Present: Nancy Docherty, Ian Gotlib, Michael Green, Daniel Klein, Raymond Knight, Ann Kring, Deborah Levy, Susan Mineka, Scott Monroe, Keith Nuechterlein, Steve Silverstein, Thomas Widiger, Michael Young
Absent: Barbara Cornblatt, Robert Dworkin
The meeting was called to order by Ray Knight, President.
I. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were distributed and approved.
II. Secretary's Report: Nancy Docherty reported that some of the membership records are outdated. She has been requesting and recording updates from members whenever possible, but there are still a number of members for whom SRP has no current contact information. The Board listserv has been updated and reactivated, and is now available for use. The Website Committee constituted at last year's meeting did not manage to create a new website, so the Secretary got the old website revised and updated enough that it could be used to convey information about this year's meeting. The website is now somewhat better, but still could use more upgrading.
Elections were held by mail. Elaine Walker, Past Past President, chaired the nominating committee. Ballots were mailed to all full members. Ninety-one ballots were returned. The new President-Elect is Dan Klein, Treasurer is Michael Young (2002-05), and the two new Board Members are LeeAnna Clark and Scott Monroe (2002-06). Because Dan Klein was voted President-Elect, his seat on the Board was vacated. The Board nominated and approved Steve Silverstein to fill this seat for the rest of the term (through 2004).
III. Treasurer's Report: Michael Young reported that the Society currently has three different accounts. One is an investment account. The other two are bank accounts. These two will be consolidated soon. The investment account contains approximately $42,000 (July, 2002). The bank accounts together contain approximately $26,000. This includes income from the current meeting.
Since February, 2002, the Treasurer has managed to collect $1,925 in late dues. Other income includes current dues, registration, and banquet payments. Total income from all these sources so far has been $23,380. There are still some on-site registration fees and dues to come. Expenditures for the year so far include $609 for secretarial and postage costs, $100 for banking costs, $560 for website upgrading and maintenance, and $2,000 for the deposit on the hotel for the 2003 annual meeting. Expenses for the current annual meeting are expected to be about $32,000. This means that some of this year's expenses will probably come out of the investment account.
IV. Local Host Report: Ann Kring reported that everything went well with the hotel and other arrangements. The Board expressed appreciation to her for her work in arranging the meeting.
V. Program Chair Report: Steve Silverstein reported that the Program Committee received 118 poster and paper submissions this year, and four symposium submissions. Nine papers were accepted for oral presentation, and 108 for poster presentation. Three symposia were accepted.
Only four Smadar Levin Award entries were received initially, so the deadline for entries was extended and all graduate student presentation submitters were contacted and invited to compete for the award. Twenty-one additional entries were received as a result of this. The Board consensus was that a later deadline for these entries, and notification to student submitters that they are eligible, were good ideas. It was suggested that in future years the deadline for the long abstract that is required for these enteries be substantially later than for the brief abstracts, and that students who submit posters be sent a form message informing them that they are eligible to compete for the award.
VI. Membership Chair Report: Michael Green reported for Barbara Cornblatt. There were nine applications for full membership and two for associate membership. All applicants met criteria. The new full members are: John Forsyth, David Fresco, Pamela Keel, Bjorn Meyer, Tonmoy Sharma, Scott Sponhein, Edelyn Verona, Amy Weisman, and Amy Wenzel. The new associate members are Eva Levine and Kevin Wu.
VII. External Sponsorship: Expenses this year exceeded income. Ray Knight raised the question of how to raise more money to support the activities of the Society. The options proposed were either to raise dues and/or registration fees, or to seek external sponsorship. The meeting the previous year was supported in part by unrestricted educational grants from pharmaceutical companies. Following a lengthy discussion, Keith Nuechterlein proposed the following: SRP should seek external funds to defray the costs of the infrastructure of its annual conferences and to make it possible to support meetings consistent with the present academic style without having to seek extraordinary increases in dues or registration fees. This proposal was seconded and approved, with one dissenting vote.
Michael Green, who chaired the Development Committee that was constituted at last year's meeting, then outlined the plan his committee had developed for fund raising. This plan included expanding the Development Committee to include a number of members who have industry contacts. Pharmaceutical companies and producers of psychophysiological and neuroimaging equipment were discussed as potential sources. The Development Committee would identify specific targets each year, and the President of SRP would contact those sources to request support. Different sources would be sought each year. After some discussion, Ray Knight proposed the following: It is the responsibility of the Development Subcommittee to seek these funds. The committee will identify the potential funding sources, and the president will make the request for support. The choice of funding sources will be reviewed by the Executive Board. After three years the Board will review the entire process and make a recommendation to the membership about continuance. This proposal was approved unanimously.
The consensus of the Board was that these proposals should be taken to the Members' meeting for approval.
VIII. Future Meeting Sites:
Next year's meeting will be held in Toronto, hosted by Dick Steffy. Ray Knight suggested that the sites for the next several years be chosen, so that hotel arrangements could be made further ahead. He reported that Deanna Barch was prepared to host the meeting in St. Louis in 2004, and that Sheri Johnson in Miami was a possiblilty for 2005. Barbara Cornblatt and Phil Harvey also have offered to host a future meeting in Garden City (near New York). San Diego was raised as a possibility for a future West Coast site. Future sites will be discussed again at the Sunday meeting, after consultation with some of the potential local hosts.
IX. The meeting was adjourned.