant. She pointed out that if all current programs are continued with no new revenue streams added, there is a structural deficit in the budget in the range of $35,000 to $40,000. The committee recommended LERA leadership seek out possible grants. The board approved the following dues increases for 2008:

$10 increase for emeritus, from $60 to $70

$20 increase for individual members, from $110 to $130

$5 increase for library subscriptions, from $195 to $200

$50 increase for Contributing members, from $200 to $250

Student and Family membership rates were to remain the same.

     Report from the Development Committee—Chair David Lipsky thanked members of the Development Committee for their hard work. He explained LERA has a one-half million operating budget with less than half of that coming from dues and that the organization cannot be sustained on dues membership alone and that development is required for survival, including soliciting money from organizations, educational institutions, and members. He reported that, to date, $883,000 has been raised toward our $1.5 million goal, and that a little over $300,000 needs to be raised each of the next two years. He asked all members to give generously and commit to helping LERA make its development goal.

     Report on Strategic Planning—President Lipsky reported that strategic planning started in August of 2006 with a follow-up meeting held January 3 2007. Nancy Peace and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld are facilitating the development of the final action plan, writing the formal plan and coordinating the implementation of the plan, to begin June of 2007. Cutcher-Gershenfeld reported the statements of vision, purpose, goals, and objectives were drafted and will be reported to the membership in the next Newsletter with an invitation for members to provide input. He stressed the Executive Board and Committee members know we can't do everything we've been doing with the same resources, and that priorities and goals should be set. Many issues and new ideas are on the table and the next step is to finalize formal recommendations after the June meetings.

     Report from the Editorial Committee—Editor in Chief Adrienne Eaton stated that the committee is still seeking 2009 research volume proposals, especially those having a strong international or global focus or flavor. She also reported that committee considered the question of setting a policy regarding the granting of permissions for online re-publishing of chapters from LERA research volumes, Perspectives on Work, and the proceedings. The Committee prefers to continue to make materials as accessible as possible, but recommended more research be done before developing a policy statement.

LERA Awards Presentations

     Kochan-Sleigh Best Dissertation Award Co-Winners: Bruce Kaufman, Chair of the Dissertation Awards Committee presented the award to co-winners: Virginia Doellgast, who received her degree from Cornell University and Andrew Charlwood, who received his degree from the London School of Economics Honorable Mentions included Mark Price, University of Utah and Konstantinos Tzioumis, London School of Economics.

     John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Awards Presentation: Morris Kleiner, LERA Awards Committee Chair presented two awards. For outstanding research addressing an IR problem of national significance, Marianne Bertrand, University of Chicago won the award. For exceptional contributions to international and comparative labor and employment research, Armin Falk, Institute for the Study of Labor won the award.

     LERA Outstanding Practitioner Award Presentation: Morris Kleiner, LERA Awards Committee Chair presented the award to joint winners Linda Ewing, United Auto Workers and Arthur Schwartz, General Motors.

     Susan C. Eaton Outstanding Scholar-Practitioner Award Presentation: In recognition of outstanding research and practice emphasizing the value of bringing together the academic and practitioner communities in our field, Peter Feuille, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received the award.

     Susan C. Eaton Scholar-Practitioner Research Grant: Awards chair Eileen Appelbaum recognized the winner Shaun T. Giese, University of Nebraska. A grant of $3,000 was presented to the researcher.

     Excellence in Education Award Presentation: Cheryl Maranto, Chair of the LERA Education Committee presented awards to Daniel J.B. Mitchell, UCLA; and Daphne Taras, University of Calgary.

     LERA Chapter Awards: Bill Canak, Chair of the National Chapter Advisory Committee presented the Chapter Star award to the Long Island New York and Gateway (St. Louis) Chapters. Tom Lilly, president of the NY chapter and Rudy Smith, membership chair of the Gateway Chapter accepted the awards.

Business Meeting Continuation

     Report from the National Chapter Advisory Committee—Bill Canak, Chair of the National Chapter Advisory Committee reported that chapter merit awards were given to 13 chapters this year. Canak said 3 chapter grants were given in the last year; Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Alabama all received $125 grants to help with chapter membership and conference activities. He also informed the membership that 4 new chapters are taking steps to form, in Maine, Rochester NY, London, and Paris.

     Request for New Business from the Floor—President Lipsky introduced LERA member Janice Bellace, the new President Elect of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA). Bellace informed the membership that the IIRA World Congress will be held in the U.S. in 2012 and asked that any LERA members interested in participating in planning should contact her. Lipsky also reported that planning is well underway for the next National Policy Forum and that it will be held June 14Ð15, 2007 in Washington D.C. at the Hotel Washington. The 60^th Anniversary meeting of this association will take place in New Orleans January 3Ð6, 2008. Since the Fairmont hotel has closed, a new hotel is being contracted.

     Concluding Remarks—President Lipsky thanked LERA members, executive board, officers, past and future presidents for the privilege for serving as the president. He also thanked staff members Paula Wells, Lisa Sprinkle and Anna Mehl and President-Elect Eileen B. Hoffman for her work in the past year. He then ceremoniously passed the gavel over to her.

     Meeting adjournment—President Elect Eileen B. Hoffman adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.