American Phytopathological Society
Potomac Division
The 2004 meeting of the Potomac Division was held April 6 - 7, 2004 at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, Shepherdstown, WV. Jay Norelli served as the chair of the Local Arrangements Committee while Arv Grybauskas and Bill Bruckart served informally as the Program Committee. The Executive Committee consisted of Bill Bruckart, President; Dave Clement, Past-President; Bob Davis, Vice President; and Dan Roberts, Secretary-Treasurer. Attendance was estimated at 80 (including invited speakers) with 71 formal registrants. At least 10 graduate students were in attendance including students from Rutgers, Cornell, and Penn State.
The Program started Tuesday morning (April 6th) with opening remarks from Bill Bruckart, President, Potomac Division, followed by a formal welcome from Dariusz Swietlik, USDA-ARS, AFRS, Kearneysville, WV. Gary Bergstrom, APS President, presented an overview of the American Phytopathological Society including discussions on the status of various APS journals and APS membership. The first session consisted of a sequence of invited talks centered on technology. Invited talks were "Technology, then and now" presented by Frances Latterell and Mannon Gallegly; "Genetic and genomic approaches to studying virulence and hypovirulence of the chestnut blight fungus" by Don Nuss; "The resistant and susceptible responses of soybean to the soybean cyst nematode" presented by Ben Matthews; and "Clinical and pre-clinical testing of plant virus vector-expressed therapeutic proteins" presented by Greg Pogue. Session II was the Graduate Student Competition moderated by Jane Choi. The session consisted of 10 oral presentations by graduate students from the Potomac Division as well as students from Rutgers, Cornell, and Penn State. The Business Meeting was held Tuesday afternoon from 4:30 PM until approximately 5:30 PM. The social, sponsored by Bayer CropScience, was from 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM followed by the banquet from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Session III was completed Wednesday (April 7th) AM. A symposium on Soybean Rust was held late Wednesday morning, moderated by Arv Grybauskas. Bill Bruckart and Dan Roberts decided that 5 minutes should be allotted between talks for Arv's color commentary. The 60th meeting of the Potomac Division was adjourned by Bill Bruckart at 12:30 PM on Wednesday, April 7, 2004.
The Potomac Division Best Student Paper Award was presented to Zola Msiska, West Virginia University for her presentation entitled "The beta-tubulin gene as a means to discriminate species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi." Two second place awards were presented, one to Anne DeMarsay, Rutgers University, for her presentation "Highbush blueberry flower buds as a winter reservoir for Colletotrichum acutatum" and one to Megan Dewdney, Cornell University, for her presentation " Maryblyt and Cougarblight: is there a difference?" Honorable Mention went to Jean-Pierre Marelli. There were no applicants for the Memorial Fund Student Travel Award. Jay Norelli was elected Vice-President for 2004-2005, and Tom Evans was elected Potomac Division Councilor. The Potomac Division Distinguished Service Award for 2004 was presented to Anton B.A.M. Baudoin, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Considerable time was spent by members of the Executive Committee and other distinguished colleagues (to remain unnamed) in attempt to decipher Anton's middle initials. Anton's full name remains an enigma, although several colorful suggestions were tabled. Resolutions, assembled by The Resolutions Committee (Mannon Gallegly and Erik Stromberg), were read by Mannon Gallegly and enjoyed by all. The gavel (repaired by outgoing President Bill Bruckart) was presented to Bob Davis, the President for 2004-2005.
Potomac Division Business Meeting
The 60th Annual Business Meeting of the Potomac Division was called to order at 4:30 PM Tuesday, April 6th by Potomac Division President Bill Bruckart. A moment of silence was held for members who passed away over the past year. Steve Johnston, Rutgers University, was remembered.
Gary Bergstrom, APS President, took questions regarding his Tuesday morning talk.
Arv Grybauskas presented the Potomac Division Councilor's report. Annual APS meetings have been booked through 2010. Annual APS meetings will be held July 30-August 3, 2004 in Anaheim, CA; July 30 - August 4, 2005 in Austin, TX; July 29-August 2, 2006 in Quebec City, Quebec (possibly in conjunction with Mycologists); July 28 - August 1, 2007 in San Diego, CA; July 26 - July 30, 2008 in St. Paul, MN (APS Centennial); July 30 - August 1, 2009 in Portland, OR; and August 5 - August 12, 2010 in Nashville, TN. Arv presented an overview of the APS election process. APS membership nominates potential candidates for APS officers. Roughly 95% of nominations are single votes from APS members. Individuals with the most nominations become the Members nominees. The Councilor's Forum selects nominees to complete the ballot. The normalization of dues was discussed at the APS Councilor's Meeting. However, fees for dues are still up to individual Divisions. Revisions have been made to the DeBary Bowl. The Councilor's Team has been eliminated to shorten the contest. The Potomac Division and the Northeast Division will have a combined team for the DeBary Bowl.
Dan Roberts presented the Minutes from the 2003 Potomac Division Meeting. The 2003 Minutes were approved. Dan Roberts presented the Treasurer's Report for 2003. The Treasurer's report was approved. Jim Kotcon prepared the 2003 Minutes and the 2003 Treasurer's report. Dan Roberts presented the auditors report. The Treasurer's report was audited by Dan Roberts and C. Jacyn Baker. The auditors report was approved. It was noted that the Potomac Division was in good financial shape. However, the Investment Account performed extremely poorly in 2003, losing approximately 20 % in value. A discussion took place regarding what to do with the Investment Account over the next year. It was decided to wait and reevaluate the Investment Account at the next Business Meeting.
The Constitutional Amendment, proposed by Anton Baudoin, was approved:
Note:
Underlined text indicates insertion;
strike-through (strike-through) indicates
deletion.
CONSTITUTION
Article 3. Officers and Their Duties
.... The President, Vice-President,
Secretary-Treasurer, and Immediate Past President shall serve
for a term of one year, and the Secretary-Treasurer
and the Councilor for a term of three years, or until their
successors are elected. …
STANDING RULES
4. Election of Officers. The Vice-President, at the end of the
term of office, shall automatically become President and the
Secretary-Treasurer will become Vice-President. The
Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Councilor
shall be elected by mail ballot sent to the members in good standing
of the Division by the Secretary-Treasurer. …
In the future, Potomac Division Officers will be elected once to cycle through as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-President, President, and Past-President. Elected Officers will serve one-year terms at each position. The Potomac Division Councilor will continue to be elected separately and serve a three-year term. After some discussion it was decided that Dan Roberts will serve a two-year term as Secretary-Treasurer. In 2005 an election will be held for Secretary-Treasurer and Vice-President. Starting in 2006, a new Secretary-Treasurer will be elected every year.
The next Annual Meeting of the Potomac Division is to be held in late March - early April of 2005. The venue for the meeting will be decided after reviewing the Survey conducted at the 2004 meeting. ARS-Beltsville and University of Maryland are tentatively slated to host the next meeting.
The Business meeting was adjourned at 5:30 PM Tuesday, April 6th.