Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Council and Business Meetings, 2001

Council Meeting, 2001

Call to order
President-Elect Michael Clegg called the annual SMBE Council meeting to order at 11:37 AM, 7 July 2001, at the Georgia Center, Athens, Georgia. Michael Clegg served as chair in the absence of President Daniel Hartl and Past-President Wen-Hsiung Li, who arrived later. In attendance were Councilors Montserrat Aguadé, Howard Ochman, and Tomoko Ohta, Editor Simon Easteal, Treasurer Dick Hudson, and Secretary Marcy Uyenoyama. Invited special guests included Barry Hall and Marta Wayne.

Approval of minutes
Council approved the minutes of the 2000 Council and Business meetings, published in the December 2000 issue of the Journal.

Treasurer's report
Treasurer Dick Hudson summarized the financial state of the Society (see report) and presented an analysis of the per-page, per-issue, and fixed costs associated with publishing the hard-copy version of the Journal. Among the issues discussed were the negative balance and possible remedies, including increasing subscription rates and hosting advertisements.

Secretary's report
Secretary Marcy Uyenoyama summarized the actions of the Council over the preceding year. Restriction of access to the MBE Online website (access control) was instituted 1 September 2000. Although the Journal's license agreement with HighWire Press proscribes access by institutional subscribers via proxy servers, institutional subscribers were invited to request dispensations to be considered individually by Council. Council approved a number of requests, after verifying the fair use of the subscription in question.

Council approved the participation of Marta Wayne as representative of the Society at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students to be held in the fall in Orlando, Florida. Marta will share an exhibitor booth with Irene Eckstrand, representative of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE).

Council approved a motion from Marcy Uyenoyama that clarified Society policy on the W. M. Fitch Student Prize. Eligibility is restricted to Society members who either have not yet received the doctoral degree (or equivalent) or have received the degree no earlier than one year before the first day of the month in which the Fitch Prize competition is held. (For example, postdoctoral contestants in the July 2001 competition were required to have received the degree no earlier than 1 July 2000.) Organizers and members of the Fitch prize committee are requested to encourage the participation of women and representatives of minority groups in both the selection process and in the competition itself. Council approved the continuing allocation of some travel support for those chosen to compete for the Fitch prize, subject to budgetary constraints. Allowable travel expenses may include costs of transportation, meals, registration, and lodging, up to prescribed individual and total maxima.

Past-President Wen-Hsiung Li chaired the nominations committee for the 2001 SMBE elections, to which he appointed Ross Crozier, Nancy Moran, and Secretary Marcy Uyenoyama. Pekka Pamilo and Naoyuki Takahata have agreed to stand for election for President-Elect, and Brian Golding and Manolo Gouy for Councilor. Members who receive the Journal received election materials as an insert with the July issue; members with online-only subscriptions received the materials by post.

Editor's report
Simon Easteal presented the report of the Editor (see report), summarizing trends in individual and institutional subscriptions and new capabilities for electronic submission and publication.

Future meetings
Daniel Hartl summarized discussions with Giorgio Bernardi, host of the 2002 annual meeting, which will be held in Sorrento, Italy, in conjunction with the International Society for Molecular Evolution.

New business
Much of the new business concerned the future and nature of the Journal. Council supported Simon Easteal's recommendation that the Society retain independent control of the Journal, in preference to engaging the services of a commercial publisher. Council approved Simon Easteal's request to hire a half-time assistant to the Editor, with future funding subject to review after six months. In addition, Barry Hall was appointed to the new post of "Consulting Editor."

Council approved the termination of a marketing contract with HighWire Press. Council approved the motion that Simon Easteal solicit a proposal from HighWire Press for the development of a custom-designed system for online submission and management of manuscripts. Other issues discussed included establishing a class of membership that does not include a subscription to the Journal, and limitation on the number of IP addresses covered per institutional subscription.

Marta Wayne summarized recent activities of anti-evolution movements and the responses being developed by the SSE and other scientific societies. Council approved support for the following statement on the teaching of evolution, which was earlier approved by the Council of the SSE at the recent annual meeting of that society:

"Evolution is good science. Society benefits from understanding evolution and the nature of science. The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution supports teaching evolution and the nature of science in our nation's classrooms, informal science centers, and museums."

Daniel Hartl will appoint an SMBE Education Committee, which will consider means for the advancement and support of science education.

Other new business included discussion of the investment of Society funds, consideration of including commercial advertisements in the Journal, and enhancing the benefits of membership in the Society. Daniel Hartl will appoint an advisory committee to investigate options.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:25 PM.

Business Meeting, 2001

Call to order
President Daniel Hartl called to order the annual SMBE Business meeting at 1:00 PM, 8 July 2001. President-Elect Michael Clegg solicited proposals for annual meetings of the Society in 2002 and 2003. Daniel Hartl summarized the Treasurer's and Secretary's reports, presented at the Council meeting, and Simon Easteal presented a synopsis of the Editor's report.

New business
Suggestions from the membership included publication of the list of Associate Editors in the print version of the Journal, to serve as a permanent record. Simon Easteal pledged to incorporate this change. Council noted another suggestion to hold annual meetings in June rather than July in order to facilitate travel support from European research funds.

Addendum
Barry Hall announced the awarding of the Walter M. Fitch Student Prize to Jeffrey Townsend, Harvard University, for his presentation, "Global gene expression variation in natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Contestants were chosen by the Fitch prize committee, comprising Barry Hall, Daniel Hartl, and Linda Strausbaugh, none of whom were permitted to vote for a candidate from his/her laboratory. After Jeffrey Townsend was chosen as a contestant, Wolfgang Miller replaced Daniel Hartl on the Fitch prize committee, which judged the competition.





This Article
Extract
FREE Full Text (PDF)
Alert me when this article is cited
Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Email this article to a friend
Similar articles in this journal
Similar articles in PubMed
Alert me to new issues of the journal
Add to My Personal Archive
Download to citation manager
Request Permissions
PubMed
PubMed Citation