CTSA Administrative Teams: Since its founding in 1946, the CTSA meets at its annual convention where its members engage each other in dialogue by presenting their ongoing research and receiving the constructive criticism of their colleagues. Much of this research is published in the Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America. The annual convention also enables the many CTSA members who are teachers to share their best pedagogical practices. |
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The following document intends to provide the necessary information so that administrative teams of Topic Sessions, Interest Groups, Consultations, and Selected Sessions fulfill the rules and best intentions of the CTSA Convention Structure.
1. Administrative Teams: consist of three (3) active CTSA members in good standing (that is, their dues are paid). (See http://www.ctsa-online.org/membership.html for definitions of membership categories).
a. Ideally the team should have a mix of younger and more senior members of the society.
b. Annually, the three-person administrative team will invite a new member to replace its outgoing member, with an eye toward ensuring diversity of all sorts on the team (range of theological perspective, rank, gender, under-representative groups, etc. i. Organizational and administrative skills are a happy “plus” when constructing a team so caution is suggested if you are considering an open call for volunteers. A team might be better served by working a bit harder to find the best people for the team.
c. During the third year of his or her term, each team member will serve as “coordinator,” “convener” or “team leader” and lead the team’s work.
d. Consultation Leadership Teams are not required to follow this leadership rotation pattern but it is strongly recommended that they consider a periodic rotation of their membership.
e. All administrative teams, or at least their conveners, should plan to attend the President’s Reception for New Members on the Friday night of the convention to help welcome new members into the work of the Society.
f. Teams should plan to meet early in the convention (not as part of a brief business meeting at the end of a session) to discuss the successes and challenges of the group and to choose the new member (if that has not already been finalized before the start of the convention). It has been found that an intentional meeting allows for the growth and success of the group.
2. Team Leader Responsibilities:
a. The team leader should cc the other team members when information is sent to CTSA board members.
b. The team leader should provide the team and the President-Elect with a list of the team members, institutional affiliations, email addresses, and phone numbers. Ideally, the President-elect should be given the new team roster for the following year by the Sunday morning Conveners’ breakfast (see below for more on the convener breakfast).
c. It is suggested that teams keep a running list of administrative teams and their dates to pass on to the next team leader. This list might also include the number of people who attended the session. As this list grows over time it will become a valuable piece of information for both institutional memory and future planning.
d. It is suggested that the team leader offer a sign-in sheet to the people who attend the session and ask for their email addresses. The administrative team then can send the Call for Papers (see below) directly to those people who attended the session the year before. The list becomes a source of active members in the group who can be consulted on a variety of questions.
e. Incoming team leaders must participate in the annual Sunday morning Conveners’ Breakfast at the convention. i. Ideally, the outgoing team leader will also attend the Sunday morning convener’s breakfast to receive the procedures for submitting to the CTSA Proceedings
3. Call for Papers (CFPs): Administrative teams for Topic Sessions must issue a CFP on the CTSA website according to the deadlines provided by the President-Elect; the team will choose the best proposals for presentation at the convention. Many Consultations also issue CFPs but are not required by the structure to do so. CFPs generally do not apply to Interest Groups. CFPs are not applicable to Selected and Invited sessions.
a. All teams must verify that all people invited to a speaking role at the Convention are active or associate members whose dues are paid in full, or have an application for (associate) membership on file with the CTSA Secretary by the September 1st paper submission due date. Non-members may be allowed to give papers or participate in some other way in a session with permission of the President-Elect. Questions about members-in-good-standing can be directed to the CTSA Executive Director, at ctsaed@gmail.com.
4. Session Names in CTSA Program and/or the CTSA Proceedings: you must use the official name of the Topic Session or Consultation as approved by the CTSA Board and as found at http://www.ctsa-online.org/convention_structure.html.
a. Interest Groups must use the name as approved by the CTSA Board for the group’s three-year term.
b. Selected Sessions must use the name as approved by the CTSA Program Committee for the group’s one-year term.
c. Invited Sessions must use the name as approved by the CTSA President for the group’s one-year term.
d. Any proposed change of the group name must be submitted to the board for approval. Absent that approval, No changes to group names are allowed.
5. Program Information:
a. The leader should submit the names of everyone on the administrative team for inclusion in the program (see a past program for an example) both for institutional accuracy and to assist members receiving travel funds from their home institutions.
b. Generally, the team leader is listed as convener.
c. The moderator is expected to be a non-presenter, a member from outside of the administrative team. This helps to insure an active participation of a wider percentage of the Society at the Convention. It is also a great way of involving a newer member in the Convention.
6. Onsite Tech Assistance in Breakout Room
a. The session convener is to serve as the technical advisor for their presenters. If unable to provide such advisory support, the convener should appoint someone on their team to serve in this.
7. Professional Behavior
a. All convention attendees are required to comply with the CTSA's Statement on Professional Behavior (6.7.2018). It is recommended that moderator's have a print copy of the statement on hand to share if circumstances deem it necessary to provide the document to an attendee.
