The first two topics are, unfortunately, repeated in almost every ARPAS newsletter. When a year, decade, century, or millennium passes in which every member is current on dues or CEUs, I will not include a pep talk on these subjects in the newsletter. I will come up with some real news!
In the meantime, Yvona Vlach, our dues and CEUs coordinator, will soon be sending out a reminder to those of you who have not gone online (the easiest way) and paid your dues for 2011. If you have e-mail (almost 100% of our members do), you should have received a dues notice over a month ago. This was probably in conjunction with a dues notice from FASS for one or more of the animal sciences professional societies.
At the same time you pay your dues, you should update your CEUs. You alone are responsible for reporting your participation in meetings approved for ARPAS credit. We do not know which meetings you attend. All we can do is encourage the various meeting organizers to request evaluation of their meeting content for ARPAS CEUs well in advance of the meeting and to inform you of the ARPAS credit allowed. Reporting of CEUs can be done from the ARPAS website,
www.arpas.org, or by sending Yvona an e-mail. You can also determine your CEU status on the website, but you will need to use your membership number. You should also look for alternative sources for obtaining CEUs. We have recently approved a number of webinars for ARPAS CEUs, so if travel is restricted, you can still find a way to keep current. Available meetings are posted on our website. If you attend a meeting that has not been preapproved, please send the program to me or Yvona, and we will evaluate it for credit.
As for news, your organization is continuing to grow in membership and in members who are board certified, add new chapters, evaluate member needs with our strategic survey, determine the direction for the ARPAS Foundation, recognize our Distinguished Professional Animal Scientists, and stay in a healthy financial condition. We are also a vital partner to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for the Feed Management component of their Nutrient Management Program and a founding and participating member of the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO). You will find more detail on most of these news items as well as others elsewhere in this newsletter.
The strength of this organization is a continuing supply of members who are willing to step up to a leadership position. If you have an interest in being on the Governing Council or one of our many committees, please contact me or one of the Executive Committee or Governing Council members. We will be happy to share the load and anxious to put you to work.
Hopefully, we won’t have to repeat the lecture on dues and CEUs in the next newsletter.