Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting

October 7, 2004

 

            The 64th annual meeting of the Northeastern Division of The American Phytopathological Society was held October 6-8 in State College, Pennsylvania.  NEDAPS president Gary Moorman began the meeting at 5:00 p.m. on October 7, 2004 and welcomed members to the annual meeting.  Eighteen members were in attendance.  Councilor Margaret McGrath called for a moment of silence to remember Houston Couch, Carl Gourley, Walter Sackston, and Dave Wallace.

 

APS President Report

            APS president James MacDonald addressed the membership.  A presidential retreat was held in California to set APS priorities as they relate to extension, research (basic and applied), and journal content and quality.  Work continues to expand partnerships for Plant Management Networks and market Plant Health Progress.  Efforts are being made to ally APS with sister societies so strategic goals on federal funding can be specified and lobbied for with a regional voice.  A national strategic plan has been initiated to develop financial targets and new journal products.  Sustaining APS membership for the long term has become a challenge given that 28% of new members are postdocs and early career professionals.  President-elect John Andrews continues to work on electronic subscriptions to libraries and the idea of open access.  The U.S. Congress is asking for open access after 6 months, however APS has proposed 2 years.  The issues remain unresolved. 

 

Executive Vice President

Steven Nelson applauded the members of APS for their volunteer efforts.  He stated that the committees have taken on many responsibilities that had previously been done by executive staff.  The next annual APS meetings will be held in Austin, TX (2005), Québec City, Québec (2006), San Francisco, CA (2007), and Minneapolis, MN (2008).  APS Headquarters is digitalizing back issues of Phytopathology from 1908 to 2005 for open access with the cooperation from the University of Wisconsin.  Plant management network has included Turfgrass Science, which brings us up to 36 partners.  Efforts are being made to partner more with entomologists for cooperative book projects.  APS’s financial status as of June 2004 has been excellent due to reduced costs of headquarters managing other societies.  Member dues generate only 6% of the total budget and journals pay the majority of the costs.  Over 90% of the funds brought in from journals come from library subscriptions.  Lastly, Steve reported that an ad hoc committee is looking to solicit volunteers for conference calls to promote value-producing ideas.

 

Councilor’s Report

NEDAPS councilor Margaret (Meg) McGrath reported that two initiatives were launched to boost membership in APS divisions.  The first entailed contacting lapsed members and encouraging them to rejoin their division, and the other involved including division dues on the APS renewal forms so members could easily pay their dues and then be placed on the appropriate mailing lists.  A trial study with the North Central APS division was successful.

            The council also discussed the attendance of the APS president at division meetings.  Given that the APS president’s time is limited, their required presence at division meetings may need to be restricted to certain functions, such as the banquet or business meeting, which would shorten their participation from several days to one day.  Meg asked for input as to why APS members are not attending meetings and whether a questionnaire should be given.  In addition, due to excessive time required for the deBary Bowl, the council decided to combine the NEDAPS with the Potomac Division.

 

Approval of Minutes

            Vice President Ann Brooks Gould presented the 2003 minutes.  These were accepted and approved.

 

Secretary-Treasurer Report

Wade Elmer noted that electronic submission of abstracts and registration material had made things easier and cheaper, but the process was still hampered by the need to have better instructions on how to register and where to send forms and abstracts.  The vote as to whether to use division funds to fund the Steve Johnston Memorial Award passed and it will be offered to students for the National APS meeting in Austin in 2005.

The balance in the treasury for NEDAPS on June 30, 2004 was $8,086, which was down from $14,663 in 2003.  The reduction in the balance was due to the cost of speakers for the 2003 meeting.  Members commented that the value of having good speakers for the symposia more than justifies the costs.

Congratulations were made to Cheryl Smith, who was elected Secretary-Treasurer for 2004-2005.

 

Committee Reports

 

Local arrangements.  The local arrangement committee did an outstanding job of covering all concerns and accommodating the participants.  APS president Gary Moorman thanked the committee.

 

Nominations:  Margie Daugherty announced that the Merit and Early Career Award had been awarded to two members.  She repeated the request for nominations.  Rob Wick repeated the need for members to make nominations.  Dave Thompson will serve as chair in 2005.

 

Graduate student awards:  Wakar Uddin reported that 17 students competed for the award and that they will soon announce a winner.  Bruce Clarke will assume responsibilities as the new chair.

 

Site Selection:  The 2006 meeting will be held in Burlington, Vermont, and Ann Hazelrigg will serve as Local Arrangement Chair.  The site selection committee decided to hold the 2007 meeting in southern New Jersey.  Norman Lalancette has agreed to serve as Local Arrangement Chair.  At the time of the meeting, the location for the 2008 meeting had not been decided, but efforts to hold the meeting in Maine or Rhode Island were being pursued by Wade Elmer.

 

Symposium:  Ann Hazelrigg chaired a successful symposium on “Concepts in Forest Pathology in the Face of Exotic Pathogens” and provided four speakers.

 

Extension:  Cindy Ash sat in as chair for Dave Rosenberger.  Thirty-two people attended the Extension meeting.  Individuals made reports from six states.  Cindy Ash will chair the meeting in 2005 and Karen Plumley will serve as secretary.

 

Industry:  Dan Loughner reported that 7 industry representatives gave presentations for their company’s products.   Karen Plumley will serve as chair for 2005.

 

Molecular Biology:  Elwin Stewart (Chair) presided over the molecular biology symposium that featured Angus Dawe from New Mexico State University.  The 2005 chair is Suha Jabaji-Hare.

 

Old Business

 

            The results of the electronic vote to use division funds to supplement the creation of the Steve Johnston Memorial Award in the amount of $4,000 was announced and the funds will be transferred so a student can be awarded travel funds to attend the 2005 national APS meeting in Austin, TX.

 

New Business

 

            Wade Elmer announced that the NEDAPS web page had been created and was on the APS website.  The site was created in the summer of 2004 and can be used by the members as site for photographs and division information of upcoming meetings and past meetings.  Members should contact the current secretary/treasurer with articles for posting.

 

The Officers for 2005-2006:

            Ann Brooks Gould, President

            Wade Elmer, Vice President

            Cheryl Smith, Secretary-Treasurer

            Meg McGrath, Councilor

Robert Wick, Councilor-Elect

Immediate Past President, Gary Moorman

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

Wade Elmer