Minutes of the ISBA General Membership Meeting - June 1, 2000, Hersinossos, Crete1. WelcomeThe President (Dawid) welcomed members to the first general meeting since Valencia in 1998.2. Election ResultsThe Executive Secretary (Evans) reported on the results of the ISBA 2000 elections and thanks were expressed to Susie Bayarri and her Nominating Committee for coming up with such an excellent slate of candidates. Approximately 50% of the membership participated in the election. Alicia Carriquiry was elected President-Elect, and Deborah Ashby, Dani Gamerman, Dalene Stangl, Mark Steel were all elected to the Board.3. Thanks to Outgoing Officers and Committee MembersThe President (Dawid) thanked all the individuals who had served ISBA and had left their posts since the last general meeting: Past-Presidents - Steve Fienberg, Susie Bayarri, Past-Program Chairs - Mark Steel, Alicia Carriquiry, Treasurer - Rob McCulloch, Board Members - Philip Dawid, Alicia Carriquiry, Peter Nueller, David Rios-Insua, Bill Strwderman, Daniel Pena, Enrique de Alba, Ed George, Malay Ghosh and Newsletter Editor - Frank Kleibergen.4. New Nominating CommitteeThe membership of the Nominating Committee for the 2001 elections was announced. This is chaired by the Past President (Geweke) and the additional members are: Caitlin Buck (Cardiff), Merlise Clyde (Duke), Petros Dellaportas (Athens), Pilar Iglesias (Chile), Peter Mueller (Duke), Donna Pauler (Harvard), and Luis Perrichi (Venezuela). Members were asked to send any suggestions for President=Elect, Executive Secretary or Board members to John Geweke by July 23, 2000.5. Treasurer's ReportThe Treasurer (Johnson) reported that ISBA will have approximately $31K (U.S.) in the treasury after ISBA2000. He also announced his intention of investing about 2/3 of ISBA's funds so that a better rate of return is earned. There was some discussion concerning the security of the online collection of of fees. The Treasurer assured members that the credit card transaction is secure (no credit card numbers are sent by email).6. Reports on ISBA2000Steve Fienberg reported for the Finance Committee. In particular it was noted that over 60 people from 20 countries received financial support to attend the meeting.Ed George will be the Editor for the Proceedings volume. All papers will be refereed. The volume will be distributed to all participants and this is thanks to Eurostat. Mike West reported on the Scientific Program. All onvolved were thanked for their tremendous efforts in making the meeting such a success. 7. Program CouncilEd George reported on the activities of the Program Council. It was noted that ISBA 2000 was a big success and that proposals are being solicited for the location of ISBA 2004.Next year ISBA will be cosponsoring a regional meeting in Laguna Beach run by Dale Poirier. It also likely that ISBA will be cosponsoring the Fifth International meeting on Forensic Science to be held in Italy next year. As well ISBA is likely to cosponsor a meeting on Bayesian Inference and Stochastic Processes to be held in Varenna, Italy May 31 - June 2, 2001 and Fabrizio Ruggeri reported on this meeting. The question of outreach by ISBA to other groups was discussed. The President noted that it was not necessary to have a special committee formed for this purpose as this is the role of all ISBA members. The President officially announced the logo competition (details on the website). The winner will be chosen by the membership. 8. Publication IssuesThe Newsletter Editor (Ruggeri) thanked all those who have contributed to the success of the Newsletter. In particular he singled out Val Johnson and Nikki Scott for their help. He also asked that people inform him about their willingness to accept email delivery of the newsletter as this will reduce costs. In the future the newsletter will be called the ISBA Bulletin.The Webmaster (Evans) reported that the website is being regularly used (averaging about 20 hits a day during 1999 and about double that during the past 4 months). There will be some initiatives over the next few months to try and make the site more useful. ISBA members were reminded that their books can be listed on the website as a form of advertisement. Members were requested to send the webmaster relevant links. Chapters were requested to send news of their activities to the webmaster for posting there. Some discussion from the floor ensued concerning the possibility of having an online directory of members. It was indicated that this issue would be pursued further. 9. ISBA IncorporationAlicia Carriquiry reported on this and that the articles of incorporation are available for any member to look at. It was suggested that an announcement be sent out to the membership concerning this. The Board has moved that the previous Constitution be re-enacted. This is available on the web-site.10. ISBA Executive and Board Committee MeetingsIt was annonced by the President that a motion was passed by the Board that allowed for annual ISBA Executive Committee meetings with expenses paid by ISBA, subject to Board approval.11. Savage FundISBA will take over this fund and the management of the annual prize. Arnold Zellner noted that there are now 2 prizes awarded each year with one being for the best theoretical thesis and the other for the best thesis on applications.12. Constituting an ad hoc Publications CommitteeA committee will be formed to consider the possibility of ISBA publishing an electronic journal.13. Local ChaptersIt was noted that ISBA now has 3 chapters (Chile, India and South Africa). Pilar Iglesias reported on the activities of the Chilean Chapter and Dan van de Waal reported on the activities of the South African Chapter. |