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Association of Biology Laboratory Education
Annual General Meeting
June 24, 2005
The ABLE annual General Business Meeting was held at Virginia Tech
University in the Chemistry Auditorium.
The meeting was called to order by President Carol Budd at 12:36 PM.
1.0 Approval of Agenda of the 2005 Annual General Business
Meeting
The agenda was approved as presented.
2.0 Reports from Officers and Committee Chairs
2.1 President (Carol Budd)
One of the President’s responsibilities is to manage and account
for all of the motions, action items, recommendations and suggestions
arising in the previous year’s Board Meeting. All four motions
are done. Twenty-three of the 24 action items are completed. Eleven
of the 29 recommendations and suggestions were worked on and many of
the remaining ones were converted into action items for this year’s
Board Meeting. Carol also completed a spreadsheet of chores for officers
and committees.
2.2 Treasurer (Alec Motten)
We remain in good financial health. The total assets at the end of May
2005 of $34,497.70 are comprised of $11,129.69 in the checking account
and $23,368.01 in certificates of deposit. The checking account is used
primarily for honoraria to major workshop presenters and publishing
the Proceedings. The total assets declined slightly from last year,
due primarily to declining membership which is the major source.
2.3 Membership (Maggie Haag)
As of May 1 we have 259 active members, down from 312 the previous two
years. More new members attended the meeting this year than in recent
previous years. The membership fee of $35 per year for a June 1 to May
31 term remains a bargain. The 2-year membership category has been abolished.
Building up our membership will be a major task of the incoming Bill
Glider leadership. Regional membership go-getters will be developed.
2.4 Nominations/Elections (Marsha Fanning – 3rd year Member-at-Large)
Ann Lumsden will replace Marsha in this position. Our new Member-at-Large
is Kathy Nolan. Next year we will need to elect another Member-at-Large
and a President-elect.
2.5 Major Workshops (Anne Cordon, Sue Karcher)
Mary Shaffer was shown appreciation for hosting this meeting at VT.
Major workshop presenters were recognized. Sue will be hosting the next
meeting at Purdue University so Charlie Drewes generously agreed to
be a new Co-Chair.
2.6 No item
2.7 Mini Workshops (Ralph Preszler)
There were fewer workshops this year but a very nice diversity.
2.8 Posters (Tom Fogle)
Next years due date is moved from March 1 to late March. Mini workshop
and poster presenters were recognized.
2.9 Proceedings (Mike O’Donnell)
The current volume cost $5,088 for printing 350 copies, thus a per copy
cost of $14.54. Per copy cost is increasing as membership declines and
the number of copies needed decreases. The deadline for submitting major
workshop manuscripts is September 1, 2005. The incorporation address
is outdated and being investigated. Mike called for volunteers with
legal experience in this endeavor. Mike announced that a new editor
will be needed soon as his second term nears the end, and he also called
for associate editor volunteers. Partnerships with CBE (Cell Biology
Education) and TIEE (Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, a publication
of the Ecology Society of America) are being investigated. A person
intending to publish in these journals could try out a laboratory investigation
at an ABLE meeting and then make changes required for republication
as a new work.
2.10 Labstracts (Mariëlle Hoefnagels)
Two issues were published in the preceding year. A survey of readership
preferences yielded such mixed results that no specific actions could
be taken. There is always need for more copy. New members could write
their impressions of their first meeting. Also needed are teaching tips,
book reviews, and website reviews. Beginning in Fall 2006, the next
editor will be Barbara Stegenga from UNC – Chapel Hill.
2.11 Grants-in-Aid (Ruth Beattie – 4th year Member-at-Large)
A record seven fee waivers were awarded. Five Laboratory Teaching Initiative
proposals were received. Awardees will be notified next week. Marsha
Fanning will be taking over this position next year and it is to her
that requests and proposals should be sent.
2.12 ABLE Website (Carol Budd for Corey Goldman)
One main activity has been converting all old Proceedings volume chapters
to PDF files for placing on our website for free distribution. Indexing
of subject and author for volumes 12-25 comprising 126 major workshops
and 111 mini workshops has been completed. Indexing is still going on.
Volumes 1-4 do not have digital versions and must be hand scanned. Corey
registered our website as “ableweb.org”.
2.13 ABLE/BEN Partnership (Carol Budd)
ABLE has a partnership with BEN which will provide increased exposure
of our laboratory teaching expertise.
2.14 Elections (Todd Nickle)
Todd wrote the software for the recent election. Voting has increased
from 16% using paper forms to over 50% using digital forms. The workshop
adoption survey created by Todd will be revised to add the ability to
indicate use of ideas coming from a workshop or partial use of a workshop.
Also Todd will keep resident past responses to the survey so input each
year can be incremental rather than having to start over with a blank
form.
3.0 New Business
3.1. Printing Future Proceedings (Mike O’Donnell)
There was much discussion of the pros and cons of publishing the Proceedings
on CD’s. Documents would be searchable and have page numbers.
A paper version would still be available from the Binder documents.
Proceedings will also be archived on the society server as a hedge against
removable media and drive obsolescence. It was cautioned that publishing
images and other visuals digitally should not be allowed to cause skimping
on text. Two motions were passed. Motion 1: Publish future copies of
Proceedings on CD-ROM starting with this conference. Motion 2: The Proceedings
committee should explore providing on-demand printing of hard copy.
3.2. Roberta Williams Lab Initiative Grants (Maggie Haag)
Lab Initiative Grants have been renamed in honor of Roberta Williams,
a long time contributor and participant of ABLE and friend to its members.
3.3. Peer Review Evaluations (Bill Glider)
Strengthened major workshop evaluations were used at this meeting. Each
workshop had two persons chosen to write more detailed reviews in addition
to the short form used by all other participants. Persons unable to
complete the long form at the meeting are able to do so online afterwards.
The long form will be revised based on this year’s experiences
and the Proceedings editor also will be consulted.
3.4. Regional Meetings (Ruth Beattie)
Ruth should be contacted for assistance in planning regional ABLE meetings.
3.5. Next Year’s Meeting (Sue Karcher, Anna Wilson)
Sue and Anna invited everyone to attend the meeting next year at Purdue
University. ABLE last met there in 1995. The shirt will be a polo type
(much applause).
3.6. Copyright Issues (Mike O’Donnell)
ABLE owns only the compilation copyright; authors own chapters. Everyone
is free to use workshops at one’s institution and can always contact
an author for more information.
With a little ceremony the ABLE “Jump Drive” was passed
from outgoing president Carol Budd to incoming president Bill Glider.
The meeting adjourned at 1:31 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert C. Hodson
Secretary
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