Summary of Board Actions - Fall 2004 & Winter 2005

Summary of Executive Board & Council Actions

The following is an informal account of some of the discussions and actions taken by the AAPT Executive Board during its summer and October 2004 meetings, and by the Executive Board and AAPT Council during the 2005 Winter Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A more complete description can be found in the minutes from these meetings.

2004 Election Results

Mary Beth Monroe reported to the Executive Board the results of the AAPT 2004 national elections. Harvey Leff (California State Polytechnic Univ. at Pomona) was elected President and John Roeder (The Calhoun School, New York) was elected Member-at-Large, representing the high school community. Mary Beth Monroe (Southwest Texas Junior College) was re-elected to her third term as AAPT Secretary. Their terms began at the close of the 2005 Winter Meeting.

Nominating Committee

The Executive Board and the Section Representatives have completed the appointments for the Nominating Committee that will select candidates for the fall 2005 national elections. In 2005, AAPT members will elect a Vice President, a Member-at-Large representing two-year colleges, and a Treasurer. In addition, the Nominating Committee will select two members for each AAPT area committee. Elected board members and new committee members will begin their terms of office at the close of the 2006 Winter Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. Members of this Nominating Committee include William McNairy, Chair, Jane Flood, Francis Tam, George Amann, and Dwain Desbien.

Editorial Appointments

Upon recommendation from the AAPT Publications Committee, the Executive Board approved the Editorial Board appointments:

American Journal of Physics:

David Griffiths, Reed College
Elaine Oran, Naval Research Laboratory
Sid Redner, Boston University

Resource Letters:

Suzanne Amador Kane, Haverford College
Michael Nauenberg, Univ. California, Santa Cruz,

The Physics Teacher:

David Kagan, California State Univ.
Terri McMurray, Winston Salem/Forsyth City Schools
Greg Puskar (re-appointment), West Virginia Univ.

The appointees began their three-year terms in January 2005.

Also, the Executive Board authorized the following appointments to the newly created Online Publications Advisory/Editorial Board:

Robert Beichner, North Carolina State Univ.
David Donnelly, Texas State Univ.
Machelle Cable, Wake Forest Univ.
Cathy Ezrailson, Texas A&M Univ.
Marc Gagne, West Chester Univ.
Lisa Grable, North Carolina State Univ.
Beth Hufnagel, Anne Arundel Community College
Edward Lee, American Physical Society
Gregor Novak, U.S. Air Force Academy

The board will advise the editor, Bruce Mason, and will help with strategic planning of AAPT Online Publications.

Sale of Homer L. Dodge Building

In 1986, the AAPT purchased a building on Berwyn Road, in College Park, Maryland, to use as its headquarters. In 1988, the building was designated the Homer L. Dodge Building in recognition of the association’s first president. Although AAPT moved its headquarters to the American Center for Physics in 1993, the association kept the building as rental property. In late fall of 2004, AAPT sold the Dodge Building for $900,000. The Board allocated $250,000 of the sale proceeds to establishing the Homer L. Dodge Fund, which continues the association’s recognition of the contributions made by its first president and the financial donation made by his family when AAPT purchased the building.

2004 and 2005 Budgets

AAPT Treasurer Chuck Robertson presented an overview of the budget for 2004 to the Executive Board and the Council. The total AAPT budget consists of the operating fund and the income and expenditures from designated funds, such as the Klopsteg Fund, Bauder Fund, and Fuller Fund. The projected budget for 2004 anticipates a small deficit of about $150,000. The total net income for 2004 is projected to be about $1 million. Robertson also reported that the AAPT has achieved its financial goal to establish a long-term reserve fund equal to one year’s operating costs (approximately $5.5 million).

The Executive Board approved the 2005 budget, which projects total expenditures to be $6 million with a deficit of $200,000.

Review of AAPT Publications

The AAPT will be conducting its five-year review of The Physics Teacher. Serving on the review committee are Dwight Neuenschwander, Chair (Southern Nazarene Univ.), Marvin Nelson (Green River Community College), and Diane Riendeau (Deerfield High School). The committee will present its report to the Board in January 2006.

Also in 2005, the review of the Physical Sciences Resource Center (PSRC) will be completed. Patsy Ann Johnson, Chair, (Slippery Rock Univ., Pennsylvania), Dan MacIsaac (SUNY Buffalo State College), and Nancy Watson (Burris Lab School) are conducting the review

New AAPT Section

Thirteen AAPT members in Alaska petitioned the AAPT Council to establish an Alaska Section. During the 2005 Winter Meeting Council members unanimously voted to accept this petition. Jim Pantaleone (Univ. of Alaska at Anchorage) is the representative for AAPT’s 47th section.