President’s Letter
January 2012
Dear PAA Member:
On behalf of the PAA 2012 Program Committee, we are pleased to present the Preliminary Program for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (see paa2012.princeton.edu). The meeting will be held in San Francisco from Thursday, May 3, to Saturday, May 5, 2012, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. To accommodate this year’s record 2,836 paper submissions (up from 2,594 for 2011 and 2,026 for 2010), we have increased the total number of paper sessions from the 198 of past years to 216 for 2012. For the first time, we have scheduled regular paper sessions through 4:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Please adjust your travel plans accordingly.
The creation of the PAA program reflects the input and research interests of the membership. Following last year’s meeting, PAA members submitted many suggestions for possible sessions for the 2012 meeting. Based on these suggestions, along with our knowledge of the most popular sessions at recent meetings (as measured by the volume of submissions) and informal canvassing of PAA members, the PAA Program Committee assembled a list of 94 regular sessions for the Call for Papers that was disseminated in August 2011. The PAA Program Committee identified broad topics for sessions and, to the extent possible, recruited members to serve as session organizers who had not been in this role in the last two years. We appreciate the contributions from the general membership, as well as the excellent work of the Program Committee.
With the record number of paper sessions, the real heroes of program planning have been the session organizers who read and evaluated the submissions under a tight deadline. The mean number of first- choice papers per organizer was 30. Several organizers had more than 100 submissions (including both first- and second-choice submissions): Kathryn Kost, Mohammad Abbasi-Shavazi, Cynthia Osborne, Laura Tach, Matthew Painter, Cassio Turra, Charlie Hirschman, Jenny Trinitapoli, Kim Goyette, Mary Powers, and Greta Gilbertson. The PAA Program Committee is grateful for all the extra effort that was required.
Many session organizers received more good papers than could be accommodated in a single session. As a result, we added more than 100 “overflow” sessions to the program. Additional sessions were created from abstracts and papers submitted directly to the PAA president or that were routed to him by the session organizers.
This year researchers also set a record with 1,606 poster submissions. Given time and physical space constraints, we were able to accept only about one-third of these submissions. The program will include 532 posters with 76 posters in each of the seven poster sessions. We thank in advance the poster judges for their work.
In all, we accommodated almost half of the submissions in the 2012 PAA program. The preliminary program includes almost 2,700 participants. It is difficult to imagine a more productive and participatory scholarly association.
The development of the program is possible because hundreds of PAA members spent countless volunteer hours working as members of the program committee and as session organizers. THANK YOU! We also appreciate the willingness of PAA members to serve as discussants and session chairs. We owe debts of gratitude to Germán Rodríguez who is the creator of the amazing technology behind the PAA Meeting website and database, and Erin Oates, who assisted us on many of the myriad details involved in organizing the program. Special thanks go to Irene Rodríguez, who devoted enormous effort and expertise to the many issues that arose with the submission and review process. Irene, Germán, and Erin, thank you for your dedication and service!
This year we will have several invited sessions on special topics. For example, the program includes invited sessions that are jointly sponsored with our international partner population associations. Barry Edmonston, president of the Canadian Population Society, has organized a panel on “Asian Americans and Asian Canadians: A Minority Success Story?” In addition, Rebecca Wong, representing the Mexican Society of Demography (SOMEDE), has organized “Families in US and Mexico: A Comparative Perspective with a Public Policy Approach.” The program also includes an “Author Meets Critics” session on the recent book by Robert Sampson entitled Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect. Judith Bradford of Center for Population Research in LGBT Health has put together an invited session on “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health.” Another panel session, organized by Helena Choi (Hewlett Foundation) and Marlene Lee (Population Reference Bureau), will focus on “Human Capital and Reaping the Demographic Dividend in Sub-Saharan Africa.” John Haaga is also organizing a commemorative panel on the release – now 40 years ago – of the report on Population Growth and the American Future. A session on “Arab Spring: Sociodemographic Changes in the Arab World,” organized by Joseph Chamie, will highlight the demographic implications of unfolding political and economic change in the Middle East. Finally, in keeping with recent practice, Linda Gage of the PAA Committee on Population Statistics (COPS) has organized two sessions on applied demography, including one on evaluating the Census Bureau’s population estimates.
As in the past, we will also take time at the meeting to remember PAA members who passed away over the last year. The memorial service will be held on Thursday evening, 8:30-10:00 pm. If you know of deaths of PAA members, please inform Betty Thomson (elizabeth.thomson@sociology.su.se) so that their names may be included in the memorial service program. Members are encouraged to participate in the memorial service and to contribute remembrances of recently deceased members.
Paper sessions will be 110 minutes long, and some sessions will include two discussants in order to maximize feedback to paper authors. Unless otherwise directed by the session chair, authors should plan on no more than 12-15 minutes for their presentations. This allotment will leave time for introductions, transitions, discussant remarks, and audience questions and comments. As in recent years, LCD projectors and overhead projectors will be available in all sessions. Presenters (or session organizers) will be responsible for bringing laptop computers with PowerPoint presentations already loaded to connect to the LCD projectors. Again, the PAA program will extend to
4:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
The excellent mobile version of the PAA program, developed last year by Germán Rodríguez will be available again this year. To conserve resources—natural and financial—we have decided not to include paper abstracts in the printed program, but they will be available electronically. The PAA Board seeks ways to enhance access at the annual meetings for all members within the constraints of our limited association budget. The presidential address session will be captioned for those with special hearing needs. Suggestions to improve access to the meetings are most welcome.
This year’s meeting location, San Francisco, needs little introduction. The city is a vibrant cultural hub, financial center, and international tourist destination with over 7 million people in the metropolitan area.
San Francisco is served by the San Francisco International Airport, as well as Oakland International Airport and the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. The meeting hotel is conveniently located in the Union Square area, a few blocks from the BART Powell Street station and close to numerous attractions, restaurants, and shopping. Information about San Francisco is available at Welcome to SF.
More information about this year’s meeting and registration details may be found on the right menu of PAA website, www.popassoc.org .
We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco. All best wishes for 2012,
Daniel T. Lichter, President
Linda G. Martin, Vice President
President’s Letter (PDF)
