Present:
Carol Redmond (President), Linda Young (Past-President), Tim Gregoire (President-Elect), Ralph Kodell (Treasurer), Karen Bandeen-Roche (Secretary), Greg Campbell (RAB Chair), Kathy Hoskins (Executive Director), Joanna Shih (2002 Spring Meeting Program Chair), Oliver Schabenberger (2003 Spring Meeting Program Chair), Samantha Bates, Craig Borkowf, Joan Chmiel, Dennis Dixon, Robert Condon, Carol Gotway Crawford, Tom Louis, Elizabeth Margosches, Beverly Mellen, Judy O'Fallon, Mike O'Fallon, Mari Palta, Anika Szabo, Jeremy Taylor, Alicia Toledano, Ji Zhang

1. Introduction

   Carol Redmond called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m., welcoming all in attendance.

2. Minutes

   Karen Bandeen-Roche drew attention to copies of the August, 2001 (Atlanta JSM) Business Meeting minutes that had been distributed. Following a motion by Linda Young, it was voted that the minutes be approved subject to correction requests received by March 31. (No requests were received; hence, the minutes stand approved.)

3. Treasurer's Report

   Ralph Kodell introduced his report, distributed to those in attendance, as characterizing ENAR's budget status as of December 31, 2001. He reminded the group that as of a recent administrative change, the end of our business year now coincides with the end of the calendar year. Pointing to page 1 of his report, he highlighted the "total fund balance" figure of $238,412 as ENAR's net assets and explained that this represented overall assets and revenues of $367,956 minus expenditures of $129,544 over the year. Three other points relating to the report's first page were:

   • The "Prepaid-Other" expense of $30,205 is our 2002 payment to IBS, but it counts against 2001 due to having been prepaid;
   • "Deferred" quantities are payments received in 2001 for 2002 dues and conference fees, hence are "offsets" or liabilities relative to 2001;
   • Our fund balance increased between 2000 and 2001, from $184,509 to $238,412.

   Ralph proceeded to display plots diagramming our fiscal status, thanking Tim Gregoire (former Treasurer) for passing on his plotting routines and much information. The plot tracked ENAR's yearly expenses and fund balance over the past several years, showing parallel growth in expenses and fund balance and expenses have continued to exceed net assets. Ralph stressed the need for the fund balance line to cross over the expenses line and hence protect against severe revenue losses, which he exemplified by relating that the 2001 fall meetings of the other societies managed by Kathy Hoskins were devastated following 9/11. Turning to his report's second page (Comparative Revenue and Expense Statement), Ralph reported $357,904 in total revenue and $304,001 in total expenses, hence $53,903 in net revenue. Based on $300,000 yearly expenses and a 1.5-times-expenses fiscal solvency target, he explained, our fund balance target is approximately $450,000. Given a current balance of $238,000, further gains are needed. Ralph welcomed questions or comments by Executive Committee members; none were offered.

   Ralph proceeded to report that pages 3-5 of his report had to do with the 2001 Spring Meeting and had been covered by Tim at the 2001 RAB/RECOM meeting in Atlanta. To summarize, he displayed a graph of meeting revenue over the past several years. He cited attendance at Crystal City as about 1012 compared to less than 1000 previously. He noted that while Charlotte revenue appeared relatively down, that meeting represented the first time that short course and tutorial revenues had been broken out separately from registration and other "meeting" revenues. Ralph then displayed a graph of short course and tutorial revenues over recent years. He pointed to steep growth in the short course curve, cited short courses as a nice source of revenue, and announced that he would have 2002 figures by August. Tim emphasized the evident growth in continuing education revenue over the last few years, with short courses and tutorials netting approximately $50,000 and $15,000 respectively in 2001 compared to $13,000 in other meeting revenues. He concluded that our short courses are important in two ways: as a source of member satisfaction, and as an increasingly central source of revenue for our organization. Carol Redmond thanked Ralph for his report.

4. Report on Ongoing Spring Meeting

   Kathy Hoskins reported an up-to-date total of 1012 meeting participants. She added that there had been about 130 social event registrations, slightly fewer short course registrations than in Charlotte, and a similar number of tutorial registrations as in Charlotte. Nearly all Roundtable seats had been sold, which Kathy characterized as a typical success and attributed to great interest in the topics presented. She went on to report that approximately $20,000 had been received in sponsorship revenues and exhibitors were participating in approximately the same number as last year. She noted that exhibitors report particularly great success at our meeting. She concluded her comments by citing Crystal City as a great meeting and recognizing a great effort from the Program and Local Arrangements Chairs.

   Carol Redmond reported that two workshops had been held: a Young Investigators' Workshop (YIW) on Saturday and a Diversity Workshop (DW) on Sunday. Briefly commenting on the YIW, Carol perceived a continuing unfulfilled need based on the overflow of applications versus the number who can be accepted for the Workshop. She reported that the workshop continues to be funded through an NCI grant obtained by Xihong Lin and others. Turning to the DW, Carol reported that Amita Manatunga (Emory University) has been doing an excellent job chairing ENAR's Diversity Caucus. She described the DW as very interactive and felt that the audience had been well caught up in the proceedings.

   Carol proceeded to discuss short course evaluation procedures. Linda Young and others had developed evaluation forms last year; this year, efforts had been made to ensure that the forms were returned. She hoped that the information to be provided would ensure that courses meet members' needs and expected a good amount of it this year. Carol then opened the floor for questions or comments relating to this year's meeting. Craig Borkowf stated that he couldn't figure out the meaning of the "method evaluation" item on the short course evaluation form. He also requested information on what is done with the completed forms, including whether scores and comments are kept. Carol replied that course evaluation is a new initiative for ENAR and that she wasn't sure what happened last year. This year, she was to enter the data in a file, discuss the data with the Executive Committee, and perhaps provide feedback to instructors. Tim Gregoire urged those present to e-mail any suggestions for improvements to Kathy Hoskins. Carol said that she would check on the form ambiguity that Craig had identified and requested that he send her or Kathy Hoskins an e-mail over it. She noted that there had been efforts to keep the form straightforward, but that feedback was valuable.

5. Future Meetings
   1. 2003 Spring Meeting, Tampa (March 30-April 2) - Carol deferred to Tim Gregoire, who reported a good start toward planning the program. Tim recalled that Linda Young had initiated the practice of convening an Education Advisory Committee (EAC), whose purpose was to provide guidance on Short Course topics and speakers. His EAC had met the previous Sunday; Tim noted that those asked to participate had been very willing to serve, and he named the Committee's members (Ron Brookmeyer, Marcia Gumpertz, Tom Louis, Judy O'Fallon, Linda Young, and Oliver Schabenberger as Program Chair). He reported that the group had generated a long list of ideas, which was still growing. He was to circulate a complete idea list widely before JSM aiming to flesh out ideas, get feedback on suggested topics, and prioritize the list. Tim introduced Oliver Schabenberger as the Program Chair and reported that Oliver's committee was in place and off to a good start planning the scientific program. He expressed satisfaction with progress to date, given a year to go before the meeting. His aim was for plans to be essentially firmed up by the time of his report in August, and he noted that the contributed program would be solicited in October and November. Tim named two aspects of planning that were less far along than they might be: Roundtable planning, and identification of a Local Arrangements Chair (LAC). He was not worried about either. He had wondered whether the absence of a LAC might lead to difficulty finding student volunteers next year, but he ultimately realized that volunteers need not be local. Someone local was needed to help inform on entertainment and things to do, etc. Tim reported that a site visit would take place over the summer and asked those present to contact him if they could think of people at the University of South Florida (USF; Tampa) or Gainesville (University of Florida) who might serve as LAC. He voiced excitement over the weather and family advantages offered by the Tampa site. Mike O'Fallon asked whether the EAC might identify a particularly hot topic from JSM and line it up as a Spring Meeeting short course. He also raised Linda Malone as a potential contact at USF. Ralph Kodell added that Yiliang Zhu might be contacted at USF.

      Tim resumed his report to note that a new idea would be tried next year: pairing morning and afternoon education sessions on the same topic, with the morning session at a "kindergarten" level and the afternoon session devoted to intermediate or advanced topics. Separate registrations were to be allowed. An "old favorites" list had been compiled, including microarray analysis, Bayes methods, and statistical graphics. Tim raised the possibility of soliciting Edward Tufte for the graphics course; reaction was enthusiastic. Tim resolved to seek feedback in winnowing the list of course ideas, so as to maximize member satisfaction and organization revenues.

      Oliver Schabenberger took the floor to discuss the scientific program. He reported that he had assembled a 15-member committee including 6 ENAR members, 8 representatives from ASA sections, and the IMS Program Chair (Dan Scharfstein). He aimed to assemble a diverse and broad-based program through a diverse and broad-based committee. The IMS Program would comprise 8-9 invited sessions, of which four were already set. Oliver's committee had met the previous evening; 52 session ideas had been raised, and 45 were already targeted to specific committee members. Oliver drew attention to a session idea form that had been distributed; he requested that those present please submit ideas. He voiced excitement over the program's prospects and his aims to achieve broad-based appeal. He noted discussion from the previous Business Meeting's minutes, which had stressed the need to ensure a broad base of topics beyond genetics and genomics. The selection process was designed to achieve this: it would be initiated by a vote to rank sessions, but then be followed by a diversity step to ensure balance across topics. Oliver concluded by reiterating his call for ideas and hoping for an excellent program. Carol Redmond noted that there had been great progress already. She reminded those present that the window of opportunity for submitting Invited Session ideas was fairly short and stating that attention would be paid to all proposals received. Oliver noted that the Program Committee list had been hot-linked on our website under the "Meetings" section, and that those with ideas could contact any Program Committee member.

   2. Future Meetings - Tim Gregoire announced Calvin Williams as ENAR's representative to the 2003 JSM Program Committee. He reported that Oliver Schabenberger had been working closely with Calvin and urged that those present feel free to contact Calvin directly. Carol noted that Calvin couldn't be present for the Business Meeting. She proceeded to report that our 2004 Spring Meeting would take place in Pittsburgh. She recalled Kathy Hoskins as having cited our 1998 meeting there as our "best ever" and noted that the upcoming meeting will be in the same hotel (Hilton). Turning to the 2005 Spring Meeting, Carol reported that Austin, Texas was one site idea being pursued but that a contract was not imminent, and it was not too late to provide input on the choice. She urged any with suggestions to keep our meeting size in mind: only certain locations can accommodate our meeting in one location while avoiding the convention feel of ASA and other large societies. She noted that the present meeting required rooms to accommodate 9 concurrent sessions. Carol cited reasonable cost for our members as another delimiting factor. Tim Gregoire related that Kathy Hoskins saw Austin as a very desirable location and thought that we might get a room rate close to $150. He then questioned whether the group was willing to go to Austin. Alicia Toledano voiced liking for Austin but also queried over Toronto. She cited the Royal York Hotel as an appropriate location and noted the favorable monetary exchange rate. Tim wondered whether snow might be an issue; there was general agreement that getting there might be a problem. Carol said that she'd love to consider Canada occasionally but that our March date is problematic. Judy O'Fallon recalled that Minnesota has been boycotted after two previous tries, and she seconded good feeling about Austin. Cancun and San Juan were raised. The former is not in our region; the latter is but posed government travel issues. Carol reiterated that it was not too late to provide input.

6. Old Business

   Carol began by reporting that an ENAR logo had been approved earlier that day. She announced that those present should begin to see it in circulation. The logo incorporates the IBS logo, which had pleased the IBS representative at RECOM. Carol credited Walt Piegorsch for spearheading the effort to its conclusion and voiced her pleasure at the result. Several noted that that project had been 7 years in the making. Carol proceeded to report that an online Operations Manual had been brought to near completion by Louise Ryan. ENAR had funded an assistant to support the Manual's development. The Manual would provide information on tasks and timelines to Executive Committee members and Standing, Continuing, and Program Committee chairs. It was to reside on the Officers Only page and had a flexible format that could be searched by position by timeline and included detailed auxiliary information. Carol voiced her pleasure with the Manual. She reported that the manual would be updated, and materials added, on an ongoing basis; she cited materials that Tim Gregoire had passed on to Ralph Kodell and that Oliver Schabenberger (previous ITOC Chair) had passed on to Stewart Anderson (current ITOC chair) as examples. She concluded by stating that a procedure to review and update the Manual regularly would be developed. Judy O'Fallon recalled that Manual initiatives had been taken before, and she had taken one 8 years ago. She felt that the document was not the primary issue, but rather procedures to keep it updated and ensure its use. Linda Young replied that this observation had been discussed. She reiterated that the document was web-based and that monthly task reminders were to be forwarded to officers and committee leaders, and she predicted that those who looked at it would enjoy it. Carol noted that the link to the Manual had not yet been activated and opined that the Manual had a very useful and unique implementation. Judy cited corporate memory as an issue. Oliver Schabenberger credited Carol Gotway Crawford with having initiated Program Chair materials, stated that subsequent chairs had used and benefited from them, and felt the materials provided a model for others.

   Carol asked whether others wished to raise old business. Tim Gregoire reported that we have renegotiated our contract with ENAR's management firm. He deferred to Linda Young, who initiated the renegotiation process; she stated that she was satisfied with the result. Mike O'Fallon noted that lots of people had worked hard on the renegotiation.

7. New Business

   Mike O'Fallon (2000 ASA President) reported that a new JSM contract was being negotiated. Recapping history, he recalled that he had written an initial proposal as ASA Vice President. Subsequently a letter had been circulated, as required by an existing contract clause mandating five-year notice. A new proposal had been completed by Mike, Jane Pendergast, Bill Smith (incoming ASA Executive Director), Mary Ellen Bock and Bob Mason, and it was to be discussed by the ASA Board over the next few days. The proposal would either be revised or approved. Finally participating societies would be contacted to negotiate. Mike summarized primary changes as:

   • An increase in the total number, and flexibility in number, of invited paper sessions
   • Reconfiguration of fund distribution among societies, which aims to avoid challenges in determining who belongs to which societies
   • Reconfiguration of the Committee on Meetings.

   He reported that the Program Committee was to be essentially unchanged. Mike announced that the ENAR Executive Committee would be asked to ponder the contract proposal soon unless the Board ended up throwing it back to Mike, and he hoped for a response soon. He noted that the five participating societies were not equal in size or negotiating leverage, and he hoped that all would be satisfied. Tim Gregoire asked when the new contract would take effect, assuming that all the societies approved it speedily. Mike thought not until after the San Francisco (2003) meeting. He explained that having a flexible number of sessions is most easily implemented in a convention center, a setting not to be used in San Francisco. By contract statement, this aspect of the changes is to be implemented as soon as the meetings are "in convention center mode"; the fund distribution changes may be implemented earlier.

   Dennis Dixon took the floor to remind those present of the session on training new biostatisticians that had been added on after the last regular session in Crystal City. He thanked Carol Redmond for facilitating the session and arranging meeting room space. He explained that an NIH group had been trying to address the worsening shortage of biostatisticians, but that much more widespread effort was needed. Carol had forgotten to mention the session over the course of the meeting, but she felt the topic was very important and saw demand as clearly exceeding supply given flat graduations. She identified NIH support as useful and needed, as well as the issue of industry needs, and she welcomed all to attend the meeting. Mike O'Fallon reiterated the topic's importance and urged members' participation in Chapter Career Days, etc. He had found what he did in his career exciting and felt he could communicate his excitement, and he suggested the need for all to do this. He noted that more than 60,000 high school students have participated in a new Advanced Placement initiative on statistics and described Dick Schaeffer (2001 ASA President) as a big advocate. Judy O'Fallon had heard that ASA had distributed a web-based learning program for teachers of the Advanced Placement statistics course. She felt the course's content was impressive but that teachers had not been adequately trained, and she saw an opportunity to turn kids on to statistics. She proposed that we might people connected with the ASA web-based learning program to give us a presentation next year. Carol thought this a good idea. She further remarked that students had been invited to the Diversity Workshop, where Dubois Bowman had given a great talk on opportunities open to those with a Bachelor, Master, or Ph.D. degree in statistics. She noted that we have members who give great presentations, notably in the Diversity Caucus, and that we might cross-reference for speakers. Dennis stated that there is no short-term solution to the manpower shortage in biostatistics. He proposed that the problem must be solved through outreach at the secondary and undergraduate level. He also saw a need to promote sufficient interest in math in the pre-college years that students can enter college with the necessary tools to study statistics. He felt the solution unachievable by small groups—rather, the profession must be mobilized. Carol raised membership as a related topic, highlighting the contrast between recent increases in our meeting attendance and flat or decreasing membership in our society. She felt that we've lacked systematic efforts to promote membership and reminded those present that Linda Young had set up a Membership Committee. One of the committee's recommendations has been for ENAR to broaden membership across fields. Carol proposed that ENAR cannot be sanguine, citing the costs of a professional society's infrastructure support and the impact of increasing electronic journal availability on motivation for society membership. She cited the import of a broad source of ideas on membership and urged those interested in participating in membership initiatives to let her know. She further identified Lisa Weissfeld as the Membership Committee Chair and suggested that she could be contacted. Judy O'Fallon pointed out the relatively older attendance at the Business Meeting and suggested that many younger colleagues don't see that something important might be going on at such a meeting, that ENAR represents an international organization, or that they might do things through participation. Mike O'Fallon responded that the Business Meeting is seldom dynamic, so that its attendance is not the real issue. Rather, he saw membership as a problem despite great ENAR meetings and that is shared with ASA. He identified Linda Young as Chair of the ASA Task Force, which was to give its report soon. Among 150 statisticians of all levels at his institution (Mayo Clinic), he estimated that perhaps 20% were ENAR members, and he guessed that those not belonging see no need for a professional society to exist. He noted that electronic journals would not exist without professional societies to arrange them, but he admitted that people might not care given that papers can be posted on websites. He urged that all should share ideas with each other as much as possible. Craig Borkowf raised the possibility of a "member and meeting" registration category that could be paid by employers; several noted that something like this exists (IBS "Associate Membership"). Mike responded that this was the right idea, in the spirit of taking every opportunity. Oliver Schabenberger recalled Linda Young having brought up the value of ENAR membership during her presidency. He thought that most members join as students (a straw poll supported this), who in turn are unaffected by a staggered fee system and should be targeted specifically. Mike stated that a huge proportion of young people do not belong to any professional society. Carol related her shock over people she suspected would belong to ENAR but did not. She thought her statement applied broadly to certain whole departments hence that membership is not being promoted, which seemed a surprise given the enthusiasm of those who attend our meeting. She proposed that ongoing efforts are needed and invited broad based participation. Alicia Toledano questioned the extent to which we invite Master-level involvement in program or short course planning, or in other active society participation. Beverly Mellen thought travel funds were at issue, as a barrier. Mike noted that institutions are more willing to support those who take an active role; Carol added that this was also true for those who attend well-designed courses, and that tutorials should also be attractive. Mike related that his institution funds Master-level people; they have a choice of courses and very often opt for SAS training, hence tools that they can immediately use. Mike asked whether our evaluation form queries information on attendees' degrees and affirmed that it should. He recounted that when ASA "designed" courses at the Master level, attendees commented that they felt it had been targeted to young Ph.D.s. He further suggested that ENAR offer courses throughout the meeting, as ASA does. When several noted that tutorials are offered throughout the meeting, Mike urged care in targeting some such offerings to the Master level. Tim noted that our database has no entry for members' terminal degrees and felt this should be added. Mike estimated that none of his institution's 40-45 Master-level statisticians had attended the Crystal City meeting.

   No further business was raised.