Annual Meetings
Annual meetings are vital for the health of a discipline like sociology. We thrive on being able to see any issue from a variety of perspectives and gathering sociologists in one place, at one time is the clearest, fastest, and most efficient way to share multiple perspectives. While the ASA meeting achieves this goal quite well, there are smaller, regional organizations who serve similar purposes on a smaller scale.
Consider an organization like the North Central Sociological Association, attendance at our annual meetings takes on different roles other than the simple exchange of ideas. The NCSA has a reputation for being an organization that welcomes graduate and undergraduate students to our meetings. We strive to bring students into the fold of a professional organization which allows them to get the experience of a professional conference and often make their first presentation. We encourage our faculty members to engage with the students during their presentations and in the hallways and to professionally socialize them. While we want the students to leave with feedback on their work, we also hope they will see that these professional experiences are demystified and that organizations like ours can be collegial and welcoming.
The NCSA membership is comprised of a variety of colleges and universities from large, public schools to small, private universities, to community colleges. This range of schools is another reason meeting attendance is important. For many of these schools, their sociology program may be only one or two persons. Which means our member sociologists spend most of their days interacting with colleagues from other disciplines. While maintaining an interdisciplinary approach is great, an annual meeting of sociologists is a chance to recharge your sociological batteries and hear new ideas within the discipline. Sometimes the chance to spend a few days each year surrounded by your peers, with everyone speaking the same jargon, and not having to explain who Durkheim is or why he is important (because we all already know) can reinvigorate your teaching and research.
NCSA members come primarily from several states with Ohio serving as a center point. As not all of our members have the institutional support, time, or desire to travel to larger, national meetings, we make a concerted effort to assure the meetings remain affordable and regularly within driving distance for our members. We want all the goals mentioned here to be accessible to sociologists in our region, and still allow them to get the full conference experience of traveling to a big city, seeing the sites, and connecting with colleagues close by. Plus, the memberships and registrations for the annual meetings raise most of the funds for the organization which makes attendance functionally important.
Finally, and probably most importantly, regional meetings like the NCSA promote a sense of community. Our members are our essence. Without you, there would be no organization. This is especially true with a group like the NCSA which does cater to graduate and undergraduate students as many of these members are temporary. Having our focus on professional socialization of young sociologists makes the participation of faculty, and long-time NCSA members vital. While we must keep a core of veteran members who preserve organizational memory, regional organizations provide leadership opportunities for faculty and keep the group filled with fresh ideas which move us forward.
updated July 1, 2022