Ã山ǿ¼é

Ã山ǿ¼é Center for Communal Studies Annual Report April 2024

Board Members Present
Dr. Gregory W. Brown (Retired Principal Christa McCauliffe Alternative Middle School); Ms. Jennifer Greene (Archivist Librarian, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Donald Pitzer (Professor Emeritus of History, Director Emeritus Center for Communal Studies, Ã山ǿ¼é); Ms. Leslie Townshend (Director Community Engagement, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Del Doughty (Dean, College of Liberal Arts); Ms. Marna Hostetler (Director Rice Library, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Matthew Hanka (Professor of Political Science, Ã山ǿ¼é); Mr. G. Graham Perry Ill (Tennessee Historical Society Columbia State Community College); Dr. Donald Janzen (Consultant); Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland (Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of History, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Carol Medlicott Professor of Geography. Northern Kentucky University); Dr. Jason Hardgrave (Interim Provost, Professor of History, Ã山ǿ¼é);

Absent Members
Dr. Mike Strezewski (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Ã山ǿ¼é); Wendy Bredhold (Senior Manager Transmission Initiative National Audubon Society's Climate Team); Dr. Joshua Lockyer (Professor of Anthropology Arkansas Tech University); Dr. Franziska Bechtel (Research Associate, lnsitut fur Theologie, Diakonie, Ethik AGAPLESION gAG, Frankfurt Germany)

Director
Dr. Silvia Rode (Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Professor of German, Ã山ǿ¼é);

Center Location
Ã山ǿ¼é, University Archives and Special Collections (David L. Rice Library, Communal Studies Reading Room 3022)

New Board Members
Dr. Andrew Buck (Associate Professor of Sociology, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Matthew Hanka (Professor of Political Science, Ã山ǿ¼é); Dr. Kelly Kaelin (Assistant Professor of History; Ã山ǿ¼é)

Board Members (term expiration 2024)
Dr. Mike Strezewski (agreed to continue); Dr. Susan Matarese (not agreed to continue); Dr. Franziska Bechtel (no response)

I.    Acknowledgements

• Dr. Matthew Hanka helped facilitate the Ross Chapin Q&A lecture session.
• Ms. Wendy Bredhold presented on the Tri-State environment at the Liberal Arts Renaissance Challenge/Carbon Footprint Fair, September 7th in Carter Hall.
• Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland led USl's Freshmen Experience in New Harmony event. Approx. 1,200
  Freshmen attended the one-day event in New Harmony in September. 38 community, Ã山ǿ¼é, Historic New Harmony and CCS Board members volunteered for the event.
• Dr. Greg Brown chaired the 50th Communal Studies Association Conference committee. October 5-7 at Ã山ǿ¼é and in New Harmony.
• Ms. Jennifer Greene organized an exhibition and tour of the Ã山ǿ¼é Communal Studies Archives for participants of the Communal Studies Association Conference.
• Dr. Joshua Lockyer served on the program committee of the Communal Studies Association Conference.
• Ms. Leslie Townsend provide administrative and logistical support for the 50th Communal Studies Association Conference.

II.    New Harmony Update

Ms. Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony

Ill.    Approval of Board Membership Expectations
Board of Advisors: The Board is an advisory body. Board membership shall be determined by invitation of the current Board and is immediately effective. Vacancies and new positions on the Board are filled by invitation and approved by a majority of the Board. The Board consists of no less than eight (8) members, and no upper limit of members. Board members serve renewable, staggered, four-year terms.
Expectations for Board Members
1)        A Center for Communal Studies Advisory Board member should have a keen interest in the promotion and study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. Furthermore, Advisory Board members should encourage and facilitate meetings, classes, scholarship, networking, and public interest in communal groups past and present, here and abroad.
2)        An Advisory Board member should be aware and supportive of the relationship of Historic New Harmony, the Ã山ǿ¼é, and the Center for Communal Studies.
3)    An Advisory Board member should make a commitment to attend the bi-annual board meetings and in advance of the meeting become familiar with material related to discussions.
4)    An Advisory Board member should attend Center for Communal Studies sponsored events and activities.
5)    An Advisory Board member should be willing to participate in committee work from time to time.
6)    An Advisory Board member should be willing to assist in identifying and recruiting other members who have the ability to meet the expectations of the members serving on the board.
Director: The Director is appointed by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from the Liberal Arts faculty. Faculty interested in the directorship apply to the Board of Advisors who  shall forward the recommendation to the dean. The Director of the Center for Communal Studies is the permanent Chair of the Board. The Director issues an annual report by the end of the spring semester and fulfills the purposes identified in Article 1, Section 2.
Permanent Members of the Board: The Center Director, the David L. Rice Library Archives Librarian, and a representative from Historic New Harmony are Permanent Members of the Board.
Expectations for the Director and Archivist
The director and the archivist should be advocates for the Center for Communal Studies and be willing to connect with scholars and identify sources of support.

IV.    Communal Studies Minor (Dr. Andrew Buck)

The Board endorsed, housing the Communal Studies minor in the Department of Sociology. Dr. Andrew Buck will serve as CCS minor advisor. First CCS minor committee meeting took place in February. Dr. Hanka, Dr. Shefveland, and Dr. Rode attended. The discussion focused on curricular changes, possible name change of the minor, and adding a CCS course to USl's Core39.
V.    Academics, Outreach and Engagement Research applications
•    CCS research sponsorship (Rode) for Fulbright application Dr. Claudia Roesch, University of
Konstanz, Institute for History, Sociology, and Empirical Education Research, Germany. (Notification end of April 2024)
•    CCS research sponsorship (Rode) for German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) application (re­ submission) Dr. Paola Ferruta, Associate to the IHTP, Aubervilliers and Centre Roland Mousnier, University Paris-Sorbonne, France. (Notification May 15, 2024)

As of April 10th, we have received two CCS award and prizes submissions. Solicitations for submission appeared in Communities Magazine, ICSA newsletter, and were mailed to approx. 500 academic email addresses.
 
Undergrad./Graduate Review Committee

Carol Medlicott

Matthew Hanka

Del Doughty
 
Travel Research Grant Review Committee

Graham Perry

Jennifer Greene

Greg Brown

CCS hosted Dr. Claudia Roesch from the German Historical Institute in Washington DC who conducted research for her book on climate data and technology as part of migration knowledge with regard to German settlements in the Americas during the 1820s.

Center for Communal Studies article was published in USl's Illume magazine.

Kristalyn Shefveland and Silvia Rode are featured on the New Harmony "teaser video." https://usi.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0udO-pqz0jEt2O0Gb4T4OaZ4UN4ZFrbvyb

The Ã山ǿ¼é Foundation provided $500 to record two panel discussions of the Communal Studies Association Conference. The videos are available on the CCS website.

Silvia Rode was invited to participate in a 8-episode podcast on Fanny Wright, radical thought in historical communities, spirituality and economics.

VI.    Lecture

Ross Chapin, architect, author, and founder of Pocket Neighborhoods presented a zoom lecture April 10, 2024. Chapin is an advocate for sensibly sized homes and pocket neighborhoods that nourish the individual, support healthy household relationships and foster a meaningful sense of community. https://usi.zoom.us/webinar/register/
The lecture was sponsored by Center for Communal Studies College of Liberal Arts, the Bronstein Center on Healthy Aging & Wellness, and the College of Nursing & Health Professions.

VII.    Conference

Ã山ǿ¼é, Historic New Harmony, and the Communal Studies Association (CSA) hosted the 50th Communal Studies Association (CSA) Conference "Communal Theory, Practice and Impact," October 5-7th• Ã山ǿ¼é hosted an opening banquet, honoring Dr. Don Pitzer, founding member of the Center for Communal Studies, the Communal Studies Association, and the International Communal Studies Association (ICSA). Conference sessions were scheduled in three New Harmony locations. (108 registered participants, Ã山ǿ¼é faculty and members of the Tri-State community and 20 offered sessions.) The conference netted $11,000.

VIII.    Collection Development

• Tim Miller and Shirley Andrews donated 25 titles. Most titles, however, are duplicates, available electronically or are outside the current collection scope.
• Jesus People USA donated publications to update current collection.
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi materials, booklets, publications, pamphlets, and photographs donated.
• Pearl Bartelt donated research materials on American Jewish agricultural colonies. Materials will be shipped via UPS (library expense) end of November.
• Susanna Pyatt, Curator at Loretto Heritage Center, donated 8 oral histories from Loretto community of St. Benedicts, with transcripts & audio. Some restrictions apply due to sensitive content.
• David Frohman "Our Story: The Farm," 2022.
• Don Janzen collected 148 community logos; 20 articles with interviews of present/former community members and is writing brief histories of communities for finding aids.

CSA Digital records (transferred to the unit)

• Board member listing: 2004-2023
• Call for papers: 2004-2024*
• Conference programs: 2005-2023
• Journal contracts: 2010 & 2016
• Membership:2008-2024
• Minutes: 2005-2023
• Organizational docs
• Photos: 2005-2023
• Guide to Historic Sites booklet (rev): 2023

Not listed in finding aids, will check to see what they want online. Nothing new will be added to the digital collections until June/July, moving to a new platform.

Reference and consultations

• 6 requests for materials
  • 2 for publication
    • Heathcote School- Researcher from University of Virginia College-Wise New Harmony images for Black Strap Video
• 9 reference questions
• Dr. Thomas Cimarusti, FGCU, requested copies of communal music albums. Digitized and shared copies.
• Dr. Cheryl Coulthard requested copies of several letters from CS 660- Karl Arndt collection. Scanned and sent.

Outreach

• CSA Open House 35 people, October 2023
• Assisted in developing book honoring Dr. Pitzer. Working on an online order option with Terry Bischoff. Set displays throughout the unit & open preservation room for touring. Developed program & speaker guide online, 84 views.
• Wall display on communal studies outside unit. amUSlngartifacts.org
• Posted: Living in Community series: Amna, Bethel, Aurora, and Arthurdale. Boatload of Knowledge
• Upcoming: Living in Community: Moravian, Bishop Hill, and Nauvoo. Shiloh Church & Trust

Dr. Don Janzen report

• Long term projects Downloading articles from the internet Articles (in PDF format) that relate to cooperative living and communal studies, written after 2000, now number 349 articles that total 2,000 pages. Community event posters The total number of posters (in JPEG format) now number 471 posters from 31 communities.
• New Research Writing in presentation books Art in Community - A 43 page document showing nine different art mediums from contemporary intentional communities. "Webinars, Workshops and Classes for 2023" - A listing, by month, of the 112 events sponsored by the Foundation forIntentional Community during 2023. "Co-living Companies in the United States" - A list of 151 companies in the United States, and their logos, that manage 671 co-living complexes. The cities where these complexes are located are given
• Contemporary intentional community entrance signs JPEG copies of the entrance signs of 78
  different contemporary intentional communities

IX.    Budget

lsubtotallservices  &  Suppliesl$7,145.00l$.OOl$5,691.64l$405.80l$1,047.56lss.34%114.66%I Not included are $500 reimbursement from USl's Foundation and $250 from Bronstein Center, and Board meeting charges for spring.

ADDENDUM BOARD OF ADVISORS
Scholarly Publications, Presentations, Teaching, and Awards 2023-2024

Book Reviews

Greene, Jennifer. 2022 (Released 2023). How God Found Me: Memoirs of an American Guru. Communal Societies 42 (1): 60-62.

Shefveland, Kristalyn. Finding God through Yoga: Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global Age, by David J. Neumann. Communal Societies, forthcoming.

Other Publications

Greene, Jennifer. "Founding Community: Honoring Dr. Donald Pitzer. Ã山ǿ¼é Press, October 2023.

Awards, Promotions, Board Memberships

Brown, Greg. Board Member Historic New Harmony, 2023-2026.

Brown, Greg. Board Member Communal Studies Association, 2022-2026.

Matarese, Susan. American Foreign Policy and the Utopian Imagination. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001 (paperback 2010), was named one of the 50 most significant contributions to the field of American Studies published in the first decade of the 21'¹ century by the University of Massachusetts Press.

Rode, Silvia. Chair, Historic New Harmony Advisory Board, 2023-2025.

Committees

Brown, Greg. Program and organizing Committee 50th Communal Studies Association Conference

"Communal Theory, Practice and Impact" (CSA), Ã山ǿ¼é and New Harmony, October 2023 Lockyer, Joshua. Program and organizing Committee 50th Communal Studies Association Conference

"Communal Theory, Practice and Impact" (CSA), Ã山ǿ¼é and New Harmony, October 2023 Rode, Silvia. UNIV New Harmony Experience, 2023

Rode, Silvia. Program and organizing Committee 50th Communal Studies Association Conference

"Communal Theory, Practice and Impact" (CSA), Ã山ǿ¼é and New Harmony, October 2023 Shefveland, Kristalyn. UNIV New Harmony Experience, 2023

Teaching

Rode, Silvia. WLC 490 Utopia, independent study, spring 2024