A Note from the President
Greg Hainge, University of Queensland

September 2007

The recent conference of the Society, held in Sydney and hosted by the University of Technology, Sydney, and the University of Newcastle was, I can honestly say, one of the most enjoyable and intellectually fulfilling conference I have had the pleasure to attend in a long time. It was wonderful to see so many members of the society in attendance and giving papers which were of a consistently high quality. I was particularly pleased to see so many international visitors and postgraduate and Honours students at the conference and I hope that the travel bursaries for these students we have introduced will ensure that their numbers remain high for future conferences. I would like to thank all of the organisers of the conference once again for their hard work and efforts and to congratulate them on a conference which was wonderful in so many ways.

A particular highlight for me was the conference dinner held in Glebe, not only because of the wonderful setting and food and wine which just kept magically appearing, but primarily because of the real sensation i had of being en famille. The everyday worries that many of us face in our departments or schools can often leave us feeling somewhat isolated not only from our colleagues in other institutions but, what is worse, from those aspects of our work that drew us to it in the first place and that make us continue on in the face of cutbacks, rationalisation and ever tightening belts. Whilst such material constraints may appear to make it ever harder to keep in touch with the research agendas and love of the subject that drew us to the French discipline in the past, I think that it will be increasingly important for us to maintain these links and to ensure that everything that we do is infused with a deep sense of the importance of the intellectual foundations of our discipline. I say this not only as an pre-emptive invocation in the face of the upcoming RQF, but also with the benefit of hindsight following the Annual Heads of French meeting. At this meeting it became clear that many of the crises felt within individual departments are far from isolated cases and that for some there is a real danger that French may become a mere service department in their institution. I was therefore extremely glad to be able to present to this meeting a brief for the Carrick Institute Discipline Based Initiatives Grant Application that I am lodging with Murray Pratt and Barbara Hanna under the auspices of the ASFS> Out of the 18 programs offering French to a least Honours level in Australia, to date 17 French programs have signed up to become a part of the reference group of this project and, should this application be funded, I am hoping that it will provide us with real opportunity to look at the challenges and opportunities facing our discipline on a nationwide scale.

At the AGM i also presented the basic architecture of the new ASFS website to the members present. The website has not progressed much since July at this stage, the database programming proving more complicated than expected. However, I would invite you all to look at the basic navigation currently available from the homepage and to provide any comments you may have on directly to me. You can access the new site at <http://australiansocietyfrenchstudies.org>

In addition to this site, I have created an ASFS group on facebook.com. This provides us with a very easy way to host bulletin boards and discussion threads without needing to provide the considerable funds necessary to create and host such facilities on our own site. Online discussion threads were on the main recommendations for future infrastructure development to come out of the 2006 AGM, and postgraduate students also seemed particularly keen on this idea at a focus group held with them during the 2007 conference. Due to the way in which facebook operates, I also hope that this facility will help to maintain the familial/collegial spirit that I talked of above. Joining could not be simpler. Go to <http://www.facebook.com> and create a profile for yourself, then search for 'Australian Society for French Studies" and request to join the group.

The executive committee of the Society underwent a slight change at the last AGM since it was with great sadness that I recently accepted the resignation of Alistair Rolls from the position of Treasurer. I would like to thank Alistair once again for his years of service to the society in the role of treasurer, one of most onerous tasks on the committee. In light of the news at the end of my previous President's note, I am sure that the time he has freed up will be very well spent. My thanks go out also to Jo McCormack from UTS who was elected to the position of Treasurer at the AGM, given the wonderful job he did with the finances of the 2007 conference. I feel sure that our finances are in good hands. Jo's address details can be found elsewhere in this volume, so please write to your new treasurer and don't forget to include your cheque to renew your membership!!!

Whilst on the subject of the composition of the executive committee, I would also like to announce formally that I will be proposing some changes to the Society's constitution at the 2008 AGM to be held in Melbourne. These changes, if accepted by the meeting, will create a new position on the executive committee and clarify the procedure for the co-optation of executive members in extraordinary circumstances. Any other further constitutional changes will be foreshadowed in my next President's note or via oz-french prior to the AGM.

And whilst on this subject, it merely remains for me to remind you that the next AGM will be held in conjunction with the 16th annual conference of the ASFS to be hosted by the University of Melbourne in July 2008. The 16th Biennial Rudé Seminar, meanwhile, will be hosted by the University of Queensland in 2008 whilst the 2008 FATFA conference will also be held in Brisbane. Details on these conferences can be found elsewhere in this volume and I very much look forward to seeing you there, en famille.

Greg Hainge, University of Queensland