American Fisheries Society
Organized 1870 to Promote the Conservation, Development and Wise Utilization of the Fisheries
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 110 * Bethesda, Maryland 20814-2199
301-897-8616 * FAX 301-897-8096 * E-Mail: main@fisheries.org, www.fisheries.org
Wayne A. Hubert
Ghassan (Gus) Rassam
President 2010-2011
Executive Director
William L. Fisher
President Elect
September 20, 2010
Christopher Guy
301 Lewis Hall
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
Dear Chris,
I am pleased to appoint you as Chair of the AFS Meetings Oversight Committee for 2010-2011. The purpose of
this Committee is to provide overall review of meetings and guidance for the Society to ensure coherent
planning and development of Society and unit meetings. The committee is charged with recommending
practices for annual meetings as well as Topic Oriented Meetings sponsored by AFS.
The Meetings Oversight Committee is composed of seven AFS members including the AFS 1st Vice President
(John Boreman in 2010-2011). Subcommittees with additional members can be appointed by the AFS
President to achieve additional tasks.
Your first task is to form the Committee for 2010-2011. There are no terms for Meeting Oversight Committee
members as there are for other AFS standing committees. Membership of the Meetings Oversight Committee
for 2009-2010 is appended. I suggest that you contact the members from 2009-2010 and determine who would
like to continue to serve. Maintaining some level of overlap among years is a good idea. When you have seven
potential members identified, including John Boreman the 1st VP and yourself, let me know and I will make
appointments for the year. Note below that Julie Claussen has volunteered to serve on the Meetings Oversight
Committee and I will gladly appointed her to the Committee.
President Don Jackson charged the Meeting Oversight Committee with two primary tasks during his term. The
first task was to work with the Electronics Services Advisory Board and the Membership Concerns Committee
to review possible options for virtual attendance at AFS meetings. The second task was to begin looking into
options available for using an external meeting planner for annual AFS meetings. The Committee got the ball
rolling on both tasks, but the tasks have not been completed. So, the first two charges of the Committee for
2010-2011 will be to continue work in these areas.
Bear in mind that the Meeting Oversight Committee is contributing to the AFS Strategic Plan for 2010-2014 in
many ways. Under Goal 1: Global Fisheries Leadership, our meetings are a primary way of providing sound
science and networking opportunities; relative to Goal 2: Education/Continuing Education, our meetings
facilitate life-long learning and provide training for practicing professionals; and in regard to Goal 3: Value to
Membership, our meetings serve all constituencies within AFS to fulfill the mission of the Society. I believe the
Meeting Oversight Committee may have more breath in contributing to the mission of AFS than any other
standing committee. This will become particularly relevant and challenging as you prepare Mid-year and
Annual reports to the Governing Board and are asked to structure accomplishments according to the goals of the
strategic plan.
I am making four specific charges to the Committee for 2010-2011:
1. Continue to work on development of virtual attendance at meetings. This is a thrust that was initiated by
Don Jackson. The idea is to video all or part of AFS meetings so members unable to attend can view them as
they are occurring or sometime in the future. John Jackson, 2009-2010 Chair of the Meetings Oversight
Committee, was also appointed by Don Jackson as Chair of a special committee to work on this thrust. I have
asked John to continue to serve on the Meeting Oversight Committee and particularly to Chair the special
subcommittee on virtual attendance and he has agreed. Members of the special committee in 2009-2010 were
Maureen Walsh, Jeff Kopaska, Joel Carlin, and John Jackson, Chair. The Electronic Services Advisory Board
chaired this year by Andy Loftus has also been charged with addressing the topic of virtual meetings. I ask that
the Meeting Oversight Committee work with John to facilitate the activities of the special committee and work
closely with the Electronic Services Advisory Board to achieve a workable protocol for enabling AFS members
to view and participate in meetings from a remote location.
2. Develop recommendations for additional models that may be used to plan and organize annual meetings of
the Society. Many factors have come together to indicate that it is becoming more and more difficult for
individual AFS Chapters, or state or provincial agencies, to take on the task of conducting the local
arrangements for annual meetings of the Society. I am charging the Meeting Oversight Committee to assess
various options for planning and organizing annual meetings and to provide a report to the Governing Board
prior to the annual meeting in Seattle in September 2011. Options may include the use of professional firms
that offer these services, the identification of specialized staff within the AFS home office to conduct these
duties, the continued dependence on volunteers within chapter or agencies, some hybrid of these options, or
creative alternatives that have not been mentioned. Julie Claussen, Chair of the Time and Place Committee, has
volunteered to serve on the Meetings Oversight Committee in order to bring her perspective on the problem to
the Committee and I have happily appointed her to the Committee.
3. Assist in developing a joint Topic Oriented Meeting involving the four societies in the Coalition of Natural
Resource Societies (The Wildlife Society, Society of American Foresters, Society for Range Management, and
AFS) planned for 2011. The topic of the meeting will be education of professional natural resource managers.
The Committee is asked to assist in the planning of the meeting and in providing assessment of it.
4. Provide reports to the Governing Board on Committee activities for their Mid-year meeting (March 2011)
and for their annual meeting (September 2011)
Thank you for your willingness to Chair the Meetings Oversight Committee. I anticipate that you will find it a
challenging and rewarding service to AFS. Please let me know how I can assist you. Call (307-760-8723) or
write (whubert@uwyo.edu) at any time.
Sincerely,
Wayne A. Hubert
President, American Fisheries Society
AFS Meetings Oversight Committee 2009-2010
John Jackson, Chair
Department of Biological Sciences
Arkansas Tech University
1701 North Boulder Ave.
Russellville, AR 72801
Phone: 479-964-3226
Fax: 479-964-0837
Email: jjackson@atu.edu
Phil Moy
1838 Barthels Rd.
Two Rivers, WI 54241
Phone: 920-683-4697
Fax: 920-683-4697
Email: pmoy@uwc.edu
Maureen Walsh
USGS Lake Ontario Biol. Station
17 Lake Street
Oswego, NY 13126
Phone: 315 343-3951
Fax: 315 342-8065
Email: mwalsh@usgs.gov
Ted Castro-Santos
Research Ecologist
S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center
One Migratory Way, P.O. Box 796
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Phone: 413-863-3838
Email: tcastro_santos@usgs.gov
Darrell Bowman
Bella Vista POA
98 Clubhouse Drive
Bella Visa, AR 72714
Phone:
Email: darrellb@bvvpoa.com
Bill Fisher, 1st Vice President AFS
New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
206F Fernow Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607-255-2839
Fax: 607-255-1895
Email: william.fisher@cornell.edu