The Steering Board of the Network for Science, Technology and Faith held its annual meeting after Easter in Richmond, Virginia, at the Roslyn Conference Center. In conjuction with this meeting, the Board hosted the 2003 Ecumenical Roundtable on Science, Technology and the Church in Canada and the U.S., attended by delegations from the ELCA, Presbyterian Church (USA), Roman Catholic Church, UCC, and UMC.
Attendendees are shown in the picture below.
The treasurer's report was given and received. Milt suggest that we need to mail out a dues renewal notification at the same time each year, regardless of when individuals initially sign on as members.
John Keggi tendered his resignation as membership secretary. The Board members expressed their thanks for some fifteen years of service to build the membership and maintain the mailing list. John was one of the founders of the Network. Peter Arvedson agreed to take on these responsibilities as part of his position as Communications Officer.
The Network Newsletter was thought to be suitably "substantive." The suggestion was made that the editor begin to print profiles of a few individual members in each issue. This will begin in the next issue, scheduled for late summer. The Network Webpage badly needs to be updated and linked to the newsletter and the Executive Council ST&F Committee website. Dan Englund at the Episcopal Church Center in NYC can help with this.
Discussion was opened as to how best to serve the membership. It was decided that the best way would be to utilize the expertise and experience that they offer to make available to the Committee. This was thought to be preferable to hosting an event at the AAAS Annual Meeting, for instance, or a luncheon at the General Convention (as the Presbyterians do at each General Synod meeting). The membership poll will clarify where the expertise and experience lie, and which members are willing to be tapped as Committee consultants.
Elizabeth Sedlins and Joyce Wilding made a presentation of the mission, the work, and the organization of The Episcopal Ecological Network. Elizabeth is the EEN leader in Province 3, and Joyce is the leader in Province 4. Discussions were opened concerning how EEN and the Network for ST&F might work more closely together in the future. Elizabeth and Joyce feel that EEN could benefit from stronger input from scientists and engineers. The ST&F Board feels that its Network membership ought to be enriched with members knowledgeable in environmental fields.
The ST&F Board invited EEN to take the following steps: to become an institutional member of the ST&F Network; to serve as a conduit for obtaining and forwarding articles, papers, reviews, etc., which link environmental science/ecology and faith, providing them to the web-based resource center to be organized by the ST&F Committee (see below); to help identify one or more persons who would serve as liaison to EEN; to endeavor by other means (print, web, etc.) to keep the ST&F Board up to date on EEN activities.
Court Randall reported on the "William Pollard Project," loosely based at the School of Theology at The University of the South (Sewanee).
