Board Decisions

AILACT Board decisions taken by electronic vote

January 2009: The Board approved the appointment of Mark Weinstein to serve on the AILACT Essay Prize Jury for three years (2009-2011). As reported below, in December 2006 the Board approved the appointment to the Essay Prize Jury of David Hitchcock for two years (2007, 2008) and Harvey Siegel for three years (2007-2009). The prize was not offered in 2008, and therefore David Hitchcock agreed to serve on the jury in 2009 and Harvey Siegel agreed to serve on the jury in 2010.

November 2008: Susana Nuccetelli was appointed publicist for the AILACT Essay Prize for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2009.

July 2008: Following a review by the Board of the AILACT Essay Prize, the Board approved several recommendations pertaining to the prize. These included the recommendation that AILACT should offer an essay prize of US $300 annually, at least for the years 2009 to 2011, and the recommendation that the terms of the prize should permit entries published in the past three years as well as previously unpublished entries. In addition, the Board approved the recommendation to appoint a person to publicize the prize widely and the recommendation to seek an arrangement with the editors of Informal Logic whereby, under certain conditions, the prize-winning entry would be published in that journal. (Such an arrangement was subsequently made.)

February 2008: John Hoaglund was appointed Program Chair of the AILACT Session at the APA Eastern Division meetings for a three-year term beginning March 1, 2008.

July 2007: The Board approved, and agreed to recommend to the membership, a resolution on the Spellings Commission’s recommendation in support of testing for critical thinking in higher education institutions in the United States. For the text of the resolution, click on “Spellings Commission” on the home page of this website.

March 2007: The following officers were appointed to serve three-year terms from Spring 2007 to Spring 2010: David Godden, Webmaster; Kevin Possin, Central Division Program Chair; and Wanda Teays, Pacific Division Program Chair.

January 2007: Dan Boone was re-appointed by the president to serve one more year (2007) as Program Chair of the AILACT session at the APA, Eastern Division.

December 2006: A new AILACT Essay Prize Jury was appointed, with members having staggered terms as follows: Michael Scriven, 1 year (2007); David Hitchcock, 2 years (2007 & 2008); Harvey Siegel, 3 years (2007-2009).

February 2006: Tony Blair was appointed editor of a volume of essays to be published by Michael Scriven’s Edgepress, containing the winners of the AILACT Essay Prize for the years 2004, 2005, and 2006, together with some others submitted for these competitions.

November 2005: James Freeman was appointed Newsletter Editor for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2006.

November 2003: Maurice Finocchiaro was appointed to a three-year renewable term starting in November of 2003 as AILACT Research Director.

October and November 2003: Dan Boone (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), Don Hatcher (Baker University), and Peter Asquith (Michigan State University) were appointed to three-year terms starting in 2004 as Program Chairs for the AILACT Group Sessions of the Eastern Division, Pacific Division, and Central Division respectively of the American Philosophical Association.

October 2003: An AILACT Essay Prize Committee consisting of Tony Blair, Chair (University of Windsor), Merrilee Salmon (University of Pittsburgh), and Michael Scriven (University of Auckland) was appointed.

August, 2003: The Board approved an annual essay prize named “The AILACT Essay Prize”, open to anyone, topic not predesignated, with published articles eligible. By a slight plurality, US $500 was the amount selected (instead of US $300); because the vote was so close, the choice of prize size could legitimately depend on available financing. Heavy emphasis on publicity and attempting to place the winner each year on the program at a major philosophical meeting were strongly supported.

July, 2002: Mark Weinstein was appointed AILACT Program Chair for the World Congress of Philosophy in August 2002.

Policies Regarding AILACT Sessions, Adopted by the AILACT Board by E-mail Ballot in September, 2001

  1. That we continue to seek to have sessions associated with the three annual APA meetings (Eastern, Central, and Pacific).
  2. That the AILACT Board, on the recommendation of the President, appoint, for each of the three Divisions of the APA, a separate Program Chair who will be expected to support AILACT’s mission as stated in our constitution.
  3. That each Program Chair serve for a period of three academic years, renewable once by approval of the Board and the Chair, with recall requiring a majority vote of the Board.
  4. That a Program Chair be deemed an Officer of AILACT.
  5. That the Program Chairs be urged to try to have at least one session comprised of, generally, two (or possibly three) papers secured in a timely call for papers — with discussants appointed by the Program Chair.
  6. That invited papers and symposia also be considered as possibilities by the Program Chairs.
  7. That the Board may feel free from time to time make suggestions to a Program Chair.
  8. That each Program Chair be requested to give at least six months notice if resignation from the position is planned.
  9. That our current Program Chairs, Dan Boone (Eastern), Don Hatcher (Pacific), and John Hoaglund (Central) be offered the office of Program Chair for three academic years, beginning with the current one, renewable for one more three-year period if so desired by the Board and the Chair concerned.
  10. That we should try to find a way to have AILACT sessions at the World Congresses of Philosophy.
  11. The following proposal did not receive majority support because Canadian members feel that there is no difficulty getting informal logic and critical thinking papers on the regular program of the meetings of the Canadian Philosophical Association: That Canadian members of AILACT seek to secure special AILACT programs, or joint sponsorship of sessions, for CPA meetings and other Canadian philosophical meetings, in order to increase awareness of AILACT and sensitivity to and participation in its issues.