| Minutes of the ABLE General Business Meeting
June 25, 2010, 12:30-1:30 pm
32st Annual Workshop/Conference
Dalhousie University
- Call to order and approval of agenda – Ruth Beattie
- Ruth called the meeting to order at 12:36 pm and the agenda was approved.
Reports from Officers and Committee Chairs
- President’s Report – Ruth Beattie
- Ruth thanked the board members and the conference hosts for all of their efforts.
- Announcements from the 2010 ABLE Board meeting:
- All manuscripts for the Proceedings will now be submitted electronically through web submission. The system will then automatically send the submissions to the review board.
- The Proceedings will now be completely electronic, available through the ABLE website, and the CD will be discontinued. The members present were asked to identify any problems that they saw with this decision, and no issues were raised.
- Secretary’s Report – Judy Guinan
- Judy announced that the minutes of the 2009 General Meeting are online in the Fall issue of Labstracts. The minutes were approved as written.
- Treasurer’s Report – Alec Motten
- Alec reported that ABLE’s financial condition is very favorable, due to increased revenue from membership, and surpluses from the last conference. We can also look forward to decreasing production and mailing costs as a result of discontinuing the CD and moving to online publication of future Proceedings.
- There were delays in payments to presenters of major workshops from the Toronto conference, but those checks have now been mailed. Checks for major workshops for Delaware will be mailed shortly, and efforts will be made to assure that future payments will be sent out in a timely fashion, at least by the beginning of registration for the next year’s conference.
- The report for the fiscal year report will be submitted to the fall issue of Labstracts.
- Communications Committee – Barbara Stegenga
- Barbara urged members to submit photos, news, articles for Labstracts by early September.
- Grants-in-Aid Committee – Dan Johnson
- This year there were 11 applications for registration waivers, six were awarded.
- There were also four applications for laboratory teaching initiative grants. The committee has met to discuss these, and applicants will be notified of the committee decisions in July.
- The committee is currently working on improving the instructions for writing grants and waivers. Dan urged members submit any suggestions they might have for improvement of those instructions.
- Major-Workshops Committee – Larry Blumer
- Larry thanked this year’s presenters. The committee received 27 submissions from 26 people; 18 were accepted. He emphasized that ABLE presentations result in publications that are subjected to four levels of peer review and are the lifeblood of the organization. He also encouraged mini and poster presenters to submit majors, as well as any other members with ideas for presentations. Submissions are made electronically and the deadline is 10/31.
- Membership Committee – Maggie Haag
- Maggie announced that from a low of 178 several years ago, ABLE now has over 300 members. She clarified the different levels of membership and urged attendees to encourage post-docs and students at their institutions to consider joining.
- Members can now join or renew through PayPal, and the membership year extends from 7/1 to 6/30, with members receiving a reduced registration fee for conferences and access to the members-only portion of the website.
- Maggie reminded members whose institution is sending a check for payment to please be sure to have their name included on the payment for proper credit.
- Mini-Workshops Committee – Ralph Preszler
- There were a record number of mini presenters this year (30). Ralph thanked them, the committee and the hosts, as well as Chris Beck and Mark Walvrood for their website efforts. He encouraged members to submit proposals for next year, and to contact him for advice on submitting if needed.
- Nominations Committee – Joy Perry
- In the elections this year, Larry Blumer was elected as president-elect, Judy Guinan as secretary, and Karen McMahon as member-at-large.
- Next year, ABLE will elect a treasurer and a new member-at-large. Alec Motten has agreed to be a candidate for treasurer. Joy encouraged members to consider running for these offices.
- Poster Session Committee – Tom Fogle
- There were a record number of posters presented this year (24). Tom thanked the presenters and encouraged members to submit posters for next year.
- Proceedings Committee – Karen McMahon
- Mark Walvrood is helping to revise author guidelines and these should be online this month. The committee will be asking for submissions of mini, major, poster presentations from this year’s conference as online submissions.
- The committee is looking for volunteers to review help to review the submissions.
- Publicity Committee – Kathy Nolan and Bill Glider
- Kathy encouraged members to contact her if they wished to discuss questions or ideas for presentations for next year’s conference.
- Kathy reminded members that there is a brochure describing ABLE available on the website. The brochure can be downloaded and taken to other meetings or given to colleagues as a tool for membership recruitment
- Bill announced that he is developing guidelines for exhibitors, vendors, and sponsors for charges for participating at ABLE conferences. He is available to help conference hosts with lists of contacts for vendors and sponsors.
- Bill passed out a survey for members to contribute input on the kinds of exhibits and vendors that they would like to see at future conferences.
- Regional ABLE (RABLE) Committee – Janice Bonner
- Janice described the 3rd Annual RABLE held in January, 2010, hosted by Bob Repsher from McDaniel College in Maryland. She acknowledged Bob and Karin Readel (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) for all of their efforts in making the conference a success. Twenty two participants came from Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and there were four presenters.
- Website Committee – Mark Walvoord
- Mark thanked Chris Beck for all of the work that he contributed this year.
- The Proceedings for the past two conferences are available on the members-only portion of the website. The Proceedings contents can be searched. The members-only portion of the website contains a members’ directory, conference materials and attendees, and meeting reports.
- The Proceedings will be converted to an online journal format, which will include a table of contents.
- ABLE 2011 – Ralph Preszler and Amy Marion
- The 2011 annual meeting will be held at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Ralph and Amy discussed plans for the conference including facilities, lodging, field trips, and other activities.
- Unfinished Business – No unfinished business
- New Business – No new business
- Adjournment – the meeting adjourned at 1:37 pm.
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