February 2004 • Volume 38 • Number 2

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Message from the APS President

Gary C. Bergstrom, Cornell University
 

APS enters the fourth year of the new millennium in sound fiscal shape, with profitable and highly regarded journals and other publications and a track record of success in annual national and division meetings. The society offers a wide array of member services valued by its members, and it has a growing reputation for providing timely and useful, science-based information to the larger community of scientists, the public, media, and policymakers. APS’s success is a credit to the vision, planning, investment, and hard work of past leaders, member volunteers, and staff.

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as president this year. It is with humility that I attempt to follow in the giant footsteps of effective APS presidents, including most recently, Jacque Fletcher, Noel Keen, and Steve Slack, who were generous mentors to me. Fortunately, I share the mantle of leadership with an exceptional team of members and staff. Your current APS leaders are determined to build on past successes and to put into place strategic goals and objectives that will ensure future success and value to APS members. The many dedicated volunteers serving on APS boards, offices, and committees, working closely with our talented staff, continue to devise the strategies and activities by which these objectives are accomplished.

The process of governance in APS is evolving to be more responsive to new opportunities and the needs of members. For the past few years, APS Council has reconsidered and updated the APS Strategic Plan, our roadmap for activities and programs, on an annual and ongoing basis. We have engaged a Leadership Forum, an expanded group of APS leaders (including elected and appointed officers, councilors-at-large, division councilors, editors-in-chief, directors and chairs of boards and offices, scientific program section chairs, and staff leaders) in dialog about issues confronting the society. The Leadership Forum has become invaluable for communication and planning across the broad governance of APS. We have also utilized targeted surveys to obtain a better reading of member needs and opinions prior to making decisions. Responses to the 2003 member survey will be a major item for discussion when APS Council meets in St. Paul, MN, this month. As APS governance continues to evolve, it is critical that we represent in our decision making those whose voices are heard less than others. These include, but are not limited to, young professionals, international members, members in industry and private practice, members engaged in fundamental or molecular research, and members not currently represented through divisions.

All elements of the strategic plan are important and are being addressed through phased actions. The Executive Committee has proposed four top strategic priorities for implementation in 2004, as follows:

• Increase efforts to build value of APS journals and promote their availability
• Build the content, readership, and financial health of PLANT MANAGEMENT NETWORK (PMN)
• Expand the diversity of offerings and increase the sales of APS Press
• Continue to build alliances and interactions with other scientific societies

The Financial Advisory Committee, under the leadership of treasurer Erik Stromberg, has drafted the first APS Strategic Financial Plan to provide specific and prioritized budget goals and guidelines necessary for accomplishment of the strategic plan over a five-year budget interval. Stromberg will discuss the Strategic Financial Plan in the next issue of Phytopathology News. The Executive Committee also has been discussing new models for communication among governance groups and with members. This includes a changing role for the APS secretary as a coordinator of communications. Be sure to read the article by APS Secretary Carol Ishimaru in the January 2004 issue of Phytopathology News, in which she unveiled an innovative and informative new format for the annual report.

The future viability of our journals is a top priority issue in 2004. The Ad Hoc Journal Issues Committee, chaired by Greg Shaner, has been reappointed and is developing a vision for the quality and content of APS journals. The Journal Operations Working Group, chaired by APS Vice President John Andrews, is considering strategies for delivering and marketing journals while maintaining the financial integrity of the program.

Great progress has been made in building PMN, a cooperative enterprise facilitated by APS, into the premier Internet resource for applied plant management information. PMN’s three peer-reviewed journals were recently selected for inclusion in CAB Abstracts. The PMN Partners Program continues to grow along with PMN content. In addition to PMN’s existing journals, the Crop Science Society of America has announced their intention to launch a new journal on turfgrass science within PMN, and the Entomological Society of America has become the newest PMN society partner. PMN is also exploring partnerships with the USDA and other federal agencies.

APS continues to look at opportunities for new print, electronic, and other products through APS Press. To jumpstart the creative process of envisioning a new generation of APS products, we are sending Mike Boehm and key staff members to a national product development
conference.

The Public Policy Board (PPB), led by John Sherwood, along with our professional Washington, DC, liaison, Kellye Eversole, keep APS members well informed on the latest developments in the U.S. Congress and federal agencies of relevance to plant health. For example, PPB is monitoring the changing USDA-APHIS regulations regarding permits and the movement of plant pathogens in the United States, and they have established an online discussion area in APSnet for members to share their ideas and post questions. APS is now solicited directly by policymakers for input on key science issues. The PPB also advocates the improvement of federal funding programs for plant health research and education, including a recent initiative to build grant programs that foster a better understanding of the microbial ecology and epidemiology that underlie sustainable agriculture practices. PPB is still at the forefront of agricultural biosecurity issues and is in the process of gathering input, building a broad coalition of support, and revising a proposal for a National Center for Plant Biosecurity. Past president Jacque Fletcher and Kellye Eversole are coordinating this effort for PPB.

Each of our APS boards and offices is doing exciting things. I encourage you to follow new developments in the monthly update sections of Phytopathology News.

Several ad hoc committees are doing important work behind the scenes. The Private Practice Committee, chaired by Charlie Mellinger, has been reappointed to continue the work of assessing the needs of and opportunities for private practitioners within APS. The Young Professionals Committee, chaired by Carolee Bull, has also been reappointed. They have energized the larger community of young professionals in APS through their interactive website and other activities and are now contemplating a transition to standing committee status. The Emerging Diseases Committee, chaired by Doug Luster, continues to play a national leadership role in advising the federal government on science-based criteria for assessment of biological threat agents. They interact closely with the Biosecurity Committee, now a standing committee chaired by Larry Madden. The Awards and Honors Issues Committee, under the leadership of Mike Benson, is taking a comprehensive look at our programs to recognize excellence in member contributions to plant pathology and APS.

We are living in a period of rapid change in science, agriculture, and society. The environment in which plant pathologists are trained, seek and retain employment, attain research funding, and interact with clients, the public, and other scientists is in flux. There are some interesting parallels between the beginning of the 21st century and the beginning of the 20th century, another period of rapid change during which plant pathology emerged from the discipline of botany and began to be recognized as a unique and valued field of science. APS will utilize its 100th Anniversary in 2008 to celebrate past accomplishments and provide a roadmap for the future of plant pathology and plant health. The Centennial Planning Committee, chaired by Cleo D’Arcy, is actively pursuing ideas for commemorating our 100th anniversary and putting on a world-class APS Centennial Meeting in July 2008 in Minneapolis, MN. The Scientific Programs Board, led by Erin Rosskopf, in coordination with D’Arcy’s committee, is making early plans for visionary scientific sessions in July 2008, with leading world scientists as invited speakers. Also with a look to the future, I have appointed an ad hoc committee on plant pathology priorities, chaired by Joyce Loper, to look at strategies and actions that need to be put in place so plant pathology will be a relevant and vital field of science in the year 2020 and beyond.

The theme I’ve chosen for the plenary session of the 2004 APS Annual Meeting, and for my presidential year, is “Networks for Plant Health.” Plant pathologists and other plant health scientists are under increasing pressure to deliver high-quality research, education, outreach, and clientele service in an era of decreasing resources and personnel. This is a time of specialization, with a tendency toward fragmentation of our scientific communities. No one scientific community (e.g., APS, any of its component communities, or our sister scientific societies) can meet the challenges alone. We must engage each other in cooperative networks (our annual meeting program is a microcosm of this principle) to achieve our goals. My idea is to highlight the positive role that professional societies like APS are playing and should play in building and maintaining effective networks for plant health (in a broad sense). I have been spending a fair amount of time in dialog with officers of some of our sister societies exploring opportunities for developing and enhancing intersociety cooperation for common benefit.

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee, chaired by APS President-Elect Jim MacDonald, is arranging an outstanding and diverse scientific program for the APS Annual Meeting in August 2004 in Anaheim, CA. Here is a sneak preview of some of the special symposia and discussion sessions that will be offered: “Closteroviruses—Citrus tristeza virus Complex and Tristeza Diseases”; “Coevolution of Fungi and Plants”; “Food Safety as Influenced by Phyllosphere Mycoflora”; “Functional Genomics Meets Bacterial Diseases”; “Host–Microbe Interactions in Woody plants”; “Organic Foods—From Production to Market”; “Plant Pathology in Historical Perspective”; “Reality CV: Recently Successful Job Applicants and Field Leaders Tell It Like It Is About the Present and Future of Plant Pathology Careers”; “Soil Health and Nematodes”; “Targeted Sampling for Pathogen Detection To Meet Quarantine and Certification requIrements.” The program will also include contributed oral papers and posters, workshops, field trips, committee meetings, social gatherings, and numerous opportunities for networking with colleagues. You will not want to miss APS in Anaheim in 2004!

I’d like every APS member to take time to smell the roses in 2004—even if it is while you are checking them for disease. APS members are busier today than ever before, trying to juggle the demands of career, home, family, and community life. Recreation and hobbies are important too. Volunteer service is a special and valued gift that many busy members give to APS. The major motivation for APS volunteers is a sense of satisfaction for contributing and making a difference. I assure you that our hundreds of dedicated APS volunteers are making a positive difference in keeping APS a vibrant society. Please let a member of council know if there are ways in which your volunteer experience could be made more meaningful or how we might make better use of your skills and time. Thank you, APS volunteers!
 

Final Call for Annual Meeting Abstract Submission

APS abstract submission deadlines for the upcoming annual meeting in Anaheim, CA, July 31–August 4, 2004, are February 27 for oral paper presentations and March 12 for poster presentations. Abstracts can be submitted on APSnet at www.apsnet.org/meetings/annual/asf/. Submissions after the deadlines will not be accepted. You are encouraged to submit before the last day to avoid delays due to high system usage.
 

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