COMMITTEE REPORTS
1) ESTABLISMENT OF QUORUM
The presence of quorum was established and President Kripke called the meeting to order at 09.20
Members present: President Margaret Kripke, President-elect Nancy Oleinick, Past-president Frank Gasparro, Secretary Antony Young, Treasurer Dennis Valenzeno, Journal Editor Tito Scaiano, Councilors, Honnavara Ananthaswamy, Jean Cadet, Rosalie Crouch, Frank de Gruijl, Craig Elmets, Francesco Lenci, Woody Hastings, Ana Moore, Tom Owens, Joan Roberts, Daniel Yarosh, Newsletter Editor John Connolly, Executive Secretary Sherwood Reichard,
Members absent: Masaki Furuya, Gary Schuster,
2) MINUTES OF 72nd COUNCIL MEETING
The minutes of the 72nd Council (former Journal Editor) meeting were approved subject to the changes proposed by Dr Irene Kochevar below (sent to Secretary Young via e-mail).
The paragraph beginning "The outgoing Editor..." and the following paragraph "Dr Kochevar and President Kripke." which appear at the end of the Mentoring section (6l) should be at the end of the Editorial report (6d2). The following sentence should be inserted at the end of the first paragraph (right before "Dr. Roberts suggested..." "Dr. Kochevar said she had already contacted ISI about deleting Focus from consideration in the impact factor calculations". The next paragraph should read "Dr. Kripke informed Council that Dr. Yarosh..." not "Dr. Kochevar informed council..."
3) OFFICERS AND COUNCILORS
Postponed till next Council meeting
4) SECRETARIAT REPORT
Executive Secretary Reichard outlined the contents of the meeting package.
5) FINANCES
Treasurer Valenzeno referred Council to his report. He said that the Society was in good financial shape with assets of over $1 million as of 31 May 1998. He reminded Council that these funds were held in (i) a reserve fund with about $365,000, (ii) an operating fund with about $280,000 and (iii) an investment fund with about $450,000. The Treasurer aired his concerns, in particular (i) the decline of Journal income which had gone down to $40,000 in the current fiscal year (the Journal represents at least 60% of the Society's expenses), (ii) the loss of about 65 members due to the recent increase in dues (although the Treasurer had anticipated a loss of about 100 members) and (iii) the cost of the Annual Meeting. The Editor, Tito Scaiano, drew Council's attention to the large drop of institutional subscriptions. It was noted that this was had been less than with other Allen Press publications. Tom Owens said that Universities were cutting back on duplicate subscriptions. Treasurer Valenzeno closed his report with the distribution of his proposed budget for 1998-1999 that would be discussed at the next Council meeting.
6) COMMITTEE REPORTS
a) Grants and Awards
Ana Moore informed Council that there had been 3 nominations for the Research Award and the winner was Dr Silvia Braslavsky who would give the ASP Research Award lecture on "The Sound of Photoreceptors" at the 26th Annual Meeting. There had been 2 nominations for the Young Investigator Award that had been won by Dr Kevin Schey. His lecture at the Annual Meeting would be on "Probing Protein Structures with Mass Spectrometry and Photochemistry". Dr Moore informed Council that most of the applicants for Travel Awards to attend the forthcoming ASP Meeting had been successful. She advised Council to keep the names of the nominees in mind for next year and agreed to give these to President-elect Oleinick before she (AM) retires from Council.
b) Nominating
Past-president Frank Gasparro expressed the view that the Past-president had too much work to do with respect to nominations and other obligations. However, he did feel that the Past-president should be responsible for nominations for President. At present he said that he was looking for names for two Presidential candidates who were not representatives of Photomedicine. He informed Council that Dr Charles Gomer had been elected to be president after Nancy Oleinick.
c) 1998 Program Report
Past-president Gasparro summarised some of the key features of the forthcoming 1998 meeting. He said that the program was less intensive than previous years with fewer parallel sessions. He was pleased to report on a Keynote Address by Dr Tito Scaiano and workshops on (i) Undergraduate Teaching and Research in Photobiology and Photochemistry and (ii) Grant writing Navigating the Bay of Funding at the NIH.
d) Publication Matters
i) Publications
Journal Editor Tito Scaiano referred Council to the report of the Publications Committee. He drew Council's attention to progress in finding a publisher for the Journal when the current contract with Allen press expires in December 1998. He informed Council that electronic publishing was now well established and would result in increased costs to the Society which would have to be recovered. Members would have to pay more if they wanted the Journal in both paper and electronic format - perhaps about 10-15%. This issue was discussed by Council. Tom Owens thought that dues would have to be raised to cover the increased costs. He proposed free on-line access (including non-members) for 6 months. Daniel Yarosh thought that this should be seen as an important opportunity, to increase the visibility and prestige of the Society, that would in time generate more income. Tito Scaiano again stressed the cost implications and pointed out that production costs go up with multiple forms, especially when a paper press run is decreased. Tom Owens said that libraries still like paper and so there should be no loss in library subscriptions. It was agreed that there would have to be a charge for CD-ROMs. Treasurer Valenzeno advised against any immediate increase in dues and suggested that the initial costs should be taken from the Society's investment funds. Rosalie Crouch reflected the mood of Council by saying that the Society needed to press ahead with electronic publication. Treasurer Valenzeno warned of pitfalls Allen Press had said that abstracts would be on-line in January 1998 but this was not the case. The Editor outlined his proposed timetable with the free on-line period being from July 1999 to early 2000 by which time decisions on the future would have to have been made. Electronic formats were discussed. PDF gives a print quality page and would result in loss of reprint income (about $15,000 17,000 per year). Dr Scaiano drew Council's attention to UnCover, a document delivery service, which provides customers with specific articles for a fee. Part of this fee (about $5-7 per article) is paid to the Society when Photochemistry and Photobiology articles are delivered. At present the Society's link to UnCover
is via Allen press. After discussion, the sense of Council was that the Publications Committee should explore UnCover with the possibility of the Society having a direct link. The Publications Committee was charged to prepare a report for the December 1998 Council Meeting. Discussion turned to the cost of archival CD-ROMs. A request for bids had been made to 3 companies for the production 1000 copies of the Journal over 96/97. These had resulted in quotes ranging from $11,000 to $21,000. The aim was to offer members this production for about $25-30 plus shipping and handling costs. Daniel Yarosh suggested finding a sponsor. The Editor said that $14,000 would be needed to go ahead with this project and it was the sense of Council to put this matter on the agenda of the next meeting when the budget would be discussed.
President Kripke reminded Council that this would be Tom Owens last Council meeting. He therefore could not continue to act as the chair of the Publications Committee in which he had done excellent work. However, it was considered very important that there should be continuity in the Publication Committee so President Kripke decided to appoint an ad hoc committee to oversee electronic publication. This committee would have the same members as before with Tom Owens as chair.
ii) Editorial Report
The Editor, Tito Scaiano, referred Council to his written report (p24) in the meeting package. He reminded Council of changes in Associate Editors and thanked those retiring for their services to the Journal. Dr Scaiano had made an effort to promote rapid publications and was pleased to announce that these were published in an average of 62 days. He suggested that the Journal could be promoted by offering it to companies, hospitals, etc for $100 for the 1st year. Daniel Yarosh agreed to supply 12 names for this purpose. Dr Scaiano said that he got a lot of requests to advertise meetings and he would provide 1/3 page as a service. He was worried about a drop in institutional subscriptions, especially by Chemical Abstracts. In response to a question by Newsletter Editor John Connolly, it was reported that about 25-30 members donated their copies of the Journal and it was stressed that these must not be given to libraries. Roslie Crouch said that the Editorial Board should be expanded to include a vision expert, name recognition being important, and was sad to see a lack of eye photobiologists at the meeting. Daniel Yarosh suggested a Symposium-in-Print on the eye. President Kripke suggested an expansion of the Editorial Advisory Board (for example to include a vision expert) so that its services could be called on if necessary. Francesco Lenci suggested that sub-fields be listed by Associate Editor. The Editor agreed to consider such proposals and bring them to the next meeting. Treasurer Valenzeno advised caution in respect of any additional financial commitments. Craig Elmets asked about the Journal's Impact Factor and was told that it is still 2.3. He also raised the issue of advertisements in the Journal. The Editor told Council that these were not his responsibility and but that he was not sure whose it was. The Newsletter Editor John Connolly said that he did not support advertising. In conclusion to this part of the discussion, the Editor said that he felt that he had got the sense of the concerns of Council.
The Editor continued with a summary of Journal statistics. In particular, acceptance rate is 53%, the budget is on target (although costs this year were up by $40,000 because of the double office for the transitional period). There had been a decrease in the number of pages for the first half of this year. However, this had been due to the increased speed for the former Editor, Irene Kochevar, during the transition period and this problem will be resolved. Rosalie Crouch was concerned about the time to press and wondered if this could be reduced. The Editor said that about 6 months was the limit, and that the main delay was with the time it took authors to return revised manuscripts. Discussion followed about the how the publication time is reported. The time from acceptance to printing was 70-100 days, the time depending on the stage of the printing cycle at which the manuscript was accepted. It was noted that the average time taken from receipt of a manuscript by the Associate Editor to recommendation and/or revised manuscript received in the Editorial Office varied considerably with Associate Editor. Frank de Gruijl said that it might be better to use median times. It was established that about 10% of manuscripts are sent electronically and that more than 80% come on diskette. Daniel Yarosh pointed out that there were no instructions for electronic submission and it was suggested that this option should be mentioned in the Newsletter.
iii) Newsletter Editorial Report
Newsletter Editor John Connolly said that he would like feedback from Council on the content and the best publication frequency. He thought it important to keep the membership up-to-date on a wide range of issues including Society and Journal matters and photobiology in general. He wondered if 4 issues per year was appropriate. President Kripke congratulated John Connolly on the appearance of the Newsletter (endorsed by Council) but felt that it needed articles with greater content. It was suggested the proposed budget should go into the newsletter in advance of the Business Meeting (and the Council meeting at which the budget was agreed). Tom Owens also suggested that the proposed budget for a given fiscal year should also be put in the Annual Meeting registration package. President Kripke felt that care would have to be taken about the details of any such advance information. John Connolly spoke of the evolution of an on-line newsletter that might eventually completely replace the printed version. However, President Kripke felt that this might limit the supply of information to members that did not have ready on-line access and favoured a printed version for the time being.
It was noted that the cost of the March 1998 Newsletter had gone up and Executive Secretary Sherwood Reichard agreed to look into this. Possible factors included more photographs and the better quality paper that would also increase postage costs. It was considered necessary to look into the number of copies and the number of pages per copy.
e) Membership
Jean Cadet referred Council to page 18 of the meeting package, which showed a drop in new members for 1998 compared to 1997. He stressed the importance of Journal quality as a means of attracting new members. He suggested sending membership applications forms to non-member authors who submit manuscripts to the Journal, adding that this might be a way of attracting young members. President Kripke told Council that membership application forms would be available at the Meeting registration desk. Council discussed ways of attracting new members and holding on to existing members. Daniel Yarosh suggested having an ASP booth at the AAD meeting with applications forms. President-elect Oleinick thought that an award for membership recruitment might act as an incentive. Rosalie Crouch agreed to send application forms to those members who have dropped out.
f) Constitution and Rules
Postponed to next Council meeting
g) Meeting Sites
Past-president Gasparro informed Council that the 1999 Annual Meeting would be at the Grant Hyatt, Washington DC, 10-15 July. In 2000 there would be no ASP meeting as such but the ASP would act as the host organisation for the ICP meeting at the Hyatt Regency, in San Francisco, July 1-6. Council was asked to provide suggestions for sites for subsequent meetings.
h) Public Affairs
Joan Roberts reported that she had sent a brief and simple summary of the meeting (copy on p 59 of Meeting Package) to about 50-60 journalists (including Utah newspapers and the Wall Street Journal) but had had no response. She had also send journalists information on sunscreens (taken from the Newsletter), again without any response. John Connolly agreed to edit the Newsletter for this purpose if necessary. Woody Hastings told Council that he had also called media representatives in Utah.
i) Education
Rosalie Crouch drew Council's attention to the workshop on "Methods for Teaching of Photobiology to Undergraduates" which she had organised.
j) Historian
President Kripke informed Council that the ASP does not have a historian at the moment and that this issue would have to addressed in the near future. Ana Moore suggested Govindjee. At present the archival material is held by Dr Fred Urbach.
k) 1999 Meeting
The meeting organiser President Kripke summarised the status of the 1999 meeting in Washington DC. She said that there would be a focus on environmental issues such as the consequences of ozone layer depletion. She planned plenary sessions with overviews of major topics and intended to invite Vice-president Gore. She was also planning an important keynote speaker and had in mind such figures as Carol Browner head of the EPA, Robert Watson and Sherwood Roland. President Kripke said that she would welcome suggestions from Council, especially in areas outside photomedicine.
7) NEW BUISNESS
New Treasurer:
President Kripke reminded Council that Dennis Valenzeno had served as treasurer for a year longer than the appointed term and that a new treasurer would have to be appointed. Honnavara Ananthaswamy suggested Tom Owens who said that he would consider this only if Dennis Valenzeno would serve for another year.
8) SPECIFC AGENDA ITEMS
a) ASP Benefactor Status
Past-president Gasparro told Council that he felt that it was timely to review benefactor status, in particular setting a time-limit. It was pointed out that benefactors had in fact been regular financial supporters of the annual meeting. It was agreed that this matter would be discussed in full at the next Council meeting.
b) Duties of Past-president
Past-president Gasparro said that he felt that nomination responsibilities should be split so that the Past-president's duty would be to provide nominations for president and that the President-elect would take care of Councilor nominations. Dr Gasparro also thought that the President-elect should assist the Past-president in the organisation of the annual meeting as this would be a valuable way of gaining experience as the meeting organiser when the time came for this task. Council agreed to discuss this matter further at the next Council meeting.
c) Divisional Representation
President Kripke invited discussion about the divisional system of the Society and its consequences for Council and the Annual Meeting program. The divisional system resulted in difficulties with photosynthesis and vision that were not well represented at Meetings. Past-president suggested that it would be better to reduce the number of divisional representatives on Council from two to one. The sense of Council was to agree with this proposal.
d) Changes in Annual Meeting Structure
President Gasparro asked Council to consider a change in the day structure of the Annual Meeting. He suggested a change from the traditional Saturday to Wednesday, to Thursday to Monday. He thought that this might encourage greater attendance from clinicians who had difficulty getting away on weekdays.
e) Photostability Group
Council heard from Past-president Gasparro that the Photostability Group (with about 200 members) was looking for a home. Council discussed the possibility of the ASP acting as a host organisation. President Kripke suggested that this group could have 2-3 symposia, workshops or schools at the Annual Meeting or a Satellite meeting with registration at ASP member rate. The sense of Council was that this was a good idea. President Kripke asked for specific proposals. For example, the numbers at the Group's meeting, their registration costs, a list of speakers, the organisations they work for and some background history. It was thought that this issue could be raised with members at the 1999 Business Meeting in Washington DC.
9) AJOURNMENT
Motion: Secretary Young moved that the meeting be adjourned at 13.50.
2nd by Honnavara Ananthaswamy and supported unanimously by Council.
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