2004 Final Business Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah
Chair Peter Cranston brought the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. with 46 members present. The Chair called for us to read the minutes from the preliminary business meeting silently.
There were two corrections to the preliminary minutes. Jason Cryan motioned to accept the preliminary minutes, seconded by Louise O’Brien.
Reports
Governing Board (Jackie Miller)
Governing Board (GB) members discussed the concept of a student liaison with standing committees, for which they might change the bylaws. Students have a vested interest and it would be beneficial to appoint them as regular members. Other items: There were 2100 registrants on site, which is excellent attendance, considering that for the Cincinnati meeting, 70% of ESA membership was within one day’s drive of Cincinnati. For next year, onsite registration fees will go up by $10 for regular membership, $5 for other categories. GB will need feedback on the Annual meeting online displays (this is the first time it has been done). 70% were to be recorded. GB moved to review the Committee on Systematic Resources and try to make it a Section A committee. The verbiage for this has been approved and we will have the option to vote during the summer ballot, along with a review of advantages and disadvantages. There was lots of discussion about problems some members have with the theme of next year’s meeting. Some are offended by “sex,” others “by rock and roll.” A sub-theme is entomology impacting problems of hunger, health, biodiversity, and the environment. (Discussion) Michael Ivie will present his case this evening. Jackie asked attendees to please be sensitive and tolerant of other opinions. Question from John Oswald: what was the nature of the discussion on systematic resources? Jackie: The committee could be more effective as a Section A committee, and bring in the Entomological Collections Network as component. Only four people attended the meeting on Monday and all were Section A. It is difficult to attract other Sections to this committee. Members from other sections can still work with this committee if it’s Section A. Jackie asked all present to please contact the GB with any concerns; these can be presented as agenda items for the spring or winter meeting. One last item was that there would be an increase to $48-$50 for page charges in ESA journals (only papers submitted after January 1, 2005).
Publication Council (John Oswald for Barry O’Connor)
The last overview of the publication process was five years ago. Pricing of journals to institutions will increase 3-5% (Annals will increase 3%). ESA participates in the BioOne initiative, which sends digital journal packages to libraries around world. The Publications Council (PC) agreed this was a good idea to continue, especially since we get back money from this. Questions came up about other journal aggregation services, and whether ESA should participate. The PC in general felt “yes” if there is benefit to the ESA. The JStor service converts back-issues to digital format and markets to these to universities. ESA is considering making retroactive digital copies to JStor. The benefits and drawbacks include additional revenues are generated based on use, but there is a possible loss of revenue from reduced sale of back issues. ESA needs to check on the net revenue gain. The open-access initiative is founded on the assertion that, since federal funds support research, all publications should be free. ESA can purchase unlimited access to publications. At present, we can post PDFs to our own website after two years, but there are also efforts to make access immediate; however, there could be possibly serious financial impacts to ESA. What is the long-term viability of print journals? All four journals continue to be economically viable in print runs. So, the present policy continues to be print production. Concerning the rapid-review submission system for ESA journals, there is broad satisfaction from editors, and most of our membership is also satisfied. Editors continue to work with those having difficulties. ESA is trying to maximize efficiency, but there are some continuing difficulties for a few authors. The PC discussed the idea of journal pre-prints, which is not done now. The Council favored idea, but it could have nomenclatural repercussions. No decision has been made yet. One new idea was brought up: the need for journal with “molecular” in its title. ESA might be missing out on an opportunity here to capitalize on a modern theme and audience. No recommendations have been made yet.
The Chair thanked John and noted that systematic entomology manuscripts will be going online immediately after acceptance. A change is to be sought in the Code of Zoological Nomenclature to make the official date of electronic publication the official date of a new name.
Book and Media Reviews (Jason Cryan)
In 2004, there were 40-50 books submitted for review. Most reviews appear in American Entomologist (AE), about 3-5 per issue. Reviews in AE are available online immediately after publication of the issue. There are few, if any, media reviews for unknown reasons. There are questions about how to define media and how to solicit reviews. If anyone knows of material to review, please tell Jason, who has been elected chair of the Book and Media Reviews Editorial Board.
Thomas Say Publications (Jim Woolley)
To clarify a point, volumes like Proceedings issues cannot be paid for out of Thomas Say funds. At the moment, the endowment generates $2000 per year, which pays for one monograph. There is one manuscript in the works, to be out in ~January, and four other manuscripts in the pipeline. Anything submitted right now would take 2-3 years until publication. Jason Cryan commented that his monograph is coming out this year, and has been in the publication process for 5 years! Is it possible for people to make gifts to foundation, earmark for Thomas Say monographs? Woolley responded that we can use grant funds to pay for a publication in the series. It is also possible for sponsors to make donations for a specific publication. 60% of revenues from monograph publication sales goes back to the foundation, but it is not clear if these go directly to the Thomas Say fund. The other 40% goes to ESA. Question from Becky Simmons: Can we inquire about status of our manuscripts, and where they are in the queue? Answer: Yes.
International Affairs Committee
Felix Sperling was scheduled to report on, but had to leave.
Entomological Collections Network
Meeting had a huge turnout. 200 people attended although only ~140 had pre-registered.
Program Committee (Peter Cranston)
Rhopalocera Erotica symposium had ~200 attendees in the morning session and ~110 in the afternoon. The bee phylogeny symposium attracted 70-100 attendees. DNA barcoding, 150+. ALAS, 80-120. Collecting symposium,100. The chair thanked all organizers, moderators, and judges.
Proposed Program Symposia for 2005 so far include: (1) Genomics of insect endosymbionts by Srini Khambapati, (2) Diversity and dynamics of North American insects and arachnids revisited by Chris Thompson (with Bob Foottit and Tom Pape), ( 3) Writing for the public by May Berenbaum and Mark Winston (Section C, with support from A), and (4) Bridging the gap between basic behavioral research and crop protection: Applications for tree fruit agroecoystems: Honoring the life and work of Ronald Prokopy by Tracy Leskey, Marti Aluja, Charles Vincent (Section C, D, with support from A).
Proposed Section symposia for 2005 so far include: (1) Honoring Miriam Rothschild by Becky Simmons and Jackie Miller, and (2) Trees of life: Hymenoptera, ants, flies. (Biocomplexity grants might be a good fit here too.)
New Business
We had already discussed the major points, including the challenge to next year’s theme.
Transfer of the Section A Gavel: Chair Cranston presented his lieutenants with a homegrown California Vitis beverage. Vice-Chair Wiegmann accepted the gavel, took the podium and thanked Peter for all his time, effort, and energy. The new chair presented Peter with a set of glasses decorated in North Carolina insects.
Chair Wiegmann reminded all about next years dates for the annual meeting. He will be in contact with Section A membership about deadlines and urged all to keep generating great ideas for next year.
Nominations for Officers and Committees: Chair Wiegmann presented a table of existing officers and nominations for new and called for a motion to accept (made by Nathan Shiff). New nominations consisted of:
Strategic Planning: Caroline Chaboo, proposed 2005 -?
Systematics Resources (2/2): Jason Cryon, 2005-2007
Systematics Resources (Student rep.): Floyd Shockley, 2005-2007
Education and Youth: Alex Wild, 2004
Fellows: Jim Woolley, proposed
Governing Board Representative: One situation we have is that officially we need someone to run against Jackie Miller, but no one will volunteer.
All voted in favor of new nominations.
Susan Weller reminded us that at the final ESA business meeting Section F will bring to the floor a resolution to condemn next year’s theme. We need to attend and provide our support for Mike Ivie. Representatives of Section F feel that the theme (“Sex, Bugs, and Rock and Roll”) gives a negative public image for ESA (“sex and drugs”), undercuts professionalism, and discourages student membership and the younger demographic. What happens after Section F presents its complaint? It will be a non-binding resolution; Ivie doesn’t have to follow the outcome of the vote. Jay McPherson reiterated that even if the resolution passes, it has no power. The outcome will reflect on how the president of the ESA is regarded, as a leader or a divider, etc. Jackie Miller remarked that she, Susan Weller, and Kathleen Shields have worked hard to put together a cohesive program, and are trying to attract students and young professors. Lots of non-members come to this meeting, why not members? They walk away because we are not filling their needs, and officers have tried to address this in the last few years. Another member remarked that the Program Committee and Ivie spent lot of time trying to plan a program that is appropriate but not status quo. She regrets that some are offended by the reference to “sex.” But, we have two choices, to either support the current effort and see if it works and changes something, or just stay with status quo. Jay McPherson commented that people had put a lot of thought into the theme, for which Ivie will try to explain the background. McPherson urged everyone to attend the final ESA business meeting to express their opinions.
Floyd Shockley (at-large representative on the Committee on Membership and will be Vice Chair next year) commented that he has been asked by several constituents to bring up three issues. Chair Reilly has made great efforts to increase membership, and instigated a Branch membership drive. Shockley suggested that we consider initiating a Section membership drive to support the work being done at the Branch level. We tend to gravitate to other section members rather than branch members. We need to talk to our colleagues who should be members of Section A and get them to register for the Section. The Committee on Membership is trying to change the ESA Bylaws to abandon at-large membership. One missing forum this year was the student debate. There was a suggestion by Regan to bring it back. This could be a good thing to do, but we should change the time: Instead of competing with other activities, we should affiliate it with an appropriate section symposium and then add it to end—students could then debate the topic of the symposium. For example, DNA taxonomy would be good theme for a debate on traditional versus DNA taxonomy. (Student debate could be in any Section, of course.) We will be contacted soon about this.
The chair noted that students are welcome to submit ideas for symposia. The chair called for other business (there was none), then for a motion to adjourn (made by Jim Woolley; several seconded). Meeting was adjourned at 4:14 p.m. with 55 in attendance at the end.