Association for the Study of Literature and Environment

“Expenses website it support/hosting 1,938 salesforce/membership it supp 1,600 office supplies 144 conference plenary speaker ex 11,550 conference costs 2,076 insurance 1,294 payroll processing fees 837 information technology 1,365 accounting & professional 1,555 licensing fees 4,078 bank & credit card fees 4,080 total 30,517”

“Unrealized gains/losses -3,537”

“Asle seeks to inspire and promote intellectual and creative work in the environmental humanities and arts. Our vision is an inclusive community whose members are committed to environmental research, education, literature, art and service, environmental justice, and ecological sustainability.”

“Membership: asle activities serve the professional and scholarly needs and interests of its members and provide them with opportunities in the environmental humanities field: subscription to and publishing opportunities in our quarterly journal isle, an e-newsletter, eligibility to run for office, serve as a coordinator or on committees, and apply for writing awards and grants; chances to present at a biennial conference, off-year symposia, or international conference; ability to join student mentoring programs; and opportunities to participate in featured programs/web stories on their work. We maintain an online membership community with access to a member directory, chat groups, online journal portal, and publisher discounts.”

“Publications and online content: isle journal: isle: interdisciplinary studies in literature and environment is the official journal of asle, published quarterly. In 2021 isle transitioned to online-only digital model for sustainability reasons. Distribution is primarily to asle members (est. 1200) and institutional subscribers (2435); in addition, our publisher oxford university press has a large free access program for developing countries. Isle content is juried, and includes both scholarly articles in ecocriticism and creative works of nonfiction and poetry. Asle news: the association produces a variety of articles on the activities of our organization and our members every year. We compile them in a quarterly e-newsletter, which is sent to members and subscribers (approx. 4500 total) via constant contact; stories are posted at the website on the asle news tab, as well as featured teaching and research pages: http://www.asle.org/stay-informed/asle-news/. Asle website: the association's website (www.asle.org) aims to be a rich resource in the burgeoning field of environmental humanities. There are articles on innovative teaching models, featured research on projects or ideas across a broad range of arts and sciences, scholar of the month, a teaching resources database, directory of schools with programs focused in the environmental humanities, links and connections to various online journals and portals, and introductory articles and materials on the field. Member publications and accomplishments are posted as well. Asle ecocast: in july 2020, we launched a new podcast series that continued in 2021. Once a month, hosts interview a guest or guests on a current topic and their work in the field. The series is hosted on podbean, and available on apple podcasts and spotify, see https://asleecocast.podbean.com/.”

“Conferences, symposia, and virtual events: from july 26-august 6, 2020, we held our asle biennial conference virtually for the first time ever, due to the ongoing pandemic. "emergence/y" attracted more than 750 participants and focused on a number of important current issues in the environmental humanities, including environmental justice, migrant ecocriticism, and animal studies. The event featured a series of recorded virtual presentations, keynote talks, workshops, and virtual conversations. We did hire several digital coordinators on a temporary basis to help with this event. Asle also provided nearly 100 in- kind free registrations to scholars in need. In the spring of 2021, asle held two online workshops on public writing and civic engagement that were free to the public. The first discussed the "why" of engagement, and the second focused on letters to the editor as a tool to engage issues at the local and regional level. We followed with the launch of asle spotlight, a program to feature the new work of our members in environmental arts and humanities. Four episodes featuring four guests and two hosts were held live, and recorded for future viewing. See https://www.asle.org/stay-informed/asle-news/spotlight-series-2021/.”

“Asle grants: asle offered a number of grants to assist our members with funding for their innovative projects and publications. In 2021, we funded two translation grants, which support translation of published works in ecocriticism from international scholars with the goal of expanding exchanges across cultures and continents. We also funded three subvention grants to support innovative projects in ecocriticism and the environmental humanities. Asle's graduate student paper awards were awarded to three scholars who presented at the biennial conference. Asle also provided two international membership grants, which are in-kind free memberships for two years given to scholars outside north america without access to professional development funding.”

“The organizations bylaws were modified during the year. Three of the five at-large executive councilor roles were changed to include specific titles and duties: conference chair, regional collaboratories officer and public engagement officer. An appointed sustainability officer position was added. Addition of a clause stating the organization will always maintain a directors and officers insurance policy to cover those serving. The role and responsibilities of the isle journal editor(s) were modified.”