American Academy of Microbiology

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Governors
January 10, 2009
Tucson, Arizona

I. Introductions

A. Welcome and Roll Call

Present: R. John Collier (Chair), Kenneth Berns, Edward DeLong, E. Peter Greenberg, Carol Gross, Clifford Houston (ASM Past President), Lonnie Ingram, J.Michael Miller, Stephen Morse, Edward Ruby, Patricia Spear, George Sprague, Carol Colgan (ex-officio, Director, American Academy of Microbiology), and Peggy McNult (Manager, American Academy of Microbiology).

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Collier at 8:00 a.m., and introductions were made.

B.  Approval of Agenda

An item, MicrobeOpen, was added to New Business by Dr. Collier. Upon a motion by Dr. Berns, seconded by Dr. Greenberg, the Board unanimously approved the revised agenda.

C.  Approval of Minutes of January 11, 2008

Two corrections were made to the 2008 minutes: II.C.4. the last two sentences were moved to II.C., 8. and II.G., Dr. Spear's name was spelled correctly. The Board unanimously approved the revised minutes.

II. New Business

A. Election to Fellowship Issues

Members of the Committee on Election to Fellowship are elected to a single five-year term. Ms. Colgan reported that members who have served several years of their term are increasingly declining to participate in the annual meeting of the Committee. She expressed difficulty in finding suitable alternates to fill-in and noted the limited number of alternate members of the Committee on Election to Fellowship. The unanimous opinion was that the length of the term was too long and the number of alternate members should be increased. Dr. Miller moved and Dr. DeLong seconded that the term of service should be three years. Upon completion of the term, members may be asked to serve as an alternate member. The Board unanimously approved.

Discussion ensued about the election of BOG incumbents and the current bylaws requirement that incumbents run for reelection in contested races. Dr. Miller moved and Dr. Spear seconded a requirement that the BOG Nominating Committee review the performance of incumbents and determine if they should be asked to serve a second term. If the BOG Nominating Committee so recommends, they will be invited to serve a second term in an uncontested election. The Board unanimously approved this motion.

Dr. Greenberg moved that the Chair of the BOG be elected to an initial three-year term with an option of serving a second three-year uncontested term contingent upon the BOG Nominating Committee's positive review of the Chair's performance. Dr. Spear seconded the motion, and the Board unanimously approved.

The term of the Dean, American College of Microbiology, was also discussed. Upon a motion by Dr. Miller, seconded by Dr. Ruby, the Board unanimously approved that the Dean serve one four-year term with the election of a Dean-Elect during the third-year of the four-year term. The Board agreed that this motion was contingent upon the approval of the Board of American College of Microbiology. A conference call will be scheduled for their discussion and vote.

These motions require changes to the Academy Bylaws. Ms. Colgan will send revised Bylaws to the Board for their review and approval. The revised Bylaws will be sent to the Fellows for their vote.

The Election to Fellowship criteria were reviewed; no revisions were made. The Board did request a change to the nomination form. The Board wants nominators to provide a brief annotation and its significance to the science for each of the nominee's 12 listed publications.

It was noted that John Breznak will complete his term as a member of the Committee on Election to Fellowship in 2010, and the Board developed a slate of candidates for the opening.

B. Colloquium Program Update

Ms. Colgan reported that three colloquia, "Large-Scale Sequencing," "Antibiotic Resistance: New Approaches to an Old Problem," and "Bioinformatics," were held in 2008. Three colloquia are scheduled for 2009-

-  "Global Food Safety: Reducing Risk from Farm to Table" will be held in April.

-  "Rare Biosphere" will also be held in April.

-  "Microbial Evolution" will be held in August. There will be an Academy-sponsored session on this topic at the 2009 AAAS meeting.

Ms. Colgan further reported that two colloquia are scheduled for 2010, "Culture Collections" and "Global Water: An Ecological Perspective in a Changing World." She also reported that the National Science Foundation is interested in global climate/global change. The Board stated that this topic is timely and critical; a steering committee needs to be appointed to develop the colloquium topics. Dr. DeLong agreed to serve on the steering committee, and the Board was asked to email Ms. Colgan the names of other potential committee members.

Ms. McNult updated the Board on 2008 outreach activities and stated that three reports were released in 2008 and they had been downloaded 15,000 times. Since 1992, the Academy has released 40 colloquia reports and collectively, they have been viewed almost 750,000 times.

C. MicrobeOpen

Dr. Collier reported that the Academy received a proposal from Thomas Shenk, Chair of the ASM Publications Board, to develop a new open-access, online-only journal. This journal, MicrobeOpen, would be a rapid publication of concise reports of cutting-edge research. It would be of broad interest to the international microbiology community and its competitors would be PloS Pathogens, PNAS, and Cell Host & Microbe. MicrobeOpen would leverage the prestige of the Academy with Fellows as the editors. Fellows would be provided a fast-track publication benefit.

After discussion, Dr. Spear moved and Dr. DeLong seconded that the Board endorse the proposal. The Board unanimously approved.

III. Information Items

A. American College of Microbiology

Dr. Miller's annual report was submitted and is attached hereto.

B. Report from Liason to ASM's International Committee

Nothing to report.

C. AAM Annual Report

Dr. Collier thanked the outgoing Board members, Drs. Berns, Greenberg, Ingram, Miller, Morse, and Spear, for their years of service.

Dr. Collier's annual report was submitted and is attached hereto.

IV. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.