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2002 Section Advisory Committee Report
The Section Advisory Committee (SAC) met separately and in joint-session
with the APS Council on Friday, April 19, 2002 prior to the Experimental
Biology meeting in New Orleans. All Sections were represented at the
afternoon meeting of SAC. Topics discussed included: 1) Section Reports, 2)
Nominations for next SAC chair, 3) Programming, 4) Finances, and 5) Awards.
During the joint meeting with Council, there was discussion of strategic
issues and John Hall asked each section to identify their top critical
concern.
Section Reports
All of the sections submitted detailed reports on their activities during
the past year. These reports were transmitted to Council at the
joint-meeting on April 19, 2002. Several aspects of these reports suggested
common concerns amongst the sections and these were discussed:
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Section Steering Committee Membership: There appeared to be
a common problem in identifying committed members for section steering
committees. While some sections are doing very well with this, others have
been struggling. The CNS Section asked for suggestions from other sections
and reported that it has adopted a strategy for removing inactive steering
committee members from the steering committee. Specifically, attendance at
a certain number of steering committee meetings is required in order to
remain on the committee.
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Candidates for Committee Membership: It was noted that the
sections can do a better job of nominating strong candidates for APS
committee service. Sections should urge their members to nominate
candidates for all committees. It was noted that nomination letters should
be personalized and not merely carbon copies of the templates provided by
the Section, because these do not have the same impact on the COC as a
personalized letter.
EB Meeting Abstract-Based Awards
There was concern about the lack of award applications
for the Young Investigator Travel Awards. It was requested that the Call for
Papers heading on the APS Awards Page be changed to read “Abstract-Based
Awards,” thereby removing the reference to student/postdocs. This is because
the Section Young Investigator awards are largely offered to those advanced
beyond postdoc status. It is believed that many people eligible for the YIAs
are not applying because they are not reading the criteria for the awards,
thinking they are not relevant to them.
Nominations for Next SAC Chair
Sladek’s term as SAC chair expires on December 31,
2002. The Society bylaws state that the SAC shall elect the chairperson.
Council requested SAC develop a slate of candidates to be placed on the
ballot. SAC forwarded the names of the following five individuals to
Council:
- Sue Barman, Central Nervous System Section
- Paul DeWeer, Cell & Molecular Physiology Section
- Robert Gunn, Cell & Molecular Physiology Section
- Helen Raybould, Gastrointestinal Section
- Jeff Sands, Renal Section
From this list, council nominated two individuals for
the final ballot, Sue Barman and Jeff Sands. Marty Frank will collect
biographical information and send a ballot to SAC for the final election.
Programming
The Section Program Committees are functioning well and it was felt that
the programming at EB has continued to be exciting and high quality.
Sections are continuing to use their newsletters to advertise their
programming contributions to their members. One of the issues that were
discussed during the combined SAC/Council meeting was the need to coordinate
programming between APS and the other societies that are represented at EB.
A mechanism needs to be developed for sections to be aware of the other
society programmatic offerings in a timely way in order to incorporate that
information into newsletters, etc. This could enhance the ‘meeting within a
meeting’ approach and make EB more enticing to section members.
The Translational Physiology Initiative including the goal to incorporate
more translational programming at EB was discussed. SAC noted that there are
relatively few intersectional slots allocated to the EB meeting. Therefore,
each section should try to incorporate translational research aspects into
their programming. Sections should also encourage manuscript submissions on
disease models.
Featured Topics
EB 2002 marks the first year where each section
received the funds for their featured topics to distribute as they please.
In light of the new process, letters mailed by the Society should remove all
funding references and simply state that the section should be contacted.
Action Item
Sections would like to have the Society provide
complimentary registration for invited speakers in featured topics, over and
above the $1,000 currently provided.
IUPS programming issues were discussed. Sladek
distributed the list of individuals chairing the IUPS commissions and
encouraged the sections to begin to communicate with the appropriate IUPS
commission(s) in order to begin early discussions about program ideas.
Finances
Linda Allen provided each section with information
about their APS accounts, and reminded SAC that, based on the recommendation
of the Task Force on Sections, the section accounts have been converted to
discretionary accounts into which the money previously allocated for
activities with the Distinguished Lecturer ($2,000) and the $1,000 allotment
for each featured topic is deposited annually. The sections have the
discretion to distribute these funds amongst these activities as is needed.
Unused funds can be carried over into future years.
Awards
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Young Investigator Award for Assistant Professors: SAC
discussed appropriate guidelines and criteria for the new Young
Investigator Award for individuals at the Assistant Professor level that
was proposed by the Task Force on Sections. These awards would be
presented annually, one per section, and would consist of a $1,000
honorarium and complimentary advance registration at EB. Bill Chilian,
Mike Jennings, and Stan Lindstedt agreed to develop guidelines and
criteria for presentation to Council.
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Selection of Bowditch and Cannon Lecturers: SAC discussed
the request from Council to provide recommendations for the Bowditch and
Cannon Lecturers. SAC recommends that the awards be better marketed to the
membership, asking them for nominations. Specifically, it is suggested
that a postcard mailing be done each year to solicit names for these
awards. SAC would also be willing to identify individuals from their
section and provide the supporting documentation.
New Business
Establish new pages on the APS web site for job and
equipment listings.
Action Item
SAC recommends that APS develop new pages on the APS site for advertising
equipment exchanges. One page would be designed to advertise equipment that
investigators are no longer using and would be willing to exchange or sell.
This would be particularly useful for specialized items that are no longer
available, but other investigators need.
Celia Sladek, Chair
Council Actions
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Council accepted the report of the Section Advisory
Committee.
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Council approved the requested funding for complimentary
advanced registration for section award recipients at the EB meetings.
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Council approved the requested funding for complimentary
advanced registration for invited speakers in featured topics.
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Council approved a motion of establishing a page on the APS
web site for listing equipment available for exchange/sale/donation.
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Council approved the recommended criteria, with some
changes, for the Section Young Investigator Awards.
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