Minutes, annual business meeting of the Criminal Justice Association of Georgia (CJAG)

November 12, 2006

The meeting was convened by the President, Leo Downing, at 9:40 PM at the Mulberry Inn, Savannah.

Members in attendance:
Leo Downing, North Georgia
Brooks Lansing, North Georgia
Hil Harper, Valdosta State
Christine Ludowise, Georgia Southern
Charles Ochie, Albany State
Charles Ubah, Georgia College
Hamin Shabazz, Clayton State
Leroy Baldwin, Atlanta Metro
John Batchelder, North Georgia
Michael Qualls, Fort Valley State
Sutham Cheurprakobkit, Kennesaw State
Wilson Huang, Valdosta State
Donald Yates, Albany State
Bridget Downs, Columbus State
Mike Bailey, Columbus State
Mike Eskey, Troy State
Christine Edge, Georgia Southern
Mike Reese, North Georgia
Heather Perfetti, Darton College
Anthony Simones, Dalton State
John Siler, Georgia Perimeter


The minutes from the 2004 meeting were formally approved.


BOR
Leo Downing reviewed the topics and issues discussed at the BOR AAC on CRJU meeting on Thursday. They centered on transferability, assessment and budgets. The minutes of the BOR meeting are posted on the CJAG web site for full review.

Business:
The relationship with the GPSA was reviewed. Leo Downing has attended the executive committee meetings of the GPSA and has gained a better insight into the complexities and costs involved in holding an academic convention. These issues included registration, membership dues, insurance and room guaranties. Given the economic state of our organization, it is unlikely that CJAG would be able to hold a stand alone meeting in the near future.

Issues related to the GSU PhD program were discussed and will be dealt with through the BOR committee.

Problems were noted in developing the 2005 CJAG program. Very few individuals had paper titles submitted by the deadline. This made it impossible to organize panels along a common theme. It was urged that panel chairs be more aggressive in trying to get paper submissions prior to the deadline. If the titles are submitted early enough they will be organized into more thematic panels. The difficulty of obtaining student submissions was also discussed. The student panel was dropped from the 2005 program because of the lack of submissions. Discussions with GPSA officers indicated that this is a common problem. It was decided to not have a separate student panel in the 2006 program but to still encourage student submissions and have them mixed in other panels. If there are a sufficient number of student submissions, a separate panel could be organized after the fact.

Discussion then centered on the possibility of establishing an award for the outstanding paper presented at each annual meeting. The GPSA has such an award with a considerable monetary reward attached (McBreyer award). It was suggested that we follow the same procedures as the GPSA for eligibility (minus the monetary award). The lengthy set of rules and regulations regarding eligibility, however, seemed too onerous to follow. It was determined that the members of the executive committee of CJAG would discuss the issue and develop a proposal for establishing an award.

Panel chairs for the 2006 program were determined.

Chairs:

Leo Downing, North Georgia

Charles Ochie, Albany State

Hil Harper, Valdosta State

Charles Ubah, Georgia College

Brooks Lansing, North Georgia

Roundtable on the Patriot Act: John Fuller, West Georgia


Participants were reminded that they can pay their dues at the end of the meeting ($10)..

The 2006 meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel is Savannah, on November 16-18. Rooms will be $129 per night and parking will be $8. It was suggested that since the Doubletree is a Hilton hotel, that membership in the Hilton Honors program may have some additional perks (perhaps reduced or free parking, room upgrade, etc.). The perks vary from hotel to hotel, however, membership is free.

Elections
Heather Perfetti, as the current president elect, will assume the office of the President at the conclusion of this meeting.

Elections were held to fill the remaining vacancies. The results were
President Elect: Christine Ludowise, Georgia Southern University
Treasurer: Hil Harper, Valdosta State University

Leo Downing concluded the meeting with a short statement regarding the strength of the organization and the current momentum for expansion and growth of the organization.

The meeting was adjoined at 10:30.