MINUTES OF THE 2001 ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING OF THE

MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

 

The 82nd annual Business Meeting of the Mineralogical Society of America was held in Room 210 of the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, November 6, 2001.

ITEMS

1. Call to Order

President Rod Ewing called the meeting to order at 4:55 PM, Tuesday, November 6, 2001. R. Ewing welcomed society members to the meeting and indicated the format of the business meeting.

2. Secretary’s report

David Jenkins read the Secretary’s report for the 2001 council year. His report included: membership statistics; newly appointed fellows of the society; medal and research grant award recipients for next year; upcoming short courses and publications; acknowledgment of DOE’s support for six short courses; recognition of the XRF-Techniques workshop held at the Philips applications lab in Natick, Mass.; MSA Lecture-series lecturers for next year; names of those members who died during the past year; an invitation for society members to add their name to the Directory of Earth Science Speakers; improvements that have been made to MSA’s website, including the addition of the "Collectors Corner", "Mineralogy 4 Kids", and the full text of Volume II (Silicates) of the Handbook of Mineralogy; the recent decision by council to allow free access to all articles of the American Mineralogist from 2000 and prior; and announcement of the officers and councillors elected in the spring ballot election. The full text of the report will be published in The Lattice.

R. Ewing asked if there were any questions for the Secretary. There were no questions.

3. Treasurer’s report

James Blencoe read the Treasurer’s report. His report included: a brief review of the society’s returns on investments; recognition of the marked reduction in the per-page cost of producing the American Mineralogist following the move to desk-top publishing; that proceeds from the sale of RiMG volumes were good; the annual auditing of the financial books showed them to be in good order; membership dues remain at $50 and student dues at $5; institutional subscriptions to the Amer. Mineralogist needed to be raised; that guidelines for formulating the annual budget for 2002 involved conservative estimates of income and liberal estimates of expenses; and that the largest variable in establishing future budgets is the cost of producing and reprinting RiMG volumes. The full text of the report will be published in The Lattice.

R. Ewing asked if there were any questions for the Treasurer. There were no questions.

4. Editors’ of American Mineralogist report

Robert Dymek read the Editor’s report. His report included: comments on the status of the American Mineralogist; a notice of the recent mailing of the November-December issue; thanks to Rachel Russell, Managing Editor, for doing a great job; a review of the publication statistics for the journal, noting that the largest part of the publication time is now the time that a manuscript remains in the hands of the authors for revisions; members were reminded that the Editors have a discretionary fund for subsidizing color illustrations; the rate of mail handling of manuscripts has declined greatly while at the same time the rate of complete electronic submission of manuscripts has greatly increased, which can lead to much more rapid handling of manuscripts; announced that the Amer. Mineral. will be moving to a web-based method of submitting and tracking manuscripts; reviewed the special issues that will be appearing in 2002 and 2003; and thanked Anne Hofmeister for her years of service as co-editor. The full text of the report will be published in The Lattice.

 

R. Ewing asked if there were any questions for the co-Editor. There were no questions.

5. Adjournment

Rod Ewing provided concluding remarks on the status of the society.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

David M. Jenkins, MSA secretary.