Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Randy Shaver, PhD, PAS, Dipl. ACAS-Animal Nutrition
It is a pleasure to serve as your president. My term is quickly nearing the halfway point, so it is time for a brief update.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
December is the month we start winding down those activities that are controlled by our annual calendar. We hope we have completed them or at least come up with a good reason why we can put them off until the new year. Some things are final, however, such as our tax year (for most of us) or fulfilling our last New Year’s resolution.
Other things may have a little leeway. Your ARPAS dues are payable before year end, but we won’t kick you out on January 1 if you haven’t paid them. Your CEUs for all those meetings attended in 2009 need to be recorded, but if you don’t get that done until January, that is okay also. This is just a gentle reminder from the ARPAS staff that we don’t need your holiday card or a present, only your dues and your CEUs. By the way, encourage your peers to become members of ARPAS, and also remind your boss, if you work for a company, that sponsorship of ARPAS is a highly visual way for your company to foster professionalism in animal science and show recognition of you as a professional animal scientist.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
TREASURER'S REPORT
Carl Hunt, PhD, PAS, Dipl ACAN, ARPAS
Our organization continues to do quite well financially. We have reached the point in our fiscal year when we are beginning to receive new revenues from 2010 dues. The good news is that we reached this point of the year without dipping into our reserves—a good sign that ARPAS is living within its means. The last financial reports, dated September 31, indicate that we are on pace with all major budgeted revenues and expenditures. Also, as you might expect, unrealized investment gains of our equity investments have begun a rebound from the recent downturn in financial markets. Look for a more detailed report in the January newsletter, but until then, be assured that all is well with ARPAS finances!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
PAST- PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Marit Arana, PhD, PAS, Dipl ACAS
At the request of President Shaver, I am chairing the Strategic Plan/Vision Committee for ARPAS. ARPAS has not had a long-range planning committee since the 2003 Business Planning Committee created a strategy to get us out of our financial troubles. The planning committee is currently creating an online survey that we will send to the membership in early 2010. Your input and feedback is greatly needed and appreciated during this process.
Past-Presidents Green and Johnson and I are also at work on the Nominating Committee for 2010. We will be finding candidates for president-elect, western director, and northeast director for the next election cycle.
If you have questions or comments about any of these items, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at marit.arana@algilbert.com.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
D. Wayne Kellogg, PhD, PAS
The 25th volume of The Professional Animal Scientist (PAS) was completed recently with 815 pages. This issue was larger than the 684 and 742 pages in the previous two issues. Review papers were published on “Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Metabolism, Health, and Nutrition and for Modified Animal Product Foods,” “Limit-feeding with Altered Forage-to-Concentrate Levels in Dairy Heifers,” “Transport Losses in Market Weight Pigs,” and “Reproductive Traits and Their Heritabilities in Beef Cattle.” In addition, there were 77 research articles and 16 case studies that were printed during 2009 (compared with 57 and 21, respectively, in 2008). The average time required was 51 days to the first decision and 78 days from submission to the final decision (acceptance or rejection) of a manuscript.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
HAVE YOU UPDATED YOUR CEUs?
Betsy Wagner, PhD, PAS
Renewing your membership with ARPAS includes keeping current with changes and advances in animal science. Members are required to have 16 continuing education units (CEUs) per year, with one CEU generally equivalent to one hour of attendance or participation in an approved activity. Now is the time to check your CEU balance and make any updates from approved meetings you attended since your last CEU update. A list of approved meetings is available on the ARPAS Web site and also in the left-hand navigation bar of this electronic newsletter.
When you log in on the ARPAS Web site, your CEU balance appears below your personal welcome on the left-hand navigation bar. You can also check your CEU approval history by selecting “Your Online CEU History” from the Membership Services drop-down menu.
Members have two ways to submit their CEU updates. Select “CEU Online Submission” from the Membership Services menu and follow the steps to enter your credits earned or go to: http://www.arpas.org/member.asp?view=ceu_meetings
A printable form is also available for downloading and submitting via mail or fax.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
2010 MIDWEST ANNUAL MEETING
James Woodford, PhD, PAS
The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Branch of ADSA and Midwestern Section of ASAS will be held March 15–17, 2010, at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The program includes oral and poster scientific sessions, undergraduate student oral and poster competitions, graduate student oral and poster competitions, an Academic Quadrathlon, and a job resource center.
The Midwestern Section Annual Meeting is a traditional exposition of dairy and animal sciences research that supplements the annual FASS meetings held each summer. Informative symposia and invited speakers are also scheduled. A listing of presentations is available on the branch Web site.
Housing information and participating hotels can be found on the Web site, http://adsa.asas.org/midwest/2010/. The deadline for housing registration is February 17, 2010. We hope that you plan on attending the upcoming meeting. Please encourage colleagues and students to attend this important event.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bill Braman, PhD, PAS, Program Committee Chairman
ARPAS will sponsor a symposium titled “Nutrition Models—Where Are We Going in the Next Decade” at the 2010 ADSA-ASAS meetings to be held in July 2010 in Denver, Colorado. Dairy and beef models are used every day in the feed manufacturing industry, nutrition business, and research. Significant progress has been made with research in several of these areas since the NRC Nutrient Requirements for Beef Cattle (1996) and Dairy Cattle (2001) were released.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC, AREA CHAPTER
Bill Price, PhD, PAS, Dipl ACAN
Three meetings have been held since August. Our September speaker was Richard Erdman, professor at the University of Maryland, who spoke on “An American’s Sabbatical Experience: New Science, New Confidence, New Zealand.” Our October speaker was Frank O’Mara, acting director of agriculture research at Teagasc, Ireland: “Teagasc is the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland. Its mission is to support science-based innovation in the agri-food sector and the broader bioeconomy that will underpin profitability, competitiveness and sustainability.” Our November speaker was Laura Hungerford, senior advisor for science policy with FDA-CVM, who spoke on “Emerging Zoonotic Diseases in Livestock.” Monthly meetings are planed for January through March, with an afternoon symposium banquet planned for April.
Ken Cummings has prepared a history of ACAS, and it should be added to our ARPAS Web site in the near future.