Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
SSSR Newsletter, September 2001

This edition of the SSSR Newsletter contains information about the Call for Papers for the 2002 meeting, a look back at the 2001 meetings, and additional information about SSSR, including the balloting for SSSR officers.

SSSR held its 2001 meeting in Boulder on June 1-3. The setting in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies provided a recreational bonus for participants who attended in large numbers. International participants were spotted hiking and biking in higher elevations and there were rumors that a few participants went fly fishing after the conference.

The scientific program was impressive also. Some 75 posters and over 80 papers, plus a symposium on the Rand report. The PowerPoint presentation for the Presidential Address can be downloaded under password protection at http://psych.colorado.edu/sssrmembers/sssr01/SSSR-Presidential.ppt. The presidential address included pictures of authentic reading by children who are closely related to the SSSR President.

Thanks for the second year in a row to Dick Olson for organizing a great conference in a beautiful spot.

In 2002, SSSR will meet in Chicago. June 27-30, 2002, at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. The meeting will be held in coordination with the annual meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse. This is an opportunity for additional connections with research on higher level text comprehension and learning. See the Call for Papers on the Society Home Page for more details.

To join SSSR, please return to the SSSR Web Page (http://www.gse.utah.edu/edst/sssr) and follow the procedures there, downloading a form for membership. Membership in the Society includes a subscription to the Society's Journal, Scientific Studies of Reading, published by Lawrence Erlbaum.

There will be a temporary and modest dues increase of $5 for members of SSSR. This increase is needed to help bring additional pages to the SSR journal for the next couple years. These additional pages are being partly subsidized by Larry Erlbaum, the publisher of the journal. To do our share in this, the Society must make a slightly larger contribution and the dues increase will support this. We are increasing the incentive to obtain the journal through joining SSSR by making a larger increase in the subscription rate for nonmembers.

Frank Manis has begun his term as editor of Scientific Studies of Reading, succeeding Joanna Williams, who guided the journal from its inception. Frank is now receiving manuscripts at this address: Psychology Department, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061.

SSSR elections for Vice President and Board of Directors are ongoing until November 1. The ballots have been sent by e-mail, allowing members to print the ballot and return it by regular mail. If you are a voting member of SSSR with up-to-date dues payment you should have received this e-mail. If you did not contact Darlene Beeman, BeemanD@umkc.edu

My term as President ends with the start of 2002, when Dick Olson becomes President and Joanna Williams becomes president-elect. The election being held now will determine who follows Joanna in the chain of presidential succession.

The composition of the SSSR Board will change effective in January as the result of the election and new appointments by Dick Olson, as he begins his term as President. Until then, the current composition of the SSSR is as follows: President, Charles Perfetti; President-elect, Richard Olson; Vice-President, Joanna Williams; Past-President Ralph Reynolds; Secretary, Benita Blachman; Treasurer, Don Compton; Historian, Kathleen Brown; International Coordinator, Brian Thompson; Elected Board Members, Anne Cunningham, Pieter Reitsma, Hollis Scarborough.

Newsletter prepared by Charles Perfetti perfetti+@pitt.edu