| 2011 Meeting Minutes |
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Minutes of the 2011 Meeting of the Board of Governors
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Baltimore, Maryland
I. Introduction A. Welcome and Roll Call Present: R. John Collier (Chair), Edward DeLong, Susan Gottesman, Diane E. Griffin, Louis H. Miller, Edward G. Ruby, Peter K. Vogt, Christopher T. Walsh, Bonnie Bassler (ex-officio, President, American Society for Microbiology), Joseph Campos (ex-officio, Secretary, American Society for Microbiology), Arturo Casadevall (Member of the Working Group on Election to Fellowship and Editor of mBio), Michael Goldberg (ex-officio, Executive Director, American Society for Microbiology), Ann Reid (ex-officio, Director, American Academy of Microbiology), Katie Carl (Coordinator, American Academy of Microbiology).
B. Approval of Agenda
A motion was made to add a discussion about whether Academy Fellows should be required to be members of ASM to the agenda. This was approved. The agenda with this addition was then approved.
C. Approval of Minutes of January 23, 2010
The 2010 minutes were approved without edits.
II. New Business
A. mBio Update
Dr. Casadevall provided a status report on mBio. The journal has been successful and is publishing high quality papers. Dr. Casadevall attributed much of this success and quality to the involvement and submissions of Academy Fellows. Acceptance for paper submitted by Fellows can often be very rapid—sometimes within a day. Editors flag papers they think are significant, and press releases are sent out through ASM if there is a sense that the media would be interested.
B. Discussion of potential requirement that Academy Fellowship nominees be members of ASM
The Board was asked to consider whether nominees for election to Fellowship should be required to be members of ASM. The possibility of being elected might encourage more people to join ASM or maintain their membership. A discussion followed weighing the pros and cons of this suggestion.
The Board concluded that because the Academy was founded independently of ASM, it should continue to honor excellence in microbiology irrespective of membership in ASM. There is also currently the possibility of flow in the opposite direction—newly elected Fellows who were not previously members may become more aware of ASM and its benefits and decide to join. The group also discussed whether new Academy Fellows could be given the opportunity to speak at the ASM General Meeting. It was decided that the Academy will send a list of new Fellows to the GM Program Committee each summer so that they can take them into account when considering session speakers.
C. American College of Microbiology
Dr. Gilligan reported on the American College of Microbiology and the Clinical Microbiology Task Force.
The ABMM and ABMLI recertification requirements were revised in May to be more rigorous. The ABMM is also undertaking a job analysis to ensure the exam is reflective of current practice. Dr. Gilligan next updated the Board on the activities of the Clinical Microbiology Task Force (CMTF). The CMTF was established by the Council Policy Committee (CPC) in 2010 to evaluate how ASM could better meet the needs of clinical microbiologists. The CMTF membership includes David Hooper (Chair), Joseph Campos, Peter Gilligan, Janet Hindler, Nathan Ledeboer, J. Michael Miller, Lucia Rothman-Denes, Robert Sautter, and James Tiedje. Six working groups have been established to carry out the following tasks:
Dr. Gilligan chaired the working group on organizational structure, the one with the most potential affect on the Academy. He explained that currently clinical microbiology products and services are scattered among various boards and there is no official communication between them or coordination of efforts. The strategic planning required to meet the changing professional needs of the membership is lacking. There are also products and services that would be easier to create and deliver under a different governance structure. The working group decided that a governance unit that has the authority to manage most of ASM’s clinical microbiology professional products and services is needed. The working group voted to recommend the creation of a CPC standing committee without a vote for the chair. This recommendation will be discussed at the CPC meeting in April. The implication of this recommendation for the Academy is that the College, one of the core components of this new committee, would ask for the BOG’s approval to be removed from the Academy contingent on the Council’s approval. Dr. Collier thanked Dr. Gilligan for his work, and assured him that the Board would be supportive of the decisions of the CMTF and CPC. Dr. Gilligan thanked Suzy Leous, Peggy McNult, and other ASM staff who have been supportive of the CMTF’s efforts, and Dr. Campos for being a voice of wisdom during this whole process.
D. Report of the Working Group on Election to Fellowship
Dr. Osborn presented the findings and recommendations of the working group on election to Fellowship. The group examined recent election results, Academy and Committee on Elections (COE) composition, and the early experience of Fellows submissions to mBio.
Also examined were the current criteria for election to Fellowship, a section of the bylaws that defines Fellowship in the Academy. These criteria are very general, leaving nominators and reviewers with responsibility for determining the meaning of ‘distinguished,’ ‘outstanding’ and ‘significant,’ and for weighing the importance of scholarship versus receipt of awards or record of service. The working group suggested that Fellowship is not meant to be granted on the basis of a solid, but unexceptional, career, or for service to ASM, but instead that Fellowship should reflect scientific excellence in the form of innovation, discovery or impact. Therefore it is important that nomination materials demonstrate that the candidate has contributed novel results, fundamental new discoveries, or insights that have changed the view of the field or spurred the development of new fields. In addition to scholarly publication, other achievements that could attest to the candidate’s originality might include patents, development of new tools, technologies, methods, processes, or analytical approaches, or successful collaborations combining microbiology with other disciplines. The working group suggests that it be made clear that awards, service, mentoring, or teaching achievements can be used to strengthen a nomination, but should not themselves be sufficient for election to Fellowship in the absence of evidence of originality. The following changes, proposed by the working group, were agreed on by the BOG:
E. Update from ASM Membership Working Group
Dr. Bassler updated the Board on the activities of a working group that has been studying and proposing changes to ASM’s membership structure. Membership in professional societies as a whole, including ASM, has been declining steadily. The working group asked the question, how do we get people to want to sustain the society that supports their profession? Why did people join in the first place, and why do they renew? The current structure is $63 for a regular membership. Other non-profit dues models were also scrutinized.
Data show that people are joining ASM to:
Proposed changes to the dues structures are being discussed and a plan will be presented to the CPC in the near future for voting. Greater membership numbers helps ASM gain sponsors for meetings and have a voice with Congress, among other things. Keeping a strong membership base and providing the members support and benefits that are most useful to them are goals of ASM. The BOG was strongly supportive of the working group’s efforts.
F. Colloquia Program Update
Ms. Reid reported on the Academy’s colloquia program. Three colloquia took place in 2009, and draft reports have been written for each. These will be published in 2011.
III. Information Items
A. Annual report
Dr. Collier’s annual report was submitted and is attached hereto.
IV. Adjournment
Dr. Bassler acknowledged outgoing Board Chair Dr. Collier for his years of service. The meeting was adjourned at 10:53 a.m. |
