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:

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• Council accepted the report of the Section Advisory Committee.

• Council approved the requested funding for complimentary advanced registration for section award recipients at the EB meetings.

• Council approved the requested funding for complimentary advanced registration for invited speakers in featured topics.

• Council approved a motion of establishing a page on the APS web site for listing equipment available for exchange/sale/donation.

• Council approved the recommended criteria, with some changes, for the Section Young Investigator Awards.