Dear Family Section members,

Let’s begin this kick-off message with a heartfelt congratulations, and thank you, to the Megan Sweeney for her leadership this last year, and for putting together an extremely successful slate of sessions and activities at the Annual Meetings in Montreal. Thanks are also due to our Secretary Treasurer, Jenifer Bratter (who, thankfully is staying on another year in that role). Megan and Jenifer have done all I could hope for and expect to make my entry into the position as your section Chair as smooth as possible.

At the meeting we also said our thank-yous to outgoing Council members Kevin Michael Roy and Sarah Damaske, and welcomed new members Robert Crosnoe and Kei Nomaguchi. Welcome also to Sharon Sassler, the new Chair-Elect.

In the category of personnel changes, I also extend my sincere appreciation to Gwen Zugarek, from Bowling Green State University, who has done great work as the Communications Director in addition to serving on the Council. This job is vital to our work, and we’ve been extremely fortunate to work with her. Gwen is stepping down now, and I’m delighted to announce that Joanna Pepin, from the University of Maryland, will take over that role. (You can send announcements for the list to Joanna now, at ASAFamilySection@gmail.com.)

New business

Section business and meeting roles. The next order of business for the fall, as always, is to staff up the Section committees, session organizers and chairs. We solicited volunteers at the Business Meeting in Montreal, but before I move to fill these slots I want to make sure everyone has a chance to speak up if you would like to get involved – please do! For this year Joanna has prepared an online sign-up form, which I encourage you to fill out, available at: VOLUNTEER FORM. When we get our session allocation and volunteers lined up, I will work on the slate of positions. Thank you all for your contributions, past and future.

Meeting reception. The 2018 ASA Annual Meeting will be in Philadelphia, August 11-14. High on our list of priorities is arranging an excellent venue for our section reception. This year we hope to collaborate once again with the Population Section. If you have ideas for suitable locations in Philadelphia, or would like to work on the reception, please let us know.

Award policies. At the Council meeting in August we decided to add language to our paper award policies encouraging people to make public their award submissions, though SocArXiv or another non-profit repository. This is an opportunity to disseminate our best work earlier in the research process, and signal our commitment to open access scholarship. Individuals who use SocArXiv to submit their papers for awards will be eligible for a travel award. Look for details in the award nomination announcement.

ASA engagement. The association has a new initiative to increase public engagement with the sections, and asked us to name a Public Engagement Liaison to be available for communicating with media or other interested parties during the year. The Council decided for this year that the Chair would serve in that role, but if it becomes a more involved job we can consider making that a separate position in future years.

Conclusion

I’m excited to start my year as your Chair, and look forward to working with you all over the year and at the meeting in Philadelphia. Please make sure to renew your Section membership (and encourage your colleagues and students to do the same); membership is how we vote for the importance of Sociology of the Family within our association. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have ideas or issues about the section (or anything else!) to discuss: pnc@umd.edu.

Philip N. Cohen
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[Volunteer URL if link is broken: https://goo.gl/forms/xPNx1X7aBdykuzgB3]

 The ASA Family Section Distinguished Career Award.
This award recognizes the collective body of a person’s work as it relates to the sociology of the family (not a single publication). Award winners may be selected on the basis of distinguished contributions to either research or service. Service to the field includes developments (such as data sets or analytic techniques) that have had a substantial impact on family research. Please send letters of nomination and the nominee’s CV to Judith Levine (jalevine@temple.edu) no later than March 31, 2017 (extended from March 13, 2017).

The ASA Family Section William J. Goode Book Award.
This award is for a book published on the family in 2015 or 2016. Self-nominations are appropriate. Textbooks and edited volumes are not eligible. Please also arrange for the book’s publisher to send a copy of the book directly to all members of the committee. The deadline to receive the letter of nomination is January 31, 2017. The books may arrive shortly thereafter. Please send a letter of nomination to Wendy Manning (wmannin@bgsu.edu).

• Wendy Manning (Committee Chair), Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403
• Kristin Turney, Department of Sociology, University of California-Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697-5100
• Julia McQuillan, 709 Oldfather Hall,  Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324
• Andrew Cherlin, Department of Sociology, Mergenthaler Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
• Susan Stewart, Department of Sociology, 102 East Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011
• Sangyoub Park, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Henderson, Room 218, 1700 SW College Ave. Topeka, KS 66621

 
The ASA Family Section Article of the Year Award.
This award recognizes a journal article that has made a significant contribution to the field of family sociology. The award committee will accept nominations for articles published in 2014, 2015, or 2016. Nominations may be made by the author or others. To nominate an article, please send a letter of nomination (not to exceed one page) that details the contribution of the article to the field of family sociology, as well as an electronic copy of the article, to the chair of the award committee, Kevin Roy (kroy@umd.edu). The deadline for nominations is March 13, 2017. 

The ASA Family Section Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award.
Graduate students are invited to submit an article-length paper on the family. The paper should represent a finished product rather than a proposal for future work. The submission can be based on a course paper, a recently published journal article, a manuscript under review at a journal, or a conference presentation. Co-authored papers are acceptable if all authors are students, although the prize will be shared. The paper must have been written when the author was enrolled in a graduate program. The paper may not exceed 30 pages or 11,000 words. Please send an electronic copy of the paper by March 13, 2017 to Megan Sweeney (msweeney@soc.ucla.edu).

Here are the Family Section's sessions this year. Submit by January 11, 2017, 3pm EST​!

1. Reproduction/Parenthood and Families
2. Families, Health, and Well-Being
3. Family Relationships across the Life Course
4. Family, Work, and Gender
5. New Data and Research Approaches for Studying Families 
6. Race, Ethnicity, Social Class, and Families
7. Section on Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtables

Check out our conference page for more details about the ASA2017 conference.

I am pleased to announce the results of the ASA Family Section election.  Thanks to all of you for voting and participating in our section. Our new officers will begin their terms in August at the ASA meeting. 
 
Chair-Elect:
Philip Cohen (U of Maryland)
He will serve as Chair-Elect for one year and in August 2017 serve a one-year terms as Chair.
 
Council Members:
Judith Levine (Temple U)
Claudia Geist (U of Utah)             
Each council member serves for a three-year term.
 
Student Representative:
Christina Cross (U of Michigan)
The student representative will serve a two-year term.
 
We are fortunate to have a great set of incoming and outgoing officers and council members willing to serve our section.
​
I look forward to seeing everyone at the ASA meeting in Seattle!

The Family Section Distinguished Career Award

Deadline: 3/1/2016
This award recognizes the collective body of a person’s work as it relates to the sociology of the family (not a single publication). Award winners may be selected on the basis of distinguished contributions to either research or service. Service to the field includes developments (such as data sets, analytic techniques, or highly-cited scholarly publications) that have had a substantial impact on family research. Send a one-page justification with your nomination. The nominee’s CV is helpful but not necessary. The deadline is March 1, 2016.
Committee Chair: Sarah Damaske at sarahdamaske@psu.edu

The Family Section Article of the Year Award
Deadline: 3/1/2016
This award recognizes a journal article that has made a significant contribution to the field of family sociology. The award committee will accept nominations for articles published in 2013, 2014, or 2015. Nominations may be made by the author or others. To nominate an article, please send a letter of nomination (not to exceed one page) that details the contribution of the article to the field of family sociology, as well as an electronic copy of the article, to the chair of the award committee, Kevin Roy (kroy@umd.edu). The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2016.
Committee Chair: Kevin Roy at kroy@umd.edu

​The Family Section Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award
Deadline: 3/1/2016
Graduate students are invited to submit an article-length paper on the family. The paper should represent a finished product rather than a proposal for future work. The submission can be based on a course paper, a recently published journal article, a manuscript under review at a journal, or a conference presentation. Co-authored papers are acceptable if all authors are students, although the prize will be shared. The paper must have been written when the author was enrolled in a graduate program. Please send the paper by March 1, 2016 to Ann Meier (meierann@umn.edu).
Committee Chair: Ann Meier, meierann@umn.edu