OCT. 17, 2009 AUSTIN, TEXAS
By NASW Secretary Ron Winslow
The annual membership meeting of the National Association of Science Writers was held Oct. 17, 2009 at ScienceWriters09 at University of Texas at Austin. About 80 members attended.
Mariette DiChristina, president, called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. She told the membership that the organization's constitution and bylaws need revising to comply with laws of New York State, where NASW is incorporated. She said Executive Director Tinsley Davis asked an attorney to look at our documents, which hadn't undergone a thorough review since the 1950s.
"Whether we like it or not, we're a corporation," DiChristina said. Most of the revisions are technical word changes, she said, but the update will result in some tangible differences, including voting procedures (by proxies instead of e-mail), a change in our fiscal year (to June 30 from Dec. 31), and an update in the number of board members to reflect the current practice of 15 (4 officers and 11 board members-at-large).
Changing the constitution and bylaws requires a petition signed by at least 20 members to put such changes to a member- ship vote, she said. The following petition was circulated and signed by the required number of members after the meeting: "We, the undersigned regular members of the National Association of Science Writers, Inc. (the "Association"), hereby request of the Association's President that the Association's Constitution and Bylaws be updated to be in accordance with current and applicable laws of the State of New York and that the appropriately amended Constitution and Bylaws be put before the membership for adoption."
DiChristina said that "going hand-in-hand" with the revisions to the constitution, the board is adopting and updating travel reimbursement, conflict of interest, whistleblower, document retention, and other policies that apply mostly to board opera- tions. The board is also establishing a finance committee, composed of two officers and two regular members, to conduct regular reviews of the organization's finances.
Terry Devitt, a board member and co-chair of the Internet committee, said a revamped NASW website will be rolled out "probably by the middle of next year." In addition to greatly improving the ability to add and edit content, the website will have "lots of bells and whistles," like enhanced profiles and customization, for members.
The website redesign will be paid for out of Authors Coalition funds, which are also supporting other initiatives, including career development grants the board established in response to the economy and turmoil in the media business. Beryl Benderly, a board member and liaison to the coalition, urged members to fill out the survey related to the Authors Coalition that accompa- nies bills for annual dues. "For every click you put on the survey, we get money," she said.
The board plans at least one more round of career develop- ment grants from these funds after the number of promising applications exceeded the amount of available funds during the first go-around, Benderly said.
Peggy Girshman, treasurer, summarized the budgets, saying the 2010 budget anticipates income of $337,300, compared with $420,500 for 2009. The main difference is a conservative estimate on revenue from the Authors Coalition fund.
Vice President and workshop committee chair Nancy Shute said 330 people registered for the workshops this year, compared with 450 at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2008. With the recession, plus the comparison with a popular Bay Area location last year, she was enthusiastic about the turnout and said "kudos" to all who made it to Austin.
Bob Finn, board member and chair of the awards committee said there were 130 entrants for the Science in Society Award, which has several new categories. The plan is to continue with the same categories at least one more year. Bob asked for volun- teers to serve as judges.
Dan Ferber, filling in for freelance committee chair Richard Robinson, said the All About Freelancing section of the NASW website is regularly updated with advice for freelancers. Member Catherine Dold has led the effort. He also urged members to contribute information to the Words' Worth database of rates and contract information. It will "help other freelancers keep track of what the market conditions are like," he said. He also thanked Jeff Hecht for tracking and providing information to members on the Google book settlement.
Ferber, who is chair of the grievance committee, said that group handled five cases and provided advice on four others last year, with several success stories in getting members paid for their work. "In the next year, we're going to talk about how to prevent grievances" in addition to handling whatever cases come the committee's way, he said.
Vikki Valentine, board member and membership committee chair, said NASW added some 200 new members in 2009. Charles Choi staffed an NASW booth at the Asian American Journalists Association meeting in Boston; the committee hopes to send two volunteers to a conference next year to bolster recruiting efforts.
Reporting for the education committee, Robert Irion said the mentorship and internship fair at the AAAS annual meeting in Chicago was especially well-received. Fifteen national recruiters and 45 students attended the fair while mentorship pairings gave 31 students a much appreciated opportunity to file stories and observe experienced science writers at work. NASW Travel fellow- ships helped 10 undergraduates attend.
The committee is also starting a project to update science-writing curricula materials available to teachers on the NASW website. Glennda Chui, board member and co-chair of the information access committee, asked for perspective from PIO members on the issue of providing reporter access to scientists and science information. Terry Devitt invited anyone interested in forming a PIO committee for the organization to meet with him after the meeting.
At the close of the meeting, Mariette reminded members of the critical role volunteers play to "make it happen" for NASW. Then she announced to sustained applause that Jeff Grabmeier, co-chair of the education committee, is this year's winner of the Diane McGurgan Service Award for his many contributions to NASW over the years.
Next year's meeting will be at Yale University, New Haven, and will celebrate the 75th anniversary of NASW and the 50th anniversary of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Joint NASW/CASW meetings began five years ago.
Your secretary thanks Michelle Nijhuis, a 2009 NASW Freelance Fellow, whose own report on the membership meeting was posted on the NASW website Oct. 21 and was especially helpful in the preparation of these minutes.
