When talking to other physiologists at this year's Experimental Biology Meeting I usually asked the question “Do you know about the APS Chapter Program?” Most of my conversation partners have never heard about APS Chapters but were eager to learn more about them. Therefore, I would like to start this report by providing some general remarks about the APS Chapter Program.
The APS Chapter Program
The program is designed to promote, at the local level, the general objectives of APS, including interdisciplinary contacts among researchers interested in the physiological sciences and education of the general public and future physiologists. Chapters typically organize an annual scientific meeting with contributions from the membership, workshops on topics such as teaching in physiology, keynote lectures by invited speakers, student award competitions, etc. APS generously supports annual Chapter meetings with financial contributions to travel costs of invited speakers and trainee awards. Chapters also participate in the APS PhUn (Physiology Understanding) week, a program that brings physiologists into the classroom, outreach activities to the general population, and other activities. Currently, APS Chapters exist in Arizona, at the Gulf Coast (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama), Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee. If you reside in one of these states, you may want to browse through the APS Chapter website (http://www.theaps.org/chapters/index.htm) to get connected with your local APS Chapter. If, however, your home state is not organized in an APS Chapter yet, you may want to consider chartering a new APS Chapter (please contact me for details, haraldstauss@uiowa.edu).
The Chapter Advisory Committee
The Chapter Advisory Committee (CAC) assists in preparing, maintaining, and updating Chapter Bylaws; it maintains and updates a collection of documents (Chapter User's Manual) that assist Chapters with organizational tasks; assists Chapters with local community outreach activities; and interfaces Chapter missions with relevant activities of other APS Committees.
CAC Policy
Recently, the CAC developed a policy document to help regulate its governance. This document includes a description of the CAC, information and procedures on what constitutes a committee quorum, the CAC Chair Election Procedures, and other issues relating to the governance of the CAC and APS chapters. The Policy Document was presented to Council for review and approval, and was approved by the APS Council.
Chapter Status
Currently there are nine active APS Chapters. The Midwest Chapter which includes the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois has been inactive in recent years. The CAC has initiated steps to revive this Chapter or to initiate new individual Chapters in these states. All active chapters have current and approved Bylaws. Seven of the nine active APS chapters have obtained non-profit status. The Indiana Physiological Society currently is in the process of amending the bylaws to be compliant with Indiana and Federal mandates for non-profit status. The Oklahoma Society of Physiologist is in the process of applying for non-profit status.
Future Chapters
The CAC is working with physiologists in Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania to foster new chapters. A petition for a chapter in Pennsylvania was submitted to the APS Council for approval, which was approved.
Chapter Activities
In 2010, eight APS Chapters held annual meetings with a total of 660 participants, a 25% increase compared to last year. A total of 51 trainees received awards for their scientific presentations. The Iowa Physiological Society, for the first time, presented an Undergraduate Student Travel Award in the amount of $1,000 to defray costs of attending the 2011 Experimental Biology meeting. APS Chapters are also doing wonderful work to accomplish the mission of APS Chapters by local community outreach activities. For example, the Nebraska Physiological Society (NPS) participated in the APS sponsored PhUn Week program, visited four high schools to perform hands-on activities that teach students how their bodies respond to exercise. NPS also participated in the Omaha Public School Career Fair, presented APS Science Fair Awards in Physiology at two state-wide science fairs, and presented on Teaching and Understanding Physiology at the annual meeting of the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science (NATS). Other APS Chapters have organized similar events. As an example, the newly inaugurated Puerto Rico Physiological Society (PRPS) participated in the PhUn Week program and visited several local high schools, where students participated in workshops that included presentations related to the effects of exercise on cardiovascular and respiratory physiology. To further promote such activities, CAC has generated a proposal for a new program that would provide funds to APS Chapters on a competitive basis to intensify activities directly related to the mission of APS Chapters, such as local community outreach activities.
Chapters are doing excellent work in promoting the discipline of physiology on the grass root level by bringing physiology education into high schools, participating in science fair projects, and other local outreach activities.