Annual Meetings
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COSSA Consortium of Social Science Associations 22001133 AANNNNUUAALL A DVOCATING FOR THE S O C I A L A N D B E H A V I O R A L S CIENCES CCOOSSSSAA GOVERNING MEMBERS American Anthropological Association American Association for Public Opinion Research American Economic Association American Educational Research Association American Historical Association COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES American Political Science Association American Psychological Association Arizona State University American Society of Criminology Boston University American Sociological Association Brown University American Statistical Association University of California, Berkeley Association of American Geographers University of California, Irvine Association of American Law Schools University of California, Los Angeles Law and Society Association University of California, San Diego Linguistic Society of America University of California, Santa Barbara Midwest Political Science Association Carnegie-Mellon University National Communication Association University of Chicago Population Association of America Clark University Society for Research in Child Development University of Colorado Columbia University MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS University of Connecticut Cornell University Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences University of Delaware American Evaluation Association Duke University American Finance Association Georgetown University American Psychosomatic Society George Mason University Association for Asian Studies George Washington University Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Harvard University Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations Howard University Association of Research Libraries University of Idaho Council on Social Work Education University of Illinois Economic History Association Indiana University History of Science Society University of Iowa Justice Research and Statistics Association Johns Hopkins University Midwest Sociological Society John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY National Association of Social Workers University of Maryland North American Regional Science Council Massachusetts Institute of Technology North Central Sociological Association Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse Rural Sociological Society University of Michigan Social Science History Association Michigan State University Society for Anthropological Sciences University of Missouri, St. Louis Society for Behavioral Medicine University of Minnesota Society for Empirical Legal Studies University of Nebraska, Lincoln Society for Research on Adolescence New York University Society for Social Work and Research University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues North Dakota State University Southern Political Science Association Northwestern University Southern Sociological Society Ohio State University Southwestern Social Science Association University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania State University Princeton University CENTERS AND INSTITUTES Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey University of South Carolina American Academy of Political and Social Sciences Stanford University American Council of Learned Societies State University of New York, Stony Brook American Institutes for Research University of Texas, Austin Brookings Institution University of Texas, San Antonio Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Texas A & M University Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research Vanderbilt University Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan University of Virginia Institute for Women's Policy Research University of Washington National Opinion Research Center Washington University in St. Louis Population Reference Bureau University of Wisconsin, Madison RTI International University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee RWJF Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico Yale University Social Science Research Council Vera Institute of Justice From the Executive Director 3 Introducing COSSA’s New Executive Director 7 2013 Highlights 9 Other Activities 13 Heard on the Hill: Congressional Briefings 18 COSSA and the Community 21 COSSA and its Constituents 22 Governance and Finance 23 COSSA Staff 24 A DVOCATING FOR THE S O C I A L A N D B E H A V I O R A L S CIENCES s I leave COSSA after 30 years, 25 as its Executive Director, I want to first say it has been an honor and privilege to advocate for the promotion of and federal funding for the social and behavioral sciences. To paraphrase President Kennedy, the torch has now been passed to a new generation of leadership, and I hope that those who have provided me with such support over the years will now extend that cooperation to COSSA's new Executive Director, Wendy Naus. In leaving, I first want to thank the staff members who have collaborated with me during my tenure to make COSSA the effective force it has become, in particular, Angela Sharpe, COSSA's current Deputy Director, who during the past 18 years has been an invaluable part of our efforts to advocate for the importance of the connection between health and behavior to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has also served COSSA in many other ways that have enhanced its value. Al Blumstein I also want to thank all those who have served responsiveness. Two people epitomize this, Al on the COSSA Executive Committee and Board Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University and of Directors, who have provided me with advice Ken Prewitt of Columbia and the former and support to make COSSA a director of the U.S. Census. key player in U.S. science Both served as COSSA policy. In addition, social and President and both spoke at behavioral scientists across the congressional briefings and country have answered our annual meetings. Blumstein many calls to testify and lobby also was a COSSA witness Congress, to present the results before the House of their research in our many Appropriations Committee. Congressional briefings, and to Prewitt was a leading player in speak at our annual meetings. I Ken Prewitt COSSA's founding. am grateful for their During my tenure, I have dealt with five Economic Sciences in 1992 and culminates with presidential administrations, 16 Congresses of her current second stint as NSF's Acting all political combinations, nine Director. National Science Foundation (NSF) directors, six NIH directors, seven On Capitol Hill, Rep. presidential science advisers, six David Price (D-NC), a Assistant Directors for NSF's Social, fellow political scientist, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) has been a friend as well sciences directorate, four directors of as supporter. The House NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Science Committee Sciences Research (OBSSR), and Chairmen, the late Rep. countless other officials in both the George Brown (D-CA) Executive and Legislative branches. and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), also I have had the pleasure to work with Cora Marrett demonstrated strong many friends and colleagues in the support for all the Executive Branch agencies. In particular, sciences and it was a pleasure to work with interacting with Cora Marrett in her many them. I am also grateful for all the staff positions of leadership at NSF has been a joy. It members who have listened to my arguments began during her tenure as the first Assistant and sometimes did what I asked. Director for the Social, Behavioral, and TRIUMPHS AND CHALLENGES COSSA has had many triumphs as well as some of my earliest activities at COSSA was, along challenges. The formation of the SBE with then-Bureau of Labor Statistics directorate in 1991, the establishment of Commissioner Janet Norwood (who would later become COSSA's President) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), helping to save the National Longitudinal Studies (NLS) of Labor Market Experiences, as it was known then. In the category of the more things change, the more they remain the same (of which there are many examples), the future of the NLS is once again uncertain. Howard Silver and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) Another example comes from my first visits with congressional staff back in 1983, when I OBSSR, and the creation of the was admonished that social scientists need to position of Assistant Director for the SBE sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) were all COSSA-driven successes. Yet, problems have arisen throughout COSSA's history. One F. Thomas Juster, Olivia Mitchell, Howard Silver, Beth Soldo, and Raynard Kington House Science Committee Chairman Robert Walker (R-PA) wanted to eliminate the directorate at NSF. In 2006-07, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) argued that the social sciences do not belong at NSF. In 2009, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) wanted to eliminate the political science program at NSF, a position later espoused in 2012 by Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ). That same Norman B. Anderson, Sally Hillsman, and Howard Silver year Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) tried to eliminate economics research at NIH, and Rep. be more careful about their grant titles. During Daniel Webster (R-FL) sponsored an a recent visit with a Democratic Senator's staff amendment that passed the House to eliminate person, it was clear that this issue still posed the American Community Survey. All of these problems for this Senator when it came to challenges were eventually thwarted by COSSA supporting funding for social and behavioral working with its members, friends in Congress, science research. and its allies in the rest of the science and higher education communities. Over