2009 Section Advisory Committee Report
The Section Advisory Committee (SAC) convened three meetings over the past
year including a face-to-face meeting in Bethesda and another meeting at
EB09. Discussions from these meetings are summarized below.
Funding for Featured Topics Sessions: At the summer 2008 Council
meeting, SAC asked Council for an increase in funding for the Featured
Topics sessions at the EB meetings. Before approving the request, Council
asked SAC to present additional data regarding how the current funding is
used by each Section. SAC compiled this data, which revealed that all
Sections use these funds to partially defray travel costs for participants
in the symposium session, although there is variation with regard to the
distribution of funds among these individuals (organizers, invited speakers,
early career investigators, etc.). No Section plans to alter the use of the
funds for Featured Topics in the future.
Statements of Organization and Procedures: All Sections are in the
process of updating their respective Statement of Organization and
Procedures (“bylaws”) to reflect current procedures and changes in APS
governance. In particular, these documents must be revised in light of the
deletion of the tertiary section affiliation, with members now allowed to
designate one primary and up to two secondary section affiliations. Sections
are defining the rights and responsibilities of primary and secondary
members in terms of sectional activities (officers, voting, committee
service, etc).
The Experimental Biology Meeting: Having taken on a long-range
planning role within the Society, SAC undertook the daunting task of looking
at the nature of the EB meeting. This was the primary topic of the SAC
meeting in July 2008. In an impressive display of logic that was virtually
devoid of turf-wars, SAC discussed several limitations with the current EB
programming format. Attention quickly focused on the allocation of sessions
among the sections, as well as the limited number of sessions available to
be programmed by the sections and interest groups (currently a total of 75
Featured Topic and symposia sessions). SAC presented Council with several
specific recommendations as summarized below.
1. SAC agreed that the distribution of sessions among Sections (and interest
groups) was out of balance relative to abstract submissions. As such, modest
changes were made to about half of the Section (and interest group)
allocations to bring the ratio closer to parity. These changes are to become
effective with EB 2010, with the allocations to be revised as appropriate
every three years.
2. In order to increase the number of sessions available to be programmed by
sections, SAC recommended that APS program fully on Wednesday by scheduling
sessions in the 3:00-5:00 pm time slot. This change is to be implemented at
EB 2011.
3. Having reallocated the sessions within the current fixed framework and
assuming that Council would approve programming on Wednesday afternoon, SAC
added one session to each Section’s allocation. This session can be either a
symposium or Featured Topic, with this choice to be declared by each Section
to be implemented at EB 2011.
4. SAC recommended that a $1,000 incentive per session be provided to
Sections that program on Wednesday afternoon.
5. SAC agreed that Sections should strive to formally “cluster” their
programming into identifiable blocks to facilitate full and successful
utilization of Wednesday afternoon sessions. Sections choosing to include
Wednesday in their programming “cluster” are to consider holding their
Distinguished Lectureship on that day. Advance publicity of the various
cluster days is envisioned to be important in allowing members to plan their
travel/meeting itineraries.
6. SAC recognized that bunching the high profile, society-wide
lectures/events at the beginning of EB (i.e., the Cannon Lecture on Saturday
and the Bowditch Lecture on Sunday) might disenfranchise members of Sections
that cluster their program in the latter few days of EB. SAC requested that
Council consider repositioning out these special events to more “central”
days of the EB meeting. In particular, SAC recommended moving the Bowditch
Lecture to Monday. At the joint meeting of SAC and Council in April 2009,
Council agreed to “think outside the box” regarding ways to shift
traditional opening elements of the meeting to later in the week.
Involvement of SAC in other Long-Range Planning Activities: SAC will
provide input to Council with regard to producing a new strategic plan,
which is planned for release in conjunction with the Society’s 125th
anniversary (in 2012). As a first step in the strategic planning process,
SAC is reviewing the most recent member needs survey and is in the process
of drafting a new survey.
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