Michigan Chapter for the Society for Neuroscience (SfN)
Council Meeting
Michigan State University
October 12 th , 2004
Members Present: Lisa Baker (President, WMU), Mark Breedlove (Councilor, MSU), Peter Cobbett (President Elect, MSU), Tom Fischer (Councilor, WSU), Verne Hulce (Councilor, CMU), Daniel Kueh (Student Councilor, WMU), Cindy Linn (Councilor, WMU), Roy Schwarz (Councilor, Pfizer), Deborah Shear (Student Councilor, CMU), John Spitsbergen (Secretary, WMU), Scott Turner (Councilor, UM) and Art Weber (Treasurer, MSU, Julia Zehr (Councilor at large, MSU) .
Meeting was called to order at 11:30 AM.
Item 1: Welcome and introduction of new council members.
The following new members were introduced.
Peter Cobbett (President Elect, MSU)
Tom Fischer (Councilor, WSU)
Daniel Kueh (Student Councilor, WMU)
Cindy Linn (Councilor, WMU)
Deborah Shear (Student Councilor, CMU)
Julia Zehr (Councilor at large, MSU)
Item 2: Old Business.
Annual Report for the 2003 Calendar Year (Lisa Baker, President).
Lisa Baker submitted the Annual Report for the Michigan Chapter of the SfN (June, 2004). Lisa asked that everyone take a look at the report and think about items to be included in next year's report.
Grass Lecture Report (Tom Fischer).
Tom Fischer thanked Jeff Potts for his initial work on organizing and scheduling the Grass Lecture. The Grass Lecture, presented by Dr. Tom Sudhof, was a big success! There were over 150 people in attendance of the lecture and all meetings with faculty and graduate students went very well. Thanks to Wayne State University, the Michigan Chapter of the SfN and the Grass Foundation for their support of this event.
Tom also indicated that he had met with some individuals from the Northern Ohio Chapter of the SfN and they were interested in possibly taking part in some joint activities with our chapter.
Amendments to Bylaws (Peter Cobbett).
During the business meeting at this year's annual meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the SfN the following motion was made.
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.
This motion was voted on and passed. However, this motion was incorrectly identified as an amendment to the bylaws in the minutes from the business meeting. The mistake in the minutes has been rectified. Following discussion at the current business meeting it was decided that language would be added to the registration notice indicating that individuals not planning to attend the annual meeting could pay the yearly dues (but not the registration fee), allowing them to be considered as active members for that year.
Item 3: Secretaries Report (John Spitsbergen, Secretary).
The names of the following individuals were spelled incorrectly in the minutes from the past meeting.
Daniel Kueh
Tom Sudhof
Julia Zehr
Tom Fischer
Robert Calin-Jageman
The spellings have been corrected.
The motion offered at the last business meeting, concerning yearly dues, was misidentified as an amendment to the bylaws. This has been corrected.
The minutes were approved with the above changes.
Item 4: Treasurer's Report (Art Webber, Treasurer).
Art reported that the chapter was $587.69 in the black for 2004, giving the Chapter $10,341.81 in current funds.
The suggestion was made that we think about providing an official thank you (possibly a plaque) to the vendors who have provided long term support of our annual conference. We also discussed to possibility of doing more advertising on behalf of the vendors for the annual conference, so that other researchers not attending the conference may still come to talk with the vendors.
We discussed the possibility of having a mug or t-shirt made for the Chapter. It was decided that the 35 th anniversary conference (2006) would be a good opportunity to do this.
Item 5. Award Chair's Report (Lisa Baker):
L'Aurelle Johnson, from the University of Michigan, received the Eli Lilly Graduate Student Travel Award.
Item 6. New Business (Lisa Baker):
Poster at Chapters Social in San Diego. Lisa is presenting a poster, at the Chapter social in San Diego, on the Michigan Chapter of SfN highlights for 2004. Please take a look at the poster and let her know if there is anything that needs to be added.
2005 Brain Awareness Week Plans. Tom Fisher indicated that a graduate student at Wayne State will be coordinating the BAW event at the Detroit Science Center. Verne Hulce has an inflatable brain that we may be able to use at the BAW event. Once the date is set for the BAW activity at the Detroit Science Center we need to contact Mark Breedlove so he can try and schedule an event at the Science Museum in Lansing.
Verne Hulce described other programs that he takes part in, including Think First (a program organized by neurological surgeons). Some of the activities may be excellent for BAW.
Lisa Baker asked if anyone would be willing to act as council liaison for BAW activities. Deb Shear agreed to act as liaison for BAW activities.
2005 Annual Meeting Plans (Roy Schwarz, Pfizer).
Potential Site: Eagle Crest Conference Center (I-94 in Ypsilanti).
Date: May 20 th , 2005.
Possible Theme: Neuropsychiatric Disorders.
Roy Schwarz indicated that Pfizer was still considering funding both students awards (not certain) and that Pfizer may help cover the cost of travel for invited speakers if they also schedule meetings with people at Pfizer.
It was noted that we need to make sure that vendor information (i.e. advertisement) is added to the Meeting web site.
Individuals attending the National Conference were asked to talk with publishers to see if any would be interested in attending the Michigan Chapter Conference, or perhaps donate a book to be used in the student awards.
Next Council Meeting. Possibly in February.
Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by John Spitsbergen (john.spitsbergen@wmich.edu), Secretary.