Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Michigan Chapter
Meeting Minutes
April 30th, 2004
Item 1: Welcome, introduction and acknowledgements (Lisa Baker, President): Lisa Baker thanked this year’s guest speakers.
Item 2: Secretary’s Report (John Spitsbergen, Secretary): It was announced that the minutes from past council meetings could be found on the Chapter’s web site (www.msu.edu/~looking/misfn/minutes.html). The minutes from the last council meeting were approved.
Item 3: President’s Report (Lisa Baker, President): The Michigan Chapter received two different grants in support of our activities this year. The first award was from the National Chapter and was used to support Brain Awareness Week (BAW) activities at the Detroit Science Center and to help cover the cost of student awards for this year’s annual meeting. The second award was a Grass Foundation Traveling Scientist Award. This award will be used to bring an invited speaker (Dr. Tom Sudhof) for a symposium scheduled for September 20th, at Wayne State University. Following is a preliminary schedule for the symposium.
Monday Sep 20/04
12 - 1 pm Lunch w Grad students / post-docs
1 - 2:45 pm Faculty visits
3 - 4 pm Symposium: How Ca+2 triggers neurotransmitter release
4 - 4:30 pm Question/Answer session
4:30 - 6 pm Wine & Cheese Social
7 pm Dinner w invited faculty
Tuesday Sep 21, 2004
9 - 12 pm Faculty visits
12 pm Depart for airport
Contact Jeff Potts (jtpotts@med.wayne.edu) if you have any questions about this symposium.
Item 4: Treasurer’s Report (Art Weber, Treasurer): Art Weber thanked the vendors, Pfizer and the Field Neuroscience Institute for their continued support of this meeting. According to Art, the Chapter had approximately $10,600.00 in the bank prior to last year’s meeting, $9,600.00 prior to this year’s meeting and should have around $9,000.00 once all meeting expenses are covered. Thanks to Cindy Linn for her planning of this year’s meeting.
Item 5: Award Chair’s Report (Greg Kapatos, Awards Chair): The Chapter received applications from Berta Rebimbas-Cohen and Tyler Brown, for a travel award to attend the 4th Forum of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), in Lisbon, Portugal. The application from Berta Rebimbas-Cohen was forwarded to the National Chapter and subsequently funded by the National Chapter. Congratulations to Berta.
For this year’s annual meeting the Montford Piercy award was presented to Amy Tindell, from the University of Michigan and the Duncan McCarthy award was presented to Robert Calin-Jageman, from Wayne State University. The awards for best poster by a graduate student went to Emile Bruneau, from the University of Michigan and to Sean Thompson, from Western Michigan University. The awards for best poster by an undergraduate student went to Olivia Smith and Justin Koenig, both from Western Michigan University. Congratulations to these students.
The deadline for the student travel awards for the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience is May 3rd. Information regarding these awards can be found on the Chapter web site (www.msu.edu/~looking/misfn/).
Item 6: Brain Awareness Week Activities Report: Jennifer Tessmer (Wayne State University) talked about the combined BAW event at the Detroit Science Center. Jim Stockmeyer (Michigan State University) talked about BAW activities at local schools in the East Lansing/Lansing area. Melvin Dickerson (Pfizer Global Research and Development) talked about the “Brain Rules” activity sponsored by Pfizer and U of M. For more information see the following web site (http://brainsrule.com). Verne Hulce (Central Michigan University/Field Neurosciences Institute) talked about BAW activities in the Saginaw area.
Item 7: Action Items:
Amendments to Bylaws.
The following change to the bylaws was offered by Lisa Baker.
In Section 2.2. Council Members. The following text “as well as one Council member each from Warner Lambert/Parke Davis and Pharmacia & Upjohn. The eighth regular” will be changed to “as well as one Council member from Pfizer Global Research and Development. The seventh regular”.
The amendment received unanimous approval.
The following motion was offered by John Jellies.
Whereas the bylaws of the chapter require the payment of dues in an amount to be voted on by the chapter membership but an amount has not been published, it is moved that chapter dues be set at $25.00 (US) for regular members and $10.00 (US) for student members.
The motion received unanimous approval.
The following amendment to the bylaws was offered by Lisa Baker.
Annual meeting registration fees shall include the annual dues. The registration fee will be determined on an annual basis by the annual meeting planning committee.
The amendment received unanimous approval.
Election of New Council Members.
Peter Cobbett (Michigan State University) was nominated and voted in as President Elect.
Cindy Linn was nominated and voted in as Councilor from Western Michigan University.
Tom Fischer was nominated and voted in as Councilor from Wayne State University.
Julia Zehr (Michigan State University) was nominated and voted in as Councilor-at-Large.
Deborah Shear (Central Michigan University) and Daniel Kueh (Western Michigan University) were nominated and voted in as Student Councilors.
The Annual Business meeting was adjourned.