The Chair

Abstract

IT IS AN HONOR TO SERVE as Chair of the European Union Studies Association for the next two years. I am very much aware that my predecessor, John Keeler has strengthened the association over the past two years. He steered EUSA through successful negotiations with the University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh houses our administrative office, and co-pays the salary of EUSA’s executive director, Joe Figliulo. Joe’s multifaceted talents came into their own at the Montreal conference which he organized with humor, grace and promptness. EUSA is also grateful to the European Commission, which provided financial support for the conference. Thanks also to the three members of the executive committee whose terms have just ended: Sophie Meunier, Virginie Giraudon, and Grainne de Burca. Each brought considerable wit and conviction to the excom. Amy Verdun, Frank Schimmelfennig, and I are now joined by Neil Fligstein (vice-Chair), Erik Jones, Dan Kelemen, and Craig Parsons. Craig has agreed to become editor of the EUSA Newsletter Forum Section from this Winter issue onward. Amy Verdun takes over as Secretary, and Frank Schimmelfennig as Treasurer. Andy Smith continues as the book reviews editor of the EUSA Newsletter. I am writing this letter when the tenth conference in Montreal—the first one outside the United States—is still fresh in memory. I would like to draw some (personal) lessons as well as look ahead to our next conference in 2009. The Montreal conference was the largest ever. Six hundred fifty individuals attended 120 panels with 500 papers. The conference was one third larger than Austin in 2005. This was driven by a steep increase in applications: 400 paper proposals compared to 250, and 105 panel proposals compared to 55 for Austin— about a doubling. To meet this demand, the program committee guided by its chair, Wade Jacoby, increased the number of simultaneous panels from eight to ten, and placed at least four papers in each panel. The acceptance rate for papers was 57 percent, and for panels 71 percent. More panels gave the conference greater depth and breadth. I think it is fair to say that EUSA is the most diverse, multidisciplinary intellectual gathering on EU studies. One can get an idea of this by looking at the diversity of panels at the conference across twelve themes (these are from the list that EUSA uses to ask you to describe your intellectual interests when you sign up as member).