The Southwestern Association of Naturalists
Minutes of the Business Meeting

Denton, Texas

Friday, 21 April 2000



President Troy Best called the meeting to order at 1300 CDT with a quorum present.

 

The membership approved the Minutes of the 1999 Business Meeting as printed in Volume 44(4) of The Southwestern Naturalist.

 

The Secretary read a summary of the 2000 Meeting of the Board of Governors and Officers (BOG).

 

President Best announced that due to action taken by the BOG the Student Research Award and the Student Poster Award will henceforth be called the Howard McCarley Student Research Award and the Clark Hubbs Student Poster Award. The membership expressed its support of the changes by a round of applause.

 

Brenda Clark gave the Treasurer's report, with copies of the written version to the BOG available. She reported income, expenses, and checkbook activity as provided in the written report and as summarized in the Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Governors and Officers (BOG).

 

Clark then reported on memberships, with details on 1999 and current memberships contained in the written report and summarized in the Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG on 20 April 2000. She also presented a roster of 139 new members for approval. There was a motion and second to approve the new members. The motion carried.

 

Clark then reported a summary of the 2001 proposed balanced budget of $67,235 approved at the Meeting of the BOG on 20 April 2000. The minutes of that meeting summarize her report. President Best called for questions on the budget, and there were none.

 

Best appointed the four Wilks Award presenters (Cody W. Edwards, Christine L. Hice, Steven R. Hoofer, and Lisa K. Kiner) as tellers for the election of Class of 2004 Governors. Best, David L. McNeely, and the tellers conducted the election, during which nine individuals were nominated from the floor. Persons elected were to be announced at the banquet.

 

Jerry Choate reported for the Trustees that SWAN has enjoyed another successful investment year, with details available in his written report and a summary in the Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG.

 

Phyllis Kennedy reported that due to the work of the Trustees and the Treasurer, SWAN finances are in good order and no inappropriate actions or serious questions have arisen.

 

Karen McBee reported that publication of the journal is progressing in a timely fashion, with all of Volume 44 and 45(1) published, 45(2) at press, and 45(3) being prepared. She also expressed satisfaction that the editorial board and the BOG have addressed ways to reduce the time lag for publication. She further reported that there is a substantial rejection rate for manuscripts submitted, and that the quality of accepted papers remains high. Several editorial board changes were also announced, as reported in the Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG.

 

Anthony Echelle announced that three awards for the year 2000 were approved by the BOG this year, to be made at the banquet at the 2001 Annual Meeting in Hays, Kansas:

 

Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator Award--Edie Marsh-Matthews, University of Oklahoma;

Meritorious Service Award--Michael Kennedy and Phyllis Kennedy, University of Memphis;

W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award--David E. Brown, retired from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and now an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Arizona State University.

 

President Best announced that the BOG election resulted in a tie, necessitating a run-off vote, between two candidates. Best then called on the tellers who distributed and collected ballots for the runoff.

 

Jennifer K. Frey reported for the Conservation Committee that the annual Conservation Award for a paper that contributes significantly to the conservation of southwestern biota was to be presented at the banquet to Mark E. Miller of the University of Colorado for his paper, "Use of historic aerial photography to study vegetation change in the Negrito Creek watershed, southwestern New Mexico," published in The Southwestern Naturalist 44:121-137(1999). Frey also described the committee's desire to carry out regional conservation activity and solicited member recommendations and participation in the committee work.

 

Robert Sikes reported that the Public Relations Committee has made appropriate announcements to news and other media outlets concerning awards and activities by SWAN, and will do so with respect to actions taken at this meeting.

 

Philip Sudman reported on the Membership Committee's activity over the past year in awarding 21 Student Membership Awards and producing a reminder to current and lapsed members and authors to join. He also solicited nominees for this year's Student Membership Awards.

 

Anthony Echelle announced that the Development Committee has prepared a brochure to explain how members and others may donate to SWAN, and that the brochure has been made available to all members. He encouraged members to take advantage of this opportunity.

 

Meredith J. Hamilton, Historian, asked for SWAN materials for the Archives, particularly from past meetings. She also asked for SWAN t-shirts.

 

Bruce Stewart reported for the ad hoc Committee on International Relations. He reminded the membership that last year's meeting in Monterrey was a resounding success, and reported on the committee's excitement and plans for the 2002 meeting in Cuernavaca.

 

President Best then introduced María de Lourdes Romero Almaraz of Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, who invited SWAN members to attend the 2002 meeting in Cuernavaca and described the locale and the university.

 

O.W. Van Auken reported on the ad hoc Committee for Botanical Concerns' activities. He pointed out the success of SWAN in increasing publications and presentations on plants, but that botanists are still relatively scarce in the society. He invited the membership to promote the society to botanists and recommended more symposia as a way to get botanists to attend the meetings.

 

Robert Dowler, reporting for the ad hoc Committee for Disposal of Back Issues, announced that the committee has been successful in disposing of back issues, but that such are still available at $1.00 each. He also pointed out that the committee is not only self-sustaining, but is actually generating funds for the society.

 

Dwight Moore reported on further development of the SWAN web site. Linda Rice handles translations between English and Spanish, and most pages are now posted in both languages. Moore is working on establishing SWAN's own domain name (S-W-A-N since the acronym SWAN without the underlines is already taken) which will provide greater accessibility and visibility for the site. He also solicited suggestions.

 

Bryon Clark reported on planning for the 2003 50th anniversary. The planning committee has prepared commemorative pins for sale (available at this meeting),and is preparing a journal article concerning the 50 years of SWAN activity. The anniversary meeting in Norman, Oklahoma, will include a symposium on SWAN history, and Clark solicited members for material to include in an anniversary poster for the meeting. He also urged the membership to donate and buy pins to support the meeting.

 

Michael Kennedy reported on the activity of the ad hoc Committee for Long Range Planning. He pointed out that the committee has been very active over the past two years, and that it had promised at last year's meeting a lengthy report this year. That was made available in written form and was considered at the 2000 BOG meeting, where several actions were taken in response to the report. Those actions were reported in the Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG.

 

Ron Van den Bussche announced the approval by the BOG of the 2002 meeting in Cuernavaca, and reminded the membership of future meetings in 2001 (Hays, Kansas)and 2003 (Norman, Oklahoma). He also asked for invitations and suggestions for future meetings. He then moved for the approval of the invitation to meet in Cuernavaca, his motion was seconded, and the membership approved by voice vote.

 

Jerry Choate, Local Chair for the 2001 meeting in Hays, Kansas, reported on preparations by Fort Hays State University to host the society. The meetings will occur on 19, 20, 21 April, mostly on the university campus. All registrants will receive three-day passes to the newly opened Sternberg Museum, which will be hosting the recently prepared touring replica of the famous Tyranosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed "Sue" housed at the Field Museum of Natural History. The membership showed its appreciation to Choate and FHSU by applause.

 

President Best thanked all committees for their work and the chairs for the reports. He then called for Local Committee announcements, and there were none. He thanked the Local Committee and the officers of SWAN for their work in helping this year's meeting succeed, and the Editorial Board for its work in getting SWN successfully published.

 

No new business was brought forward.

 

The following actions were taken at the Banquet on the evening of Friday 21 April 2000:

 

President Best announced that Stanley Fox, Phyllis Kennedy, Meredith Hamilton, and Cornelio Sánchez-Hernández were elected to three--year terms as Governors.

 

Earl Zimmerman announced that there were 347 paid attendants for the meeting, and thanked Amanda Barksdale, Phyllis Schefley, Chris Miller, Carla Cower, Vicki Jackson, Bethany Elrod, Jason Taylor, Henry Pauling, Mike Cavenaugh, and Jim Kennedy for their assistance in making the meeting a success. Jennifer Frey presented the George Miksch Sutton Award for Conservation Research to Mark E. Miller of the University of Colorado. Robert Dowler presented the Clark Hubbs Student Poster Award to Christopher T. Winne for the winning poster, " Daily Activity Patternsin Cnemidophorus inornatus and C.septemvittatus: a Programmed Behavior." Winne and hisco-author Michael B. Keck are from Stephen F. Austin State University. Paula Williamson presented the Wilks Award for the best paper authored by a student to Christine L. Hice of Texas Tech University for her paper, "The Impact of Habitat and Disturbance on Small Mammal Community Structure in Humid Tropical Forests."

 

W. J. Matthews presented 1999 Distinguished Awards as follows:

 

W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award: Neil Douglas of Northeastern Louisiana State University;

Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator Award: Ticul Alvarez-S. of Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas;

Donald W. Tinkle Research Excellence Award: Cornelio Sánchez-Hernandez of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Sánchez presented slides of his and colleagues' natural history work in Mexico.

Meritorious Service Award: Jerry R. Choate of Fort Hays State University.

 

Philip Sudman read and the membership adopted the following resolution:

 

WHEREAS, the 47th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists was held at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX, on 20-22 April 2000; and

WHEREAS, the meeting was kicked off with a statistical "float test," which supported a working hypothesis that, while Miller Lite may be "Less Filling," Shiner Bock "Tastes Great"; and

WHEREAS, Billy the Big Mouth Bass says "don't worry, be happy"; and

WHEREAS, the orientation of field biologists was tested because 1) I-35 East North actually runs west, and 2) campus maps aren't what they used to be; and

WHEREAS, Bryon Clark, Karen McBee, and Dwight Moore continually harassed members in an effort to get us to cough up $50, claiming that it was "for student research" (yea right); and

WHEREAS, the local committee arranged for us all to feel at home by surrounding us with bronzed ghosts of past collecting trip victims; and

WHEREAS, the local committee also arranged for frequent sightings of a giant, headless armadillo; and

WHEREAS, electronic submission of abstracts proved to be an effective means of forcing members to attend selected paper presentations, to get "the rest of the story"; and

WHEREAS, new evidence was uncovered that gophers may have evolved from past president/meeting hosts (insert Earl Zimmerman), validating a previous hypothesis that scientists take on characteristics of their study organisms; and

WHEREAS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and The National Inquirer have been contacted concerning a BIG FOOT sighting in the EESAT building; and

WHEREAS, President Best must have paid off all of the committee chairs so as to conclude the Business Meeting in record time; and

WHEREAS, Earl Zimmerman personally supplied us with beautiful spring weather, flights of scissor-tailed flycatchers, roadsides with an abundance of wildflowers, true Texas hospitality, and a new building for the intellectual (and non-intellectual) exchange of ideas; and

WHEREAS, upon parting ways at the conclusion of these meetings, may we all remember that UNT also stands for "Until Next Time"; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the members of SWAN and all those in attendance at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, are indebted to the University of North Texas, members of the local committee, and especially Earl Zimmerman for a successful, enjoyable, and intellectually stimulating meeting, highlighting biological research within the Southwest.

 

Following a motion to do so, a second, and approval, the Business Meeting adjourned at 1410 CDT.


Respectfully submitted by David L. McNeely, Secretary



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