The Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) serves as the primary vehicle for maintaining and enhancing relationships among the constituent learned societies and between the societies and ACLS. The CAO meets twice a year to discuss substantive issues in the humanities as well as practical and organizational aspects of society management. The Executive Committee of the CAO sets the agenda for these meetings. The spring meetings take place in conjunction with the ACLS Annual Meeting. The 2008 spring meeting was held in Pittsburgh on May 10, and featured a program session on the role of the executive director of ACLS member societies (read more). The fall meetings, devoted exclusively to the CAO, are usually held in cities of interest as possible convention sites for member societies and are hosted by each city's convention and visitors bureau. The 2008 fall meeting took place in Detroit, November 6-9; topics included revenue sources, the making of virtual communities, and a fifty-year perspective on area and ethnic studies (read more).
Certain fall meetings are designated "retreats." The program for these meetings allows for focused discussion of topics that are of broad interest in the humanities community and that have significant implications for all of the constituent societies. Participants prepare materials aimed at a comparative understanding of the dynamics, histories, and trajectories of our member societies as they relate to the retreat's focus. The November 2007 CAO Retreat, held in Salt Lake City, was titled "ACLS, the Learned Societies and Shaping Humanities Scholarship: The Plural Relationships of Learned Societies" (read more).