The Section Advisory Committee (SAC) is composed of the elected chairs of each of the APS Section. The duties of SAC include: a) assisting the Joint Program Committee in the organization of scientific meetings, b) serving as the Society’s Long-Range Planning Committee, and c) making recommendations to Council regarding the strengthening of the Sections' role in programs, publication, public affairs, and governance of the Society. Below are summarized SAC’s primary activities over the past year.
Organization of Scientific Meetings
With EB1011 came implementation of some changes in the structure of APS programming. Specifically, the duration of the meeting was expanded by two hours to achieve a full day of scientific programming on Wednesday. This expansion provided one additional program slot (symposium or featured topic) for each Section. In addition, Sectional programming was arranged in “clusters” that provided a meeting-within-a-meeting format for attendees. SAC devoted considerable attention to assessing the extent to which these changes served the needs of our members, as well as nonmember physiologists attending EB. A subcommittee of SAC developed a post-EB survey that was distributed electronically two days after the EB2011 meeting, and the results were used by SAC as one means of pinpointing aspects of the EB structure that required further attention. The survey revealed some interesting data, both anticipated and unanticipated. For example, the survey confirmed that you can’t please everyone: 27% of survey respondents prefer clustering of Sectional programming, 21% prefer the previous system and 52%have no preference. One third of respondents did not know about the changes in programmingprior to the meeting―this despite the lead article in the October 2011 Physiologist highlighting these changes, as well as inclusion of this information in each Section’s newsletters. Indeed, we realized that there would be a “learning curve” and envision that those who experienced first-hand the Sectional clustering at EB2011 will not be caught by surprise when they attend EB2012. Other issues that were brought to light by the post-EB2011 survey include the impression that there was insufficient poster viewing time, including frustrationwith the overlap of poster viewing with Distinguished Lecturer plenary sessions. As a result, SAC recommended some modifications of the program schedule to the Joint Program Committee, which was able to implement some relatively minor changes in the meeting structure for EB2012 that should minimize or alleviate these issues. Finally, as attendance at poster and platform presentations continues to be lower on Wednesday than on other EB meeting days, continuing efforts are aimed at changing the perception that Wednesday is a “leftover” day of programming at EB. While we cannot control the fact that the exhibitors pack up and leave on Tuesday evening, the SAC, JPC and Council are being proactive in shifting some major events to Wednesday – including the Nobel laureate lecture and Closing Celebration that will be implemented as part of the APS 125th anniversary celebration at EB2012. SAC will continue to assess the impact of EB restructuring and will make recommendations for further adjustments to APS programming, as necessary, to best meet the needs of APS members and other physiologists attending EB.
Long-Range Planning
As the Society’s long-range planning committee, SAC has played a major role in development of the new APS Strategic Plan. All members of SAC participated in the Strategic Planning Retreat in January 2011, and it is anticipated that SAC members will sit on several of the Task Forces currently being formed to address specific focus areas within the Strategic Plan.
Strengthening the Sections’ Role in the Society
With input from the Finance Committee, SAC presented to Council the guidelines and procedures for Sections to establish endowments to fund specific activities deemed beneficial to furthering the mission of the Section. As approved by Council, the APS will match (up to a maximum of $25,000) new monies raised to fund such an endowment. Endowment proposals developed by a Section must be vetted by SAC, who will then forward the proposal to Council for final approval. The initial endowment approved for funding via this mechanism supports the Respiration Section Trainee Highlights Breakfast at the EB meeting.