MINUTES OF THE 1999 MID-YEAR COUNCIL MEETING

Abstract

The Mid-Year Meeting of the Council of The Paleontological Society (PS) was called to order by President Peter R. Crane. Other Officers and Committee Chairs present: Karl W. Flessa, Patricia H. Kelley, Thomas W. Kammer, Thomas W. “Woody” Henry, Douglas H. Erwin, Ann F. “Nancy” Budd, Mary L. Droser, William I. Ausich, Dale A. Springer, and Donna D. Carlson. The agenda was distributed, reordered, and approved. The minutes of the 1998 Incoming Council Meeting of 28 October 1998 were read, amended, and approved unanimously (moved Erwin, seconded Droser). Flessa presented a summary of PS's status and relationship as an affiliated society with the Geological Society of America (GSA), noting that PS members were the largest contributors of abstracts and talks to the annual GSA meetings and that GSA needs to be kept aware of PS's vitality and presence. Flessa and Crane emphasized that the affiliated Societies including the PS desired continued enfranchisement. Donald M. Davidson, Executive Director of GSA, and Pat Chenwerth, his assistant, met with Council and a lengthy discussion of issues between the societies. The forthcoming “strategic plan” of the GSA would proscribe new developments in GSA orientation and its relationship with the affiliated societies, perhaps including restructuring of the current GSA divisions and inclusion of possibly a Paleontological Division. Flessa agreed to follow up on the possibility of a Paleontology Division in GSA and was to report back at the Incoming Council Meeting . With the new GSA “strategic plan,” the Pardee Keynote Symposium committee would rotate and PS would get a representative on that committee, although not necessarily each year. Emphasis would be on integrated sciences, how paleontology influences and interacts with the other branches of science, and practical social applications. Davidson requested a list of PS Members who would be good candidates to serve on …