Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Members Present: Ralph A. Sawyer – Chairman, W. W. Havens, Jr., R. B. Lindsay, Vincent E. Parker, S. L. Quimby, Mary E. Warga
Absent: S. A. Goudsmit
AIP Staff Present: Elmer Hutchisson, Wallace Waterfall, Henry A. Barton, Mary M. Johnson
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m.
1. Minutes
Upon motion made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote, the minutes of the meeting of 15 March 1963 were approved as distributed.
2. First Quarter Statement and Revision of 1963 Budget
The Treasurer recalled that at the 8 December 1962 meeting of the Executive Committee, it had been suggested that the budget for 1963 be reviewed and, if necessary, revised in June. The publication charge was increased as of April and, in addition, the staff now have better information than was available at the end of last year on subscriptions and other income items and on changes in fulfillment operations.
Copies of the revised budget were distributed and the Treasurer explained the changes which had been made. Anticipated income is higher than previously budgeted for the reasons mentioned above. Performance for the first quarter is usually discouraging and not very significant and the loss this first quarter is especially high because it includes the cost of reprinting back issues both for AIP and Societies which was not included in the original budget.
At the bottom of Page 4 there is a new expense item, “AIP grant cost not chargeable to grants.” This is made up of charges for space and other items previously charged to the Education and Manpower and other departments but, since those departments get no credit from overhead on grants, it is not logical to charge them with these items. This change in accounting does not affect our over-all expenses but serves to point up our actual overhead costs on grants. Our administrative overhead expense on grants is not included in the item.
The Treasurer pointed out that, until our addition was completed and our property mortgaged, we had been depreciating our property at the rate of about $30,000 per year. At that time it was believed that operations could not stand the burden of mortgage amortization (about $35,000 per year) in addition to continued building depreciation. The staff now believes this was a timid and short-sighted policy and, in view of the large accumulated deficit, believes we should consider depreciation at the rate of $30,000 or $40,000 per year. (Depreciation of $35,000 per year would be equivalent to depreciating our building over a period of about 33 years.) The Treasurer said his calculations indicated such depreciation would add about 2% to the annual budgets of the service departments and would add to the cost of the services we perform for APS about $3,500 per year and less to other Societies. Most of the cost would be charged to AIP operations.
During the discussion which followed, Mr. Havens strongly supported the suggestion that depreciation should be resumed and Mr. Parker suggested that it be based on a certain number of years rather than a definite sum per year. Mr. Havens then made the following motion which was seconded by Mr. Lindsay and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that the AIP headquarters building be depreciated over a period of thirty (30) years, beginning 1 January 1963.
The following motion was then made by Mr. Lindsay and seconded by Mr. Quimby:
MOVED that the revised budget for 1963 be adopted with the understanding that it is to include additional revisions as embodied in the foregoing action.
A copy of the first quarter statement and budget for 1963, as finally revised, is attached to these minutes.
3. Changes in Accounting, Subscription Handling & Cash Allocating Methods
The Secretary said this was a very large subject which had occupied the attention of most of the operating staff for many months. During the past year the staff was very discouraged because it seemed impossible to make the various systems work satisfactorily. A number of changes have been made and many more are to be made during this year. The staff is now becoming more optimistic because the situation is improving and we believe that, with the systems and equipment changes contemplated and with the simplifications which we hope the Societies will make, our service operations can become satisfactory.
One change which has already been partially made is in the Accounting Department. The NCR accounting machine is now in and is handling all disbursements. Cash receipts and the general journal will go on the machine beginning 1 July. Billing for publication charges, advertising and back numbers will be put on the machine soon thereafter. This machine operation is going smoothly and we expect it to speed up all of our accounting greatly.
The above and other personnel changes throughout the Institute make a new organization chart necessary and this is being prepared for the benefit of Society officers.
A major change, proposed by Mr. Borden, is being made in the equipment and operating procedures of the Cashiering Unit. This removes responsibility for cash allocation from the Data Processing Department and should greatly speed up subscription entry by that Department. The new system is to start operating in July and gives promise of saving some money as well as time.
As was explained at the March meeting, a Univac 1004 card processor is to be delivered late this year and a service bureau is already at work on punching names and addressed into new cards. Separate lists will be created for each Society and for each journal or group of journals. Scriptomatic equipment will be eliminated. To facilitate the handling of correspondence we are also creating manually-kept history cards on all members. For these equipment and systems changes we have included $35,000 in our revised budget, which cost is to be borne entirely by AIP.
Unit costs for dues collection and subscription handling in 1963 should be about what they were in 1962, possibly a little lower. They have a chance of being lower in 1964 if we can get rid of our errors and consequently the cost of handling complaints and corrections. It must be remembered that our charges to Societies for these services in 1962 were considerably less than our costs. (we rebated $59,000.) Our 1963 charges must be in line with our costs and recent information convinces us that our costs are not unreasonably high. Mailers, Inc., the largest independent subscription handling organization in New York City, recently gave us a bid of $170,000 per year for doing a part of the work now done by our Data Processing Department for which we have budgeted a little less than $100,000. It is hard to get from other organizations costs on the type of work we do but such as we have obtained make us believe that ours are in line and will compare very favorably when errors are eliminated.
4. Authorization to Increase 1964 RSI Subscription Rates
The Secretary stated that RSI is budgeted for a loss of $16,825 for 1963 and it lost $11,000 in 1962. There has been no increase in the subscription price during the past five years and the staff feels an increase of $2.00 per subscription for next year would be justified. The following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that subscription rates for RSI be increased as follows, effective January 1964:
| Domestic | Foreign | |
|---|---|---|
| Member | $11.00 | $13.00 |
| Non-member | 13.00 | 15.00 |
5. Discount to Subscription Agencies
The Secretary recalled that this subject was discussed at the 15 March 1963 Executive Committee meeting at which time it was recorded that a recommendation would be presented at the June meeting. He stated that the Institute receives approximately 32,000 subscriptions per year through agencies and explained in some detail just what the agents do for AIP and for the libraries and foreign subscribers they serve. This amounts to about $600,000 worth of business on which agents receive discounts totaling $14,900, or 2 ½%. We estimate that the work which agencies perform for us in collecting and billing subscriptions would cost us an additional $24,000 per year if we had to do it ourselves. In view of this, and in view of discounts of 10% and more being offered by other publishers, the staff recommends that agencies be offered a 5% discount, as in the past, but with a maximum of $1.00 instead of 50 cents. This will give them a total of $23,800 for the year – an increase of $8,900, still considerably less than our estimated cost for the job they are doing.
The following motion was then made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that the discount to agencies on journals published by AIP be 5% with a maximum discount of $1.00 per subscription, effective January 1964.
6. Authorization to Raise Student Section Dues to $3.00
The Director reported that the number of Student Sections is growing steadily and increased activities on their behalf have increased our costs and have prompted the staff to request an increase in Student Section dues from $2.00 to $3.00. Although the present dues are $2.00, Student Section members who are student members of a Member Society are not required to pay this additional fee. Our revised budget for 1963 contains $26,320 for Student Section activities and income at $2.00 per member would give us about $6,000. The Advisory Committee on Student Sections favored the increase in dues although their action was not unanimous.
After brief discussion, the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that Student Section dues be raised from $2.00 to $3.00 per member, effective September 1963.
7. Report on Corporate Associates
The Director reported that gross income of $156,750 has been received from 184 Corporate Associates to date this year, leaving a net income of approximately $113,00 after the full non-member cost of journal subscriptions is deducted.
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Election of New Corporate Associates
The Director stated that the following organizations had requested to become Corporate Associates of the Institute and, on motion duly made and carried, they were so elected effective January 1963:
The Warner & Swasey Company $500 Kollsman Instrument Corporation $500
8. Third Karl T. Compton Award
While Mr. Barton was temporarily absent from the meeting, the Chairman announced that the Committee to Nominate a Candidate for the Third Karl Taylor Compton Award had nominated Henry A. Barton unanimously. Upon motion made, seconded and passed without dissent, the Executive Committee voted to award the Third Compton Medal to Mr. Barton.
The Director stated that Mr. Barton will be out the country at the time of the fall meeting, which is the customary occasion for presentation of the Compton Award, and it has been suggested that the award be made during the joint APS-AAPT meeting next January.
9. Request for Allocation of Corporate Associate Dues to Society Dues
The Director read a letter which had been sent to the Treasurer of AAPT by American Machine & Foundry Company, discontinuing their corporate membership. He then read a reply to AMF’s letter from Leonard Olsen in which he suggested that AMF request AIP to allocate $200 of AMF’s Institute dues to AAPT. The Director stated it has never been AIP policy to allocate any portion of Corporate Associate dues to Member Societies. In fact, it is our policy to advise any Corporate Associates who tell us they must choose between the Institute and a Member Society to give preference to the Member Society. We feel it is necessary to insist on strict adherence to our dues scale and we will not accept any Corporate Associate except on that condition.
There was a brief discussion and the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that it is not the policy of AIP to support the activities of Member Societies by the allocation of Corporate Associate dues.
10. Authorization for Single-Signature Bank Account for Checks Under $100
The Secretary reported that, with the exception of the payroll account, checks on all AIP bank accounts require two signatures. There are from 500 to 600 checks each month of which three-quarters are for amounts under $100 and the staff believes it would be in order to authorize a single-signature account for these small checks. The following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that a single-signature bank account be opened on which checks for less than $100 may be drawn, and that the Treasurer designate persons who shall be authorized to sign such checks.
11. Representative to Advisory Board of Office of Critical Tables for 3-Year Term
The Director reported that the three-year term of Dwight E. Gray as our representative to the Advisory Board of the Office of Critical Tables will expire on 30 June 1963 and, upon motion made, seconded and passed without dissent, Mr. Gray was re-elected AIP representative for another three-year term to 30 June 1966.
12. Resignation of H. A. Barton as Regular Member of Staff
The Director stated that Mr. Barton, who has been serving on a part-time basis as Administrative Consultant since he relinquished the directorship of the Institute in 1957, has asked to be taken off the Institute’s official payroll. Mr. Barton has been active in various history projects and will continue to work on them and to spend part of his time in the Institute offices.
Mr. Parker then made the following motion which was seconded and passed unanimously:
MOVED that the Executive Committee accept with regret the resignation of Henry A. Barton as Administrative Consultant. On this occasion, the Committee expresses its deep gratitude to Dr. Barton not only for his skillful direction of the Institute from its inception to 1957, but also for his continuing advice and helpfulness since 1957. The Committee also expresses the hope that Dr. Barton will continue an informal association with the Institute so that it may profit further from his great wisdom and knowledge of Institute affairs.
Mr. Quimby made another motion as follows which was seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that Henry A. Barton be given some title such as Director Emeritus and that his name and title appear on all Institute literature and rosters of officers.
At this point, the Chairman announced the action previously taken by the Executive Committee, to wit, the award of the Third Karl Taylor Compton Medal to Mr. Barton, the ceremony probably to take place at the next annual joint APS-AAPT meeting in New York City.
Mr. Barton expressed surprise and appreciation.
13. Authorization to Allocate a Portion of Salaries to Retirement Funds
The Secretary reported there is an Internal Revenue Service ruling which permits people who are covered by TIAA to put into the retirement fund a portion of salary over and above their normal contributions so that such amounts will not be taxable in the year in which they are earned. The Secretary said, if the Executive Committee approves, the staff plans to investigate the legality and advisability of adapting this ruling to our Institute pension plan with the understanding there would be no additional cost to the Institute involved. The following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that the staff be authorized to allocate a portion of salaries to retirement funds, with the understanding that any such action, if legal, would be taken only at the employee’s request and at no extra cost to the Institute.
14. American Vacuum Society
The Secretary recalled that the Governing Board, at its meeting on 28 September 1962, had discussed an informal request from the American Vacuum Society for affiliation with the Institute. A formal application for Affiliated Society membership was subsequently received and AVS was elected an Affiliated Society at the Board meeting on 16 March 1963.
The Secretary reported that, with a current membership of about 1700, AVS has now applied for admission as an Associate Member Society and has also requested that the Institute take on various clerical services for them. They are planning to start a 64-page quarterly journal in 1964 and would like AIP to handle the editorial work and distribution. About a year ago a check of their membership revealed that approximately 25% were members of one or more AIP Member Societies and recent indications are that more academic people are being attracted into the Society.
The Secretary displayed for inspection two AVS meeting programs and there followed a discussion of the qualifications of AVS for Associate Member Society status. The following two motion were then made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that the Executive Committee recommend to the Governing Board that the American Vacuum Society be nominated as an Associate Member Society of the Institute.
MOVED that AIP undertake services for AVS beginning in 1964, subject to reconsideration if AVS should not be elected an Associate Member Society.
The Secretary explained the procedure for election of an Associate Member Society which first requires approval by the Governing Board and then favorable action by not less than three-fourths of the Member Societies.
The meeting adjourned for luncheon at 12:20 p.m. and reconvened at 2:00 p.m.
15. Review of Pending and Received Grants
The Director distributed a list of grants and contracts received and requested as of 6 June 1963 (copy attached) and described briefly some of the programs in progress and others under consideration.
16. New York City World’s Fair Development
The Director recalled that the Governing Board, at its meeting on 28 September 1962, had taken action urging the Institute to press for an important science exhibit at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Recent developments, however, lead the staff to believe that the cost of a worthwhile science exhibit would be prohibitive. After discussion, it was the consensus of the Executive Committee that it would not be to our advantage to promote such a project on a small scale.
17. Science and Engineering Television Journal
The Director described the subject television production which was undertaken by AAAS about a year and a half ago with the help of a grant from NSF. For various reasons, the Institute did not participate actively although we did cooperate to some extent. At the request of the Director, Miss Warga told about the experience of OSA in sponsoring a show and reactions to it. A more favorable time for the series has been arranged and, the Director said, the Institute has included in the revised 1963 budget, which was previously approved at this meeting, the sum of $500 to cover travel and other minor expenses which would be incurred in participating in one such show. There were no objections.
18. Plans for Fall Meeting
The Director distributed copies of a proposed agenda for the meeting of Corporate Associates scheduled for 3 October 1963 in Caspary Hall of the Rockefeller Institute, New York City. The outline suggests a morning program devoted to talks on four AIP activities, followed by luncheon and an afternoon program of talks on three currently popular developments in physics by three distinguished speakers and a speech on “Science and Government” by Frederick Seitz. The program would conclude with a social hour.
The Director suggested that, on the evening of 2 October, there be a social hour and dinner at some nearby hotel in New York City for the Governing Board and Society officers, followed by a meeting in the evening. On the evening of 3 October, Board members and Society officers will return to the hotel and meet again or, if officers prefer, the Societies can caucus. On 4 October there would be another plenary session in the morning, then lunch, and a Governing Board meeting in the afternoon.
The Secretary stated that arrangements are being made to hold a meeting of the Committee of Society Secretaries and Treasurers some time before 3 October.
19. Authorization for Special Issue of THE PHYSICS OF FLUIDS
The Director said Dr. Francois Frenkiel has proposed an issue of THE PHYSICS OF FLUIDS be dedicated to the late Professor von Karman. It would not be a memorial issue in the usual sense. He would invite a biographical paper and a few review papers in areas in which Professor von Karman worked. He feels that such an issue would build up the journal and provide a good opportunity to introduce review papers which, up to this time, have been lacking. Mr. Hutchisson recommended that the Executive Committee give Dr. Frenkiel permission to proceed with the issue as planned.
After discussion, it was moved and seconded that:
The Executive Committee approves Mr. Frenkiel’s proposed plan to dedicate an issue of THE PHYSICS OF FLUIDS to the late Professor von Karman.
The motion was passed with one dissenting vote.
The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.