Minutes from the Section E Business Meetings

2004 Final Business Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah

Chair Guillebeau called the final business meeting to order on Wednesday, November 17 at 3:10 p.m.

Attendance and volunteer sign up sheets were circulated with a request for student competition judges (See addendum for list of attendees).

Chair Guillebeau turned the meeting over to Marlin Rice who discussed 3 topics: (1) report as a governing board representative for Section E, (2) proposed theme for next year’s meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, and (3) strategic planning presentation.

Governing Board Report

Marlin reported a balanced budget for 2005. Financial changes for 2005 include an increase in page charges from $48 to $52 beginning January 01, 2005. This is the first increase in page charges in 7 years. Page charges will continue to increase based on consumer price index, so there will be no major increase.

Marlin reported that 2,083 members attending this meeting, which is more that they had budgeted for. Next year’s meeting will be in Ft. Lauderdale and the registration fees for members and nonmembers will increase $10; this will include Annual Meeting Online (AM-Online) as a standard feature. At this meeting, 70% of the authors agreed to have their presentations recorded, so in the next several weeks these presentations will be available for viewing.

Next Year’s Theme: “Sex, Bugs and Rock’n Roll”
The theme is selected by the President and it is his prerogative. However, because of the word “sex” there has been some controversy.  In hindsight, Incoming President Ivie should have given a presentation at the preliminary business meeting. The Executive Committee of the Governing Board had a lot of discussion with Mike and where he is going with this theme. Marlin stated that he is not here to convince you that this is the right theme, but to convince you to come to the final business meeting to hear Mike’s appeal as to why he thinks this is the right theme. The executive board got Mike to add a caveat or tag line to help him define where he wants to go with this, to his theme, “Entomologists addresses hunger, health, biodiversity and the environment. Mike made a passionate plea for understanding that every section of ESA deals with “insect sex” in one way of another and NOT “human sex”: Every Section from A (systematics deal with genitalia), B (sex pheromones), etc., deal with an aspect of insect sex. Mike wants to appeal to the younger members, 25-35s, who are not engaged in our Society; he doesn’t want the “same old, same old.” He has prepared 12 articles for the newsletter in the next 12 months addressing this theme. It is a controversial theme, but Marlin thinks that the content of the meeting will not be controversial. Mike has served the Society since 1978 and he does have a logical plan for the theme.

Strategic Plan
The Governing Board has been working on the plan for the last 3 years. The Society’s financial problems in the late 1990’s and 2000 from which we recovered, lead to the question, where we are as a society and where we need to move to? The Governing Board over the last several years has looked at our vision and mission. In 2002, the Board came up with an investment decision matrix, which is an Excel spreadsheet that lists all the things that we should or should not do relative to how we spend our money.  Because of this decision matrix, the Society has been running in the “black” for the last two years.

After structure and organization changes, the next is where we are going? This is our Vision: The Entomological Society of America will be recognized by peer associations, the scientific community, and the public as the best forum for scientific exchange of entomological knowledge, leading to a record of positive influence within public and private institutions. Our Mission Statement or how we will accomplish this is by: (1) disseminating original research and perspectives leading to a continuous stream of discoveries and applications relevant to the science, (2) creating productive opportunities to stimulate new ideas and capitalize on the diversity and varied perspectives of the membership, and (3) expanding the basic level of understanding about insects and related organisms through outreach to stakeholders of all types.

In strategic planning sessions we want a lot of brainstorming. We will look at this to refresh. We ask all membership to be involved in this process.
•  There is nothing out of bounds….don’t worry about what the current Constitution and By-laws say.
•  Do not think only of our current membership, but think of entomology as a global community. Should we be the “Entomological Society of North America” or expand that?
•  Learn from the past, don’t dwell on the living. What that means is don’t worry on how we proceeded 5 years ago.
•  Don’t worry about how we going to get there. Look at the end destination only…where we want to be 5 years from now.

Exploring organization design options of ESA that includes 3 broad categories: (1) Capabilities, (2) Characteristics, and (3) Commonalities. Our underlining theme for this strategic planning is: “Unity in the essentials, freedom in the non-essentials.”

The essentials of our future society are (these are things that the future society must do): (1) Scientific and programmatic activities (publications and meetings), (2) Governance, (3) Administrative services (national office).

What are the CAPABILITIES that ESA must have to achieve its vision and mission?
•  Communication
•  Influence science and public policy
•  Program and issue leadership
•  Fostering interest in entomology
•  Continuing education

What are the CHARACTERISTICS or traits that ESA must have to achieve its vision and mission?
•  Flexible
•  Credible
•  Leadership
•  Authoritative
•  Global view and influence
•  Responsible and accountable
•  Ethical
•  Collegial

What are the WORKING GROUPS we have now? How are we clustering ourselves now (e.g., IPM, rectal breathers)? Focus on what might be the actionable units (currently Branches and Sections). President Steffey and Scott Hutchins asked students, “If you are going to design the next entomological society, how would you design it?” Look at this creatively and objectively with your input.

The essentials for our Society to continue include publications and meetings. In a continuum from essentials to non-essentials, non-essentials include continuing education, program and issue leadership, influence science and public policy and fostering interest in entomology. Allow great freedom in the actionable units under non-essentials. For example, actionable units such as extension or public policy could have their own bylaws. 

We are not going to change for the sake of change; we are going to look at ourselves to increase membership.

Chair Guillebeau asked a question, if Section E is an actionable unit and we supported or opposed an EPA policy, would we be speaking for the entire ESA? Marlin’s response: “No, we would support or oppose that as an actionable unit.”

This process of strategic planning comes from Scott Hutchins at Dow AgroSciences. We don’t have a model we are trying to emulate. We are not trying to be like APS.

Merging Section Ea and Eb
Marlin checked into the ESA Bylaws and reported that creating Subsections needs GB approval, therefore, by deduction, Subsection disbanding also needs GB approval.  An extensive discussion re: the consequences of merging Section Ea and Eb occurred. The major issues involved the ANLA (American Nursery and Landscape Association) sponsored award in Regulatory Entomology, minimum participation by ESA members affiliated with USDA because of recent changes in USDA policy, and limited participation by other ESA members in Section Eb activities. In the past, Bill Gimpel was the key player in serving as the liaison between ANLA and the Society, but with his departure there has been a major void. A clarification on the criteria for the ANLA award is needed because currently the award is restricted to those that are involved in regulatory entomology with a focus on nursery and landscape which restricts the number of applicants. Another issue was declining participation in Section Eb, especially influenced by USDA affiliated members that are now unable to participate in any society activities that involve fiduciary responsibilities. This USDA policy, will therefore not allow USDA-affiliated members to serve on the governing board, etc., without ethics clearance. Historically, participation in Section Eb business meetings has been poor (<10) and officers are always scrambling to search for willing members to serve as officers and committee members.

Merging will affect officers in both subsections and therefore a committee needs to carefully look into this merging issue and weigh advantages and disadvantages. An intense discussion as to who should compose this committee took place and in the final analysis, it was concluded that the committee that will address the merging of Section Ea and Eb will compose of current Chair and Vice Chair of Section E and Subsections Ea and Eb with the Chair of Section Eb (Dan Hamon) serving as chair of this committee. Chair Guillebeau stated that after much of his pondering since the preliminary business meeting on Monday, this is an issue that must be carefully analyzed before a final decision is made by Section E.

Standing Committee Reports

No reports were presented on the following committees:
Common Names
Education and Youth
Ethics
Fellows
Finance
International Affairs
Public Information
Rules
Strategic Planning
Systematic Resources

Awards (Alton Sparks)
An agenda item for the Awards Committee was the lack of nominations for certain awards. The regulatory award is one that averages only 1.5 to 2.5 nominations over the past 5 years. The regulatory award honors regulatory entomologists for their valuable contributions restricted primarily to horticulture as the award is sponsored by the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA). The regulatory award may have nominations from the Branch (not considered a Branch Award) or from the National Plant Board. ESA will contact the sponsor of the regulatory award to possibly widen the nomination to regulatory work not only in horticulture. Section E should contact Lisa Spurlock in ESA headquarters to discuss widening nominations for the regulatory award by the sponsor. The sponsor of the award has control of the criteria for the award. ESA awards criteria have undergone lots of changes this past year in areas of qualifications and submitting nominations. Check the ESA website for details.

Membership (Guillebeau)
In 2004, there were 346 members in Section E (held steady since 2003), down 20% from 2001, which reflects the general decline in ESA. Membership in Section E peaked at 419. Presently, members of the Membership Committee are comprised of over half ex-officio members, not necessarily members from each branch or section. There is a proposed change to become more like a Standing Committee with representation from each section.

Program (Guillebeau and Solderbeck)
Changes to this year’s program was well received. Students were pleased with a special day for student presentations and with the awards. Suggestions included more time may be needed for Linnaean games, streamline student awards ceremony and the plenary session (losing people to sleep and exodus), make the audio-visual a stand alone committee from local arrangements, end poster sessions earlier (after 5:30-6:00 p.m., there are very little viewers). Oral presentations will be available online as mentioned by Marlin.

Publications Reports

No reports were provided for the following publications entities:
Publications Council
American Entomologist Editorial Board
Book and Media Review Editorial Board
Environmental Entomology Editorial Board
Insect Pest Management Handbook Editorial Board
Journal of Economic Entomology Editorial Board
Journal of Medical Entomology Editorial Board

Arthropod Management Tests (Raymond Cloyd)
Raymond stated that his term will end in 2005

Subsection Reports

Section Ea: Extension (Raymond Cloyd)
Discussion was held on next year’s theme “Sex, Bugs and Rock n’ Roll.” The subsection also came up with a program symposium (not necessarily Section E symposium), “Bridging the Gap Between Basic Behavioral Research and Crop Protection: Application for Tree Fruit Agroecoystems.” This is a symposium honoring Dr. Ron Prokopy and details of the proposed symposium have been submitted to Ray.

Subsection Eb (Danny Hamon)
Danny reported that the subsection discussed the merger of Subsection Ea and Eb and the involvement of federal employees in ESA activities. Incoming Chair is Jack Armstrong, Vice-Chair-Chuck Burks, Secretary-Lisa Neven. However, Jack will not serve as Chair, therefore Chuck Burks-Chair, Lisa Neven-Vice Chair and the Secretary is John Canaday.

Old Business

Section E Symposia
This year’s Section E five symposia were well-received and well-attended. These included:
•  1994 Land Grant Institutions: Agriculture and Insects in American Indian Culture (Moderators and Organizers: George Godfrey, Hendrik Meyer, Joan Gill): Symposium also well attended, which included artifacts and dance by the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM.
•  Measuring the Impacts of Research, Teaching, Extension and Regulatory Programs (Moderators and Organizers: Susan Whitney King, Paul Guillebeau, Sharon Dobesh): Susan reported a successful symposium with about 45 attendees who enjoyed the presentations.
•  Escalating Quarantine Pest Problems Resulting from Expansion of International Trade (Moderators and Organizers: Kenneth Lakin and Michael Hennessey): Symposium was also well-received.
•  Novel Pesticides to Manage Pests in Homes and Gardens (Moderators and Organizers: Noubar Bostanian, St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, St. Charles sur-Richelieu): Reports from attendees indicated that the symposium was very attended and well-received.
•  Increasing IPM Adoption with IPM Centers: Mission Impossible? (Moderators and Organizers: Susan Ratcliffe, Michael Gray, Larry Olsen): Michael reported 85-90 attendees that went well. Michael encouraged organizers of symposia to submit articles to American Entomologist Column Postmarked Extension. Winners of extension awards should be encouraged to submit articles regarding their successful career that lead to award recognition. Phil Mulder recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award in Extension was encouraged to submit an article.

New Business

Nominations Committee (Sloderbeck)
Secretary-Elect: The committee nominated John Canaday from Section Eb as Secretary-Elect for Section E (per Danny Hamon e-mail 12.01.04 - John Canaday is incoming secretary of section Eb). Marlin raised concern about having another candidate for Secretary-Elect to encourage competition. Paul noted that last year we had only one nomination from Section Ea. Marlin Rice moved and it was second that we include a candidate from Section Ea for 2005. Motion was approved. Chair Guillebeau asked for any nominees from the floor from Section Ea. Doug Johnson nominated and a motion approved that Doug be added as nominee for Secretary-Elect for 2005.

Editorial Boards: Board members were needed for JEE and Books & Media. Volunteers to serve on boards included Vicki Yokoyama, Phil Nixon, Ray Cloyd and Doug Johnson. Following a discussion, a motion was approved that Vicki Yokoyama will serve as Section E representative on JEE and Phil Nixon on Books and Media.

Student Competition Results
Chair Guillebeau, as a judge for Section E poster contest reported the following winners:
•  Lisa Neven and James Hansen: Phytosanitation of pears and apples using organosilicones and high pressure washing
•  Marlin Rice and Jeffrey Bradshaw: A decision guide for managing bean leaf beetle and bean mottle virus. 
•  Joel Perez-Mendoza, Elizabeth Maghirang, James E. Throne and James E. Baker: Effect of wheat infestation by different stages of the lesser grain borer on final counts of insect fragments in flour.

Section E Symposia Topics
Prior to symposium discussion, Phil Mulder requested the need for a Linnaean Games master and asked if we could identify some willing volunteers. Suggested symposia included:
•  John Floyd, USDA, APHIS on Cactoblastes cactorium, a biological control of cactus in Australia that is impacting cactus Mexico and the Southwest. John could fill a 4 hr symposium.
•  Monte Johnson and George Hamilton suggested invasive species symposium, including the soybean rust (an example of NPDN activities by Kitty Cardwell) and other invasive species such as the emerald ash borer.
•  Diagnostic network and new emerging pests. Dennis Kopp suggested that we reach out to Section A, Systematics for assistance. Could occupy a 4 hr slot. Organizers include Phil Solderbeck, Amanda Hodges and Dennis Kopp.

We could fill up to 5 section symposia (4 hrs). Symposia could also be two 2 hr symposia to fill one of our section symposia or fit into the short symposia session like those held on Wednesday afternoon at this meeting. If the symposium goes beyond 2 hrs, it is not required to be 4 hrs.

Deadline for program symposia is December 13 and all other symposia is January 31.

Chair Guillebeau suggested the following symposia:
•  Food Quality Protection Act – EPA people will support.
•  Status of Biotechnology
•  Insects and Entertainment (movies, cartoons, jokes, music, jewelry) as a program symposium.  Paul will organize with May Berenbaum.

Announcements

Ken Sorensen announced the Section E and ESA International Affairs Committee Joint Poster Symposium: International Organizations, Programs, People and Invasive Insects (Organizers: Ken Sorensen and Gary Bernon).

Noon-1:00 PM  Section E poster displays and box lunch round table with introductions and discussions. This poster symposium will be in the program for the national meeting in Florida in 2005 and could be repeated at the beginning of the poster session under Section E posters. Poster titles will come into Section E as called for by the ESA program committee. They will be arranged by titles as International posters under Section E and placed by the luncheon tables. This will take some logistics by Program and Poster committees and Section E Chair for arrangements of this poster session.

Chair Guillebeau passed the imaginary gavel to incoming Chair Phil Sloderbeck. Phil stated that he will be communicating via e-mail and please send him any questions and symposia ideas and topics.

Discussion on Activities for Guests: At this meeting, the major activity was morning refreshments with no tours or other activities for guests (spouse, significant others or family members who are not a member of ESA). The registered guest ($80) entitles entry to all receptions, presentations and exhibits. As mentioned, the Local Arrangements Committee spent much time on audiovisual and it is proposed that a separate audiovisual committee be formed to allow more time for the Local Arrangements Committee to arrange other activities including activities for guests.

Danny Hamon moved and Chuck Burks second to close the meeting at 4:40 PM.

Minutes recorded by Arnold Hara, Section E, Secretary, 2004

Addendum: List of Attendees