By NASW Secretary Robert Lee Hotz
NASW President Paul Raeburn opened the meeting by presenting certificates of appreciation to Carol Rogers, Dennis Meredith, Earle Holland, Rick Borchelt, and Mary Knudsen for their tireless volunteer work on behalf of the organization. All completed long service on the board of directors.
Reporting on the 2001 NASW seminars, held on the campus of UC Berkeley, organizer Brian Lavendel said that 381 people registered for two days of workshops and science briefings, with about $32,000 in fees collected. He thanked the public affairs staff at Berkeley and UC Davis for their role in organizing portions of the workshops and earned a round of applause himself for his own diligent efforts. This was the first year that the seminars were not held at the same location as the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which complicated arrangements considerably.
Several members said that they preferred those workshops designed to enhance professional skills over those aimed at science education or new research because those sessions duplicated, in part, sessions held by the AAAS.
Brian urged members to volunteer ideas for workshops at next year's annual meeting in Boston. He said that registration will be held online for next year's seminars. Marian Glick volunteered to organize a book signing for NASW authors at the Boston meeting.
NASW cybrarian Bob Finn reported that the online NASW discussion groups continue to be a very lively forum for members. In the future, the listserv NASW-announce will be used to notify members of news deemed to be of general interest to the 2,400 NASW members whose e-mail addresses are on file, he said.
Carol Cruzan Morton and Beryl Lieff Benderley, who together organized the Science-in-Society Awards this year, reported that this year's winning entries have been published in an awards booklet and will also be posted on the NASW Web site. The awards were expanded and revamped this year, but two new categories for books and for Web sites did not attract very many entries that met the very specific criteria for the awards, which emphasize work that shows the effects of science on society for better or worse.
Paul noted that the board voted to limit the number of times that someone could win the Science-in-Society Award. From now people will be retired from the competition after they have won the award three times.
Lynne Friedmann, editor of ScienceWriters, reported that 327 people completed a recent membership survey assessing the publication's quality and format. Overall, members were quite satisfied with the newsletter but hoped that in the future it could be published on a more timely basis and contain shorter articles. She thanked Tammy Powledge, Ruth Winter, Suzanne Clancy, Rick Borchelt, Bob Finn, and Judy Schwartz who have worked so hard to make the newsletter so informative. At the board's direction, Lynne and Howard Lewis are exploring ways to publish an electronic book of highlights from the newsletter. The board also discussed the possibility of collecting materials that can be used by members who teach. John Travis was appointed to investigate the idea.
The board appointed A.J. Hostetler to serve on the membership committee with Robert Lee Hotz and Laura van Dam.
NASW Vice President Deborah Blum, acting for Treasurer Laura van Dam, reported that the board of directors unanimously approved the new budget. Membership has tripled since 1978, she said, with 2,245 regular members and 215 student members as of this year.
The NASW mentoring program continues to offer an invaluable opportunity for students to spend time with experienced science writers, Kelli Whitlock of the education committee reported. This year 23 members volunteered to serve as mentors for students attending the annual AAAS meeting. NASW also hosted an internship fair this year with 11 news and communications outlets participating, she said. And an online mentoring program is set to debut this year, which should expand the scope of the program.
In new business, there was a spirited, thoughtful discussion on the merits of establishing a new award for public information and public relations work. A dozen members spoke on the topic. All favored the idea in principle with almost complete disagreement on what form such an award might take or what it should strive to honor-writing quality, career achievement, or extraordinary effort.
Beryl Benderley noted that a careful reading of the rules governing the existing awards does not preclude the submission of public relations and public affairs work, nor does it prevent the submission of television or radio discussion programs.
By unanimous vote, the membership asked the board to explore the matter and report back to the membership next year. Paul Raeburn appointed Earle Holland to be chairman of a committee on the award proposal, with instructions to report back to the board in a timely way.
