Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
1. The Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics met at Arden House, Harriman, New York.
Present: R.A. Sawyer, Chairman; Harvey Brooks; J.W. Buchta; J.H. Dillon; V.E. Eaton; H.A. Erf; W.E. Kock; W.C. Michels; C.J. Overbeck; J.B. Platt; V.F.Weisskopf
Absent: W.S. Baird, J.G. Baker, J.W. Beams, R.H. Bolt, S.A. Goudsmit, W.W. Havens Jr., R.B. Lindsay, G.E. Pake, John Strong, G.E. Uhlenbeck
Guests: P.E. Klopsteg, Ray Pepinsky, Dirk Brouwer
AIP Staff Present: Elmer Hutchisson, H.A. Barton, Wallace Waterfall, Mary M. Johnson
Chairman Sawyer convened the meeting at 11:10 a.m.
2. Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of April 4, 1959, were approved as circulated.
3. Confirmation of Mail Ballot on Florence Agreement
The Director reported receipt of 13 ballots favoring endorsement of the Florence Agreement, two undecided and one against; and said that he had written letters to Senator Fulbright and Henry Cabot Lodge. The Chairman stated that President Eisenhower had sent a message urging adoption to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and action will probably be taken at the next session of Congress in January. The following motion was then made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that results of the mail ballot on the Florence Agreement as described above be confirmed.
The Director explained that such confirmation of a mail ballot is required under New York State law.
4. Appointment of Committee to Nominate Executive Committee and Candidates for Director-at-Large
Upon motion made seconded, and passed without dissenting vote, the Chairman was authorized to appoint the above Nominating Committee which will report to the spring meeting of the Governing Board.
5. Status Report on American Astronomical Society
The Secretary reported that all Member Societies have acted favorably upon the application of AAS as an Associate Member Society of the Institute and a formal meeting to complete the admission procedure will be held on October 29. In answer to a question, the Secretary stated that the American Crystallographic Association is now officially an Associate Member Society.
The Director asked Mr. Brouwer whether AAS would expect the Institute to take over publication of its journal and Mr. Brouwer replied that this is true and he hoped details of the arrangement will be worked out within the near future. The Secretary commented that we have not as yet established definite service charges for Associate Member Societies but propose to handle the AAS journal on the basis of our costs plus 15%. There were no objections.
6. Report of Executive Committee Actions
The Chairman reported on the discussions which had taken place at the Executive Committee meeting on September 30, the minutes of which accompany this report. Our financial position is good at the present time but many of our operations are being supported by grants and continuation of them beyond the grants, if we wish to do so, will require increased income. The Director said his five-year forecasts always indicate expenses to be greater than income and, because this is the trend, we must be looking continually for ways of increasing our revenue. He said one important source of funds for the future are Corporate Associates of which we now have 144. Many of them receive journals under this program and all such subscriptions are credited to the Member Societies involved, at the non-member rates.
There was a discussion of the comments made at the meeting of Member Society officers and Governing Board members indicating some felt the Institute's aggressiveness in soliciting Corporate Associates was hurting Member Societies' efforts in this same direction. Mr. Weisskopf pointed out that the Institute is the appropriate medium for this activity and it was the consensus that AIP should not slacken its aggressive program. Mr. Platt added that no Member Society has the staff or volunteer personnel to handle such a program so well and it is doubtful whether any Member Society would be enthusiastic about taking in on. Mr. Buchta said he would like to commend the Institute on the work which has been done in obtaining new Corporate Associates during the past year.
The Chairman reported that the Executive Committee had discussed the question of expanding our exhibits and had agreed that the problem was worthy of a study which would require the spending of up to $5,000.00. He explained that the Executive Committee has the authority to make such an appropriation but wished to defer to the Governing Board and, therefore, passed the following motion: “Moved that the Executive Committee recommend to the Governing Board that an amount not to exceed $5,000 be appropriated for a study of the possibility of the Institute’s staging large-scale exhibits.” The following motion was then made and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that the Governing Board approve the recommendation of the Executive Committee that an amount of up to $5,000 be appropriated for a study of expanding the Institute’s exhibit program.
The Chairman commented that various Corporate Associates to whom the possibility of larger exhibits was mentioned favored such a move.
Concerning education matters, the Director reported that APS had decided they would prefer to work through AIP and it was felt it would be well to have as a member of the Advisory Committee on Education Program someone who as closely associated with APS. Therefore Samuel K. Allison was asked and had agreed to serve as a member. This Committee was originally made up entirely of AAPT representatives. The following motion was then made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:
MOVED that Samuel K. Allison be confirmed as a member of the Advisory Committee on AIP Education Program.
7. Recommendations from Arden House Meeting
In a brief discussion of the Arden House meeting it appeared to be the consensus that it had been especially worthwhile in improving communications between staff and Board members and Member Society officers. The Director pointed out that one problem in communication is that Society officers change frequently and annual meetings such as this one might be helpful. Mr. Weisskopf approved the idea of an annual meeting and recommended that more time allotted to the large meeting of Society officers with AIP Governing Board and staff members. Mr. Michel s suggested that better communications between AIP and Member Societies could be brought about by better liaison between
Society officers and the representatives of the Society on the AIP Board and he suggested distribution of a statement out lining the responsibilities of Governing Board members.
The Director said that a report on the meeting of Society officers and Governing Board members would be prepared and distributed and that the recommendations of the various discussion groups would be studied by the staff and considered by the Executive Committee and possibly the Board.
8. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.