1) ESTABLISMENT OF QUORUM
The presence of quorum was established and President Oleinick called the meeting to order at 20.00.
Members present: President Nancy Oleinick, Past-president Margaret Kripke, Frank Gasparro (ICP president), Secretary Antony Young, Treasurer Dennis Valenzeno, Journal Editor Tito Scaiano, Councilors, Jean Cadet, Francesco Lenci, Woody Hastings, Joan Roberts, John Spudich, Daniel Yarosh, Newsletter Editor John Connolly, Executive Secretary Sherwood Reichard, Tom Owens (Publications Committee).
Members absent: President-elect Charles Gomer, Councilors, Rosalie Crouch, Frank de Gruijl, Craig Elmets, Henry Lim, Gary Shuster, Charles Yocum.
2) OVERVIEW OF BUDGET
Treasurer Valenzeno distributed a proposed budget for fiscal year 1998-1999. He outlined its individual components which might be subject to modification after discussion by Council. Frank Gasparro asked if savings could be made on postage by greater use of e-mail, for example on ballots and directories.
Discussion turned to the replacement of Dennis Valenzeno as treasurer.
Motion: Past-president Kripke moved that Daniel Yarosh be appointed as treasurer as of September 1, 1998. 2nd by Dennis Valenzeno and supported unanimously by Council.
3) OFFICERS AND COUNCILORS
a) Treasurer
Motion: Dennis Valenzeno moved that John Goldbeck be nominated as a Council member for 1 year. 2nd by John Spudich and supported unanimously by Council.
b) Committee assignments
President Oleinick presented details of Officers and Councilors, It was noted that (a) there was no Historian and that the President-elect would form a committee to take care of historical issues, (b) the members of the ad hoc Committee on Electronic Publication comprised the same members as the Publications Committee. Joan Roberts said that she had a student in mind for the Mentoring Committee, the co-chair of which, Honnavara Ananthaswamy, was no longer a Council member.
c) Amendment of division system for electing officers
Past-president Kripke informed Council of a change to the way that Councilors would be elected. In future, only one Councilor would be elected as the Divisional Representative. All others would be "at large". The new procedure would avoid bias towards better represented divisions.
Frank Gasparro informed Council that the Past-president has too much work to do. At present, this includes;
Motion: Woody Hastings moved that Council should approve the proposal made by Frank Gasparro. 2nd by Tito Scaiano and supported unanimously by Council.
4) STATUS OF MAPS CONTRACT
Motion: Past-president Kripke moved that the MAPS contract be renewed for a 2 year period with renewal of a 3rd year contingent on satisfactory progress in the organisation of the Photobiology 2000 meeting in San Francisco. The renewal of year 3 would be automatic unless one year's written notice to the contrary was given. The start date of the new contract would be September 1st 1999. The fees paid to MAPS would be increased to take into account the additional work of the Photobiology 2000 meeting. 2nd by Joan Roberts and supported unanimously by Council.
5) FUTURE MEETINGS (AND 1998 MEETING)
a) 1998 Meeting
Frank Gasparro reviewed some of the main aspects of the 1998 meeting. In particular he drew Council's attention to the lower percentage of non-member invited speakers. Daniel Yarosh and Joan Roberts said that the meeting had been very good and Council congratulated Frank Gasparro for organising an excellent meeting. Council felt that John Spikes had provided an excellent and entertaining presentation at the banquet. Daniel Yarosh did however feel that the banquet meal could be improved. Antony Young added that he thought that wine should be included in the cost of the banquet.
b) 1999 Washington Meeting
Past-president Kripke informed Council that she was collecting suggestions for the 1999 meeting. Tito Scaiano agreed to help with Photosynthesis. Francesco Lenci suggested a day on Photosensory Transduction and a half day on Environmental Stress in Plants and Micro-organisms. Dennis Valenzeno reminded Council that Nick Geocintov had written some meeting guidelines which should be circulated to meeting organisers. Daniel Yarosh thought that the excellent "Across the Spectrum" forum would be better if held earlier in the meeting. Joan Roberts stressed the importance of avoiding program clashes. Daniel Yarosh's postion paper on Solar UV and Health would be available for the 1999 meeting. Sherwood Reichard would collate these various suggestions for the Fall Council Meeting.
c) ICP 2000 San Francisco
Frank Gasparro informed Council that the 1st fliers would be mailed in mid-August 1998 and that the Program Committee had been formed. Web announcements would be the responsibility of Dennis Valenzeno, Tito Scaiano would be responsible for Journal announcements and John Connolly would look after announcements in the Newsletter. Council discussed the registration fee which was expected to be in the region of $400. Council also discussed the number of hotel rooms that should be reserved. It was thought prudent to be conservative to avoid penalties for bookings that were not taken up.
d) Proposal for 2001, Quebec City
Council discussed a proposal (made by Dr R Drouin of Canada) to hold the 2001 meeting at the Chateau Mont Sainte-Anne in Quebec City. Frank Gasparro pointed out that this was a resort hotel and would therefore be out of phase with the meeting location cycle. Daniel Yarosh thought that Quebec City would pose travel and communication difficulties. Sherwood Reichard pointed out that the hotel facilities would limit the meeting to only 3 concurrent sessions. After discussion, the sense of Council was that the proposal was not viable. Margaret Kripke suggested that the decision be deferred till the fall Council meeting. President Oleinick charged Sherwood Reichard to investigate possibilities in Denver and Chicago. It was proposed that Canada be considered as an option for the 2002 meeting which would be a "resort" meeting. Other options that could be considered for 2002 were Lake Tahoe, Monterey, and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
e) Policy for rotation of meeting sites
No change for the time being.
f) Meeting days/structure
Frank Gasparro suggested that the meeting could be run in two segments with a swing day in between - the idea was to make the meeting more compact so that say on Thursday and Friday, kindred topics would be covered and then some other topics on the Sunday and Monday, with Saturday as the swing day with common interest topics and activities - banquet, business meeting, etc.
6) PUBLICATION COMMITTEE ISSUES
a) CD ROM
Tito Scaiano outlined his proposals for the publication of an archival CD Rom version of Photochemistry and Photobiology. He expected the cost to be about $12,000 which should generate an income of about $6,000. Cost to members would be $30 plus postage.
Motion: Tito Scaiano moved that the Society should produce an archival CD Rom containing 1996 and 1997 issues of Photochemistry and Photobiology. 2nd by Woody Hastings and unanimously supported by Council.
b) Photobiology text book
Frank Gasparro informed Council that he and Kendric Smith were discussing the possibility of a text book to be published by the Society.
7) FUNDRAISING
a) New definition of benefactor
Frank Gasparro briefed Council on his views about benefactor status. He felt that the definition of benefactor status should be improved so that this status is awarded for a defined period rather the current apparently open-ended time period. For example, a large donation of say $10,000 should result in benefactor status for a 1 year period only. Daniel Yarosh felt that smaller donations should also be recognised. The sense of Council was that a change in definition was in order and that this would be put on the agenda for the Fall Council meeting.
b) Photobiology Foundation
Frank Gasparro distributed a summary of the history of the Photobiology Foundation and expressed his enthusiasm for this project. He outlined the projected costs of initiating the 1st year of the proposal which totalled $101,500. Council discussed the proposals with emphasis on their cost. Council also discussed the problems of raising matching funds. The sense of Council was that the 1st year budget proposal was too high and that it might be difficult to raise matching funds. Various modifications to the budget were proposed.
Motion: Daniel Yarosh moved that $62,500 be approved for the 1st year but that if the Photobiology Foundation can raise $30,000 in the 1st year, Council will recommend additional support of at least $37,500 in the 2nd year (note: included in this budget was a $12,000 per annum honorarium for Frank Gasparro as director of the Photobiology Foundation). 2nd by Woody Hastings and supported unanimously by Council.
Frank Gasparro agreed to provide information about the Photobiology Foundation to Newsletter Editor John Connolly. He also informed Council that an ASP member has donated $1000 to the Society (this member was named but wishes to remain anonymous outside Council). A recent ex-member of Council, Laney Hill, had informed Frank Gasparro that the Heritage Society may be a possible source of funding for older members. President Oleinick suggested that any approaches made to this organisation should be made via Frank Gasparro once its rules and regulations had been established. President Oleinick agreed to approach Laney Hill on this matter which Council agreed to discuss further at the Fall meeting.
Woody Hastings took the opportunity to distribute a list of the 1998 Science Writer Fellows and agreed to discuss the Society's further interaction with this scheme with Joan Roberts (Chair Public Affairs).
8) APPROVAL OF BUDGET
Treasurer Valenzeno outlined his proposed budget for fiscal year 1998-1999. Initial discussion focused on cost of the electronic publication of Photochemistry and Photobiology. This issue was resolved by the motion below.
Motion: Tito Scaiano moved that an internet version of the Journal should become available no later than July 1st 1999 with free access until the end of 1999, after which in January 2000 access would be via a password. 2nd by Daniel Yarosh and supported unanimously by Council.
Council discussed modifications to Treasurer Valenzeno's draft budget that included (i) a donation of $2,500 for the Photobiology Congress in Indonesia, (ii) $750 for AIBS membership, (iii) $18,000 for Journal promotion and (iv) $25,000 for electronic publication.
Motion: John Spudnich moved that the modified budget for fiscal year 1998-1999 be approved. 2nd by Woody Hastings and supported unanimously by Council.
9) NEW BUSINESS
Dennis Valenzeno reminded Council that about 5-6 years ago Kendric Smith approached the NIH with a view to getting a Photobiology Study Section. It was thought that it would be timely to approach the NIH again on this question which might help improve the success rates of Photobiology grant applications. Council felt that it would be a good idea to establish the success rate of photobiology grant applications and that the best person to provide this information would be Paul Strudler.
10) DATE OF NEXT MEETING
It was agreed that the next Council meeting would be at Chicago airport in early-mid December 1998.
11) AJOURNMENT
Motion: Secretary Young moved that the meeting be closed at 23.50.
2nd by Joan Roberts and supported unanimously by Council.
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