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2007 Committee on Committees Report

The Committee on Committees (CoC) is composed of representatives elected by the 12 APS Section Steering Committees and two Councilors who serve as Chair and In-coming Chair.  Its primary duty is to nominate individuals to serve on APS standing committees and on outside bodies where the APS is represented.  CoC members are dedicated to the concept that their role is twofold: to identify and promote members of their section who might serve on committees, but then to set aside sectional affiliations to nominate the best-qualified individuals to serve the Society.  CoC members also promote diversity and the involvement of young APS members in the committee structure.  A recurring problem is that two sections (Comparative & Evolutionary and Respiration) have not sent a representative to the CoC meetings in April in the past few years. 

Application and Selection Process: An APS member interested in serving on a committee must self-nominate by completing a Candidate Information Form indicating prior activities relevant to the committee on which he/she wishes to serve, a statement of interest, information about prior APS service, citations to two recent publications, a statement of academic interests, and contact information of their endorser.  An Endorsement Form is completed by someone who knows the candidate and comments on their ability to carry out committee responsibilities.  Both forms are available on the APS website under “committees,” along with a listing of committee vacancies for the upcoming year and links to the descriptions of each of the Society’s standing committees.  In addition to CoC members, the committee Chair also reviews the slate of nominees for that committee.  At their meeting at Experimental Biology (EB), the CoC develops their recommendation for each committee vacancy, along with alternates, and submits this for approval by Council at their summer meeting.  Approved nominees begin their term of appointment the following January.  CoC members are instructed to only consider those applications containing both the Candidate Information Form and Endorsement Form.  In addition, they are asked to pay attention to the applicant’s response to the query on the Candidate Form as to whether they have attended an EB meeting within the last three years.  This is particularly important for those committees which have a face-to-face meeting at EB. 

The CoC is pleased that Council approved their request that beginning in 2008 Council will review the nominations submitted by CoC to fill committee vacancies at the end of the Spring Council meeting rather than waiting until Summer Council.  This change is seen to have several benefits.  One, the Chair of the CoC will be present for the discussion with Council as opposed to the situation now where every third year the CoC Chair has rotated off Council before the Summer Council meeting.  Two, this will reduce the time between when the applicant applies for a committee and when they are notified as to whether they will serve on a committee.  Specifically, candidates can be notified in early rather than late summer. 

Characteristics of the 2007 Applicant Pool: The CoC was pleased with the large pool of completed applications (112) for committee vacancies this year.  This reflects an increase of 187% over last year and an increase of 58% over 2005 (see Table 1). Eleven of the 12 APS Sections had an increase in the number of their primary members who applied for committee vacancies; and four of the Sections (Cardiovascular, Environmental & Exercise, GI & Liver, and Teaching) had more than 10 candidates this year.  Table 2 shows other characteristics of the applicant pool. Note that the percentage of the applicants that are under the age of 45 or women exceeded their respective representation of the regular active membership of the APS (i.e., not including student or honorary members). 

The number of completed applications for each APS standing committee varied from zero (Senior Physiology Committee) to 27 (International Physiology Committee).  Eight of the 15 APS standing committees had five or more applicants.  There is a concern that some APS members who reside outside of the US thought that they were only eligible for the International Physiology Committee, as 19 of the 27 applications from this group were for this Committee.  International members are eligible for all committees.  However, in response to the large number of international applicants, the CoC recommended (and Council subsequently approved) that the composition of the International Physiology Committee be increased by three.

Results from 2007 CoC Meeting and Council Deliberations: The tasks of the CoC were to fill vacancies on committees, fill new positions as requested by several committee Chairs, select an alternate for each committee, and identify Chairs for nine committees.  In addition, the CoC was asked to identify up to eight potential members for a new APS Conference Committee.  Using input from the CoC, the APS Executive Cabinet later deliberated on final selection of the membership of this new committee. 

During the deliberations at their meeting in April, the CoC sought to instill diversity in the committee structure on the basis of sectional affiliation, geography, gender, and seniority from the qualified group of applicants. The Chair of the CoC brought a slate of nominees to the APS Council for further discussion at their meeting in July. Council approved 64 APS members to serve on committees beginning January 1, 2008. Table 1 and Table 2 show the sectional affiliation and other characteristics of these individuals, respectively.  Note that the proportion of nominees who were under the age of 45, women, and employed by industry is similar to that of the applicant pool. 

Table 3 shows the sectional affiliation of the APS Standing Committee members over the past two years and in 2008.  Table 4 shows the composition of the committees in 2007 and 2008 in terms of representation by members that are under the age of 45, women, residing outside of the US, and employed in Industry.  The Tables also compare the relative proportions of these groups on committees and within the APS regular membership.

In 2008 there will be 133 APS members serving on APS standing committees.  In addition, the Joint Program, Liaison with Industry, Section Advisory, and Trainee Advisory Committees each have a representative from the 12 APS Sections, allowing for participation of 48 additional APS members in committee activities.  Also, each of the sections has a Steering Committee.  Thus, there are many opportunities for APS members to become actively engaged in helping the Society achieve the goals it has set forth in its strategic plan.

Planning for 2008

The CoC hopes that many APS members will consider serving the Society as a member of one of its standing committees.  Applications can be submitted via the APS website, and are due by January 15, 2008. Those candidates who were not selected to serve on a committee this year are encouraged to re-submit their credentials for consideration for the same or another committee in the next cycle. An individual who has been selected as an alternate for a committee will be re-considered next year without re-nomination.

Susan M. Barman, Chair

Committee on Committees

• Council approved the addition of a regular member to the Membership Committee.

• Council approved the addition of a trainee member to the Public Affairs Committee.

• Council approved eliminating the Long Range Planning Committee.

• Council approved the recommendation to move Council approval of the slate of committee nominees from the Summer Council meeting to the last day of the Spring Council meeting.

• Council approved the slate of nominees for committee vacancies with Council recommended changes.

Table 1.  Sectional Affiliation of the Applicant Pool over Past Three Years and 2007 Nominees for Committees

Table 2:  Other Characteristics of 2007 Applicant Pool and Nominees Approved by Council

Table 3: Sectional Affiliation of APS Standing Committee* Members

* Data do not include members of the Joint Program, Liaison with Industry, Section Advisory, and Trainee Advisory Committees which are selected by Section Steering Committees.

Table 4:  Other Characteristics of APS Standing Committee Members*

* Data do not include members of the Joint Program, Liaison with Industry, Section Advisory, and Trainee Advisory Committees which are selected by Section Steering Committees.