Academy Membership Research Articles

News of The Academy of Neonatal Nursing

In the last issue of Neonatal Network,® the Academy announced two new scholarships available to Academy members. We also announced the phenomenal attendance at the Academy’s national meeting in Las Vegas and plans for future meetings in Orlando, Florida, September 30–October 3, 2004, and a new, advanced practice meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, April 16–18, 2004. Academy membership remains strong with approximately 6,500 members and plans are in the works for new membership benefits. Yet, there is always something that you’ve not thought of that gives the evaluations from you, our members, vital importance. In this case, it is the evaluations and comments we received from the Academy’s Las Vegas meeting. We would like to share some of them with you and would welcome your feedback.

Section manuscript topic mix: ongoing discussion

Section manuscript topic mix: ongoing discussion

The Academy at Harvard Medical School: nurturing teaching and stimulating innovation.

The Academy at Harvard Medical School, established in 2001, was formed at a critical moment for medical schools in this country. Several decades of enormous growth in the biomedical research and clinical care activities of medical school faculty have resulted in great societal benefit. The unintended consequence has been a decline in faculty time and reward for the educational mission that is unique to a medical school. The impact of this decline is particularly felt now because the explosive growth in the science and technology relevant to medical practice, coupled with dramatic changes in the health care delivery system, calls for new models for the education of the next generation of physicians. The mission of the academy is to renew and reinvigorate the educational mission of Harvard Medical School (HMS). By bringing together a select group of some of the school's most talented and dedicated faculty and providing direct support for their work related to education, the academy has created a unique mechanism for increasing the recognition of teaching contributions of both academy members and the teaching faculty at large, fostering educational innovation, and providing a forum for the exchange of ideas related to medical education that cross departmental and institutional lines. The authors describe the academy's membership criteria, structure, governance, activities, institutional impact, and plans for long-term evaluation, and indicate challenges the academy will face in the future.

HAVING FUN YET?

It is my happy task to extend formal welcome to the Academy's new Fellows. Let's all join in this welcome-with round of applause. New Fellows, in the years ahead you'll find that one of the best things about Academy membership is coming to these annual meetings. This is great place to learn about new research and clinical advances, to learn about new equipment and practice tools, and to learn about health-policy trends. But I predict that beyond the learning, the thing that will bring you back to these meetings year after year is that they'll become reunions you won't want to miss. Reunions of friends who trained together. Reunions to nurture growing professional friendships. Reunions where we meet new people with whom we already share special bond: the bond of Academy fellowship. Reunions have whole new meaning since September 11, don't they? Even after five months, we all have heightened appreciation of this chance to reach out, to reunite, and to reconnect. At every kind of reunion-whether it's family reunion, school reunion, or an Academy reunion-even though there's this bond that brings everyone together, don't you find that there's at least one person whose approach seems perhaps bit blunt, or surprising, or contrarian? That person is curmudgeon . At this Academy reunion, I'm the curmudgeon, and to welcome the Academy's new Fellows, I offer A Curmudgeon's View of Career Management. The Appropriate Word 1 suggests that curmudgeons are often grouchy! The dictionary says curmudgeon is a cantankerous person2 -ill-tempered, quarrelsome, and disagreeable. Doesn't sound so good, does it? Then why is The Portable Curmudgeon 3 such popular book? Well, curmudgeons are truth-tellers who say what they really think, and when people speak their truth-even if we are …

1998 Presidential Address: Our Shrinking Earth

The Academy's membership has been changing. Perhaps the most significant change has been the increase in members who live outside the United States. Non-U.S. membership has been increasing more rapidly than U.S. membership since at least 1980. Figure 1 shows the numbers of U.S. and nonU.S. members since 1980. Throughout the 1980s, U.S. membership was increasing about 5 percent per year, while non-U.S. membership was increasing about 8 percent per year. The increase in U.S. membership decelerated in 1990, and since 1994, the average rate of change has been slightly negative. At the same time, the increase in non-U.S. members rose to 15 percent in 1990 and 1991, and it has averaged over 11 percent since 1991. Obviously, no one knows what the future holds. As the great physicist Niels Bohr is said to have observed, Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. However, by amplifying the recent trends, an extrapolation into the future can help us to appreciate their character. Figure 2 extrapolates the last 5 years. If recent trends continue for only a few more years, more than half of the Academy's members will be living outside the United States. The Academy is becoming an international organization. Growth in non-U.S. membership has not been a result of explicit strategies. It has occurred spontaneously, and not until recently did it even come to the attention of the Academy's Board of Governors. Non-U.S. membership seems to be what Andrew Grove has labeled Segment O-a new market that rises unnoticed until it grows rather significant. Basically, the earth is shrinking, and this shrinkage is causing the Academy's world to expand. One cause of this shrinkage has been the development of management schools around the world; over the last two decades, many more nations have come to view management as a topic worthy of distinct study. A second cause of shrinkage has been a decline in air fares; it has become cheaper and cheaper to cross oceans. A third cause is the Internet; our domains for professional interaction have expanded from the colleagues in

Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov

K R Parthasarathy received his Ph D from Calcutta Univers i ty in 1962. He taught at ISI, Calcutta, University of Sheffield, UK, Univers i ty of Manchester , UK, Univers i ty of Bombay, l iT, Delh i and ISI, Delhi; for about f i f teen years, before he retired in June 1996, he was at ISI, D~elhi. He is currently C V Raman Professor of INSA. Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, one of the most eminent mathematicians of the twentieth century and the greatest probability theorist of recent times, died in Moscow on 20 October 1987, after a pT61onged illness, at the ripe age of 84. His life was one of intense mathematical creativity spanning six and a half decades and encompassing several disciplines. His achievement was outstanding, and he was presented with numerous honours and awards, inc lud ing several honorary doctorates, foreign membership of many academies of science, among them the Royal Society of London, the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and the French Academy of Sciences, Paris. He was also the recipient of several orders of Lenin, and of the Balzan International prize in 1963; this he shared with Pope John XXIII, the historian S Morrison, the chemist K Frisch and the composer P Hindemith.

PREP and Time-Limited Certification

The following statement was developed by the Advisory Group of the Pediatrics Review and Education Program (PREP) as part of an effort to inform the Academy membership about plans currently underway for the future of the program. Although planning is still in the early stages, the Department of Education is enthusiastic about the projected changes, including the publication of 12 (instead of 10) issues per year of Pediatrics in Review starting in July 1990, the expansion of the journal to 40 (from 32) pages in 1992, the development of a new section in the journal devoted to practice management, and the availability of computerized diagnosis and management problems in addition to the Self-Assessment exam.

PREP and Time-Limited Certification

The following statement was developed by the Advisory Group of the Pediatrics Review and Education Program (PREP) as part of an effort to inform the Academy membership about plans currently underway for the future of the program.Although planning is still in the early stages, the Department of Education is enthusiastic about the projected changes, including the publication of 12 (instead of 10) issues per year of Pediatrics in Review starting in July 1990, the expansion of the journal to 40 (from 32) pages in 1992, the development of a new section in the journal devoted to practice management, and the availability of computerized diagnosis and management problems in addition to the Self-Assessment exam.

PREP Statement

The following statement was developed by the PREP Advisory Group as part of an effort to inform the Academy membership about plans currently underway for the future of the PREP program. Planning is still in the early stages, but the Department of Education is enthusiastic about the projected changes, including 12 (instead of 10) issues of Pediatrics in Review, a new section in the journal devoted to practice management, and computerized diagnosis and management problems in addition to the Self-Assessment examination. Some of these changes will be phased in during the next 2 years; the new PREP program will actually be launched in January 1992. Please "stay tuned"—as plans continue to develop, we will keep the membership informed. In the meantime, if you have questions, comments, or suggestions regarding PREP, we would be happy to hear from you. You may contact PREP, Department of Education, American Academy of Pediatrics, 141 Northwest Point Blvd, Elk Grove Village, IL 60009-0927.

A Professional Profile of the Physical Anthropology Section Membership, American Academy of Forensic Sciences

Abstract The membership of the Physical Anthropology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences was surveyed regarding training; section activity; teaching; forensic science activities; and trial, deposition, and caseloads over the last 20 years. Over 75% of the active members responded. Over half of the respondents had formal forensic anthropology training, 70% held a Ph.D. degree and 52% had primary appointments in university and college departments of anthropology. Approximately half of those involved in teaching were producing forensic anthropology students. Local areas (36%) and states (45%) are primary sources of cases. Respondents spend nearly 60% of their professional time on forensic science activity, mostly in casework and research/writing. Over the past 20 years, there has been a revolution in the training of forensic anthropologists, in terms of formal coursework and supervision of student cases. Also in that time, caseloads, depositions given, and trial appearances have greatly increased. When region, highest degree earned, membership status, and board certification are considered, there are few significant differences in the forensic anthropology activity of members, and most of these differences are in training and Academy membership status.

Women Artists in Nineteenth-Century France and England: Their Art Education, Exhibition Opportunities and Membership of Exhibiting Societies and Academies, with an Assessment of the Subject Matter of Their Work and Summary Biographies

Women Artists in Nineteenth-Century France and England: Their Art Education, Exhibition Opportunities and Membership of Exhibiting Societies and Academies, with an Assessment of the Subject Matter of Their Work and Summary Biographies

Academy Membership Fight Goes Public

Academy Membership Fight Goes Public

Numbers, origins, economic value and quality of technically trained immigrants into the United States

This study updates the data on the numbers and the changing origins of immigrants into the U.S. with technical qualifications and ability, and the economic gain to the U.S. therefrom. It also provides new data on the quality of such personnel by examining the number of immigrants who are elected to the U.S. National Academies of Engineering and of Science, and also win Nobel prizes. It is shown that this immigration is a major continuing contribution to the U.S.; constituting substantial fractions (one third to one-half) of certain categories of advanced degrees. Using different methods of calculating the value of the education thus transfered one arrives at the general conclusion that it is roughly in balance with the total economic aid from the U.S. (i.e. in the order of several billion slyear in the last two decades). Immigrant engineers/scientists constitute about a fifth of National Academy membership and between 20 and 50% of the Nobel prize winners, depending on the discipline involved, with chemistry appearing as the native national strength of the U.S.

Construction of the annual meeting program of the Academy.

Six hundred of 912 papers submitted were accepted for presentation at the 1983 Annual Meeting of the AAN. A statistical study of scoring by individual members of the Committee showed significant mean score differences. A normalization procedure for scoring was compared with the actual meeting scores and selections. A substantial difference in 3 of 19 program categories and lesser changes in 14 others occurred. It is no longer feasible for each submission to be evaluated by all committee members. Four readers per paper and normalization of scores will result in a program reflecting the broad interests of the Academy membership.

Perceived importance of American psychologists and membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

Perceived importance of American psychologists and membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

Academy membership up to 5,384

Academy membership up to 5,384

Marijuana

In 1971 and 1975, the Committee on Drugs provided information about marijuana for the Academy membership.1,2 Since that time, marijuana use by children and adolescents has continued to increase. Investigations of the biologic effects of the agent have expanded, and there is justification for concern about frequent, chronic use by youth. In addition, marijuana use and experimentation with other drugs are now being promoted to children in subtle and insidious ways which need to be identified (Figs 1 to 5). Pediatricians should be aware of the changing pattern of marijuana use in this country. Whereas occasional use by an adult may have little health consequence for the individual, frequent use by large numbers of children and adolescents raises different concerns. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) conducts annual surveys of marijuana use in this country and reported in a recent publication3 that 10% of all high school seniors smoke marijuana daily. In the 12- to 17-year old group, 16% of those surveyed in 1977 used marijuana in the month preceding the survey. Even if the incidence figures are not entirely accurate, an increase in use by these two groups from 1976 to 1977, as determined by similar annual sampling techniques, is clear. Nationwide data since 1977 are not yet available, but in two states surveyed in 1978, 16% of high school seniors smoked marijuana daily (R. C. Peterson, PhD, personal communication, 1979). This information supports the conclusion that use in youth had increased each year since 1975. Extrapolation of additional data collected by NIDA revealed that in 1977 about 16 million Americans were current users of marijuana (ie, used the drug during the month preceding the survey).3

Soviet science boss refused Academy membership

Soviet science boss refused Academy membership

L'homme de lettres en France et en Angleterre (1700-1730)

Richard Waller : The man of letters in France and England (1700-1750). A study of the financial situation of writers in France and, by way of comparison, in England. The different sources of income in France are : publishing, which produced meagre revenues, the theatre which earned slightly more, posts as tutors, and government service (censors, journalism, the Bibliothèque du Roi, teaching, membership of academies) ; by accumulation of several of such posts a comfortable revenue could be achieved. In England, in contrast, writers could earn more from both the theatre and publishing, the later partly due to political rivalries, which however made for greater insecurity. Public service or membership of the Royal Society brought no revenue. In France the professional writer could earn but little, but he enjoyed relative security, while in England a small minority earned large sums and the majority lived in insecurity.

Personality Patterns of Academy Fellows and High-Income Optometrists

Practicing optometrists who have achieved Academy membership status, and, separately, optometrists who have attained unusually high incomes in practice were studied and compared with optometrists in general. Academy fellows differed from non-fellows in their greater initiative, self-confidence, independent spirit, and a pattern of interests like persons engaged in professional social service occupations. High-income optometrists were more like Academy fellows than were optometrists in general, but showed somewhat less of the leadership potential evidenced by Academy members. High-income optometrists showed more interest than other optometrists in business occupations. The findings show that personal qualities and interest patterns associated with being financially successful and with achieving Academy membership can be assessed in a meaningful and objective manner.