Behavior Genetics, Vol. 27, No. 6, 1997

Secretary's Report

The 27th Annual Meeting of the Behavior GeneticsAssociation, Toronto, CanadaAndrew C. Heath, Secretary

The 27th Annual Meeting of the Behavior Ge-netics Association was held at the Colony Hotel,Toronto, Canada, on July 10th-13th. Tony Vernon,assisted by his graduate students, was a superb lo-cal host. There were 139 registrants at the meeting,from nine countries. A total of 123 presentationswas made at the meeting, including 55 posters, 44oral presentations, and 24 symposium talks. Thequality of the scientific presentations was widelypraised and was considered by many to be the high-est of any meeting of the association.

BUSINESS MEETING

President Nicholas Martin presided over thebusiness meeting of the association. At the start ofthe meeting, President Martin noted the deaths dur-ing the year of two long-standing members of theassociation, Jan Bruell and Lee Willerman. He alsothanked the local host, Tony Vernon, for the highquality and excellent organization of the meeting.The minutes of the previous annual meeting of theAssociation were approved as written.

New Officers

President Nicholas Martin presided over thebusiness meeting of the association. Secretary An-drew Heath announced the election of NormanHenderson as President-Elect and Deborah Finkelas Member-at-Large. Therefore the followingmembers will serve on the Executive Committeeand Board of Directors for 1997-1998: NicholasMartin, President; Norman Henderson, President-Elect; James Wilson, Past-President; AndrewHeath, Secretary; Matt McGue, Treasurer; LindaDixon, Member-at-Large; Nancy Pedersen, Mem-ber-at-Large; and Deborah Finkel, Member-at-Large. President Martin thanked retiring committee

member Larry Rodriguez for his contributions asmember-at-Large.

Addresses of officers can be obtained from theoffice of the BGA Secretary, Department of Psy-chiatry, Washington University School of Medi-cine, 40 North Kingshighway Suite 1, St. Louis,MO 63108, U.S.A. Telephone: (314) 286-2206.Fax: (314) 286-2213. e-mail: donna@wupsych1.wuSTL.edu.

Treasurer's Report

The treasurer reported a further improvementin the financial status of the society, aided by anunexpectedly large profit of over $4000 from thePittsburgh meeting, leaving a current balance of ap-proximately $36,000. As usual, only 70% of mem-bers are current on dues. There has been a slightdecrease in total membership—there were 322 fullmembers, 122 associate members, and 23 emeritusmembers, yielding a total membership of 477. Thisrepresents a net loss to the society of 14 memberssince the previous Business Meeting in 1996. Onehundred twenty-one members reside outside NorthAmerica.

Candidates for Election

President Martin reported that the ExecutiveCommittee, in its constitutional role as nominatingcommittee, was nominating the following membersfor the offices indicated: for President-Elect, Ri-chard Rose and Hill Goldsmith; for Secretary, Her-mine Maes and Tony Vernon; and forMember-at-Large, Irwin Waldman and WendySlutske. As there were no additional nominationsfrom the floor, this slate will be presented for voteby all members by December 1996.

6130001-8244/97/1100-0613$12.50/0 C 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation

614 Secretary's Report, 27th Annual Meeting of the BGA

Meeting Plans

Nancy Pedersen described plans for the 1998meeting in Stockholm, which will occur June8th-10th, 1998, almost immediately after the TwinCongress meeting in Helsinki. There will be nodesignated meeting hotel, since the meeting will beheld at a downtown conference center, but ad-vanced hotel registrations can be organized using afree hotel booking service. Early booking isstrongly advised since Stockholm is expected to bea popular destination in 1998.

As in previous years, student bursaries will beavailable to provide partial travel support to allowAssociate Members of the BGA to travel fromNorth America to present at the Stockholm meet-ing.

The 1999 meeting of the Association will beheld in Vancouver, June 6th-10th, immediately fol-lowing the meeting of the International Society forthe Study of Individual Differences. Offers to hostfuture meetings have also been received for Ver-mont (for the year 2000) and Hawaii (for 2001).

Executive Editor's Report

The term of David Fulker as Editor of Behav-ior Genetics has been extended for a further 3years, until the year 2000. The editor reported thatthe journal continued to receive approximately 60submissions per year, accepting for publication ap-proximately 70% of these after revisions.

Other BusinessThere were no reports from standing commit-

tees of the association.

BANQUET

At the Association Banquet, the Thompsonaward for the best presentation by an associatemember was made to Martine Thomis, for her pa-per "Genetic Determination of Growth Patterns inStature," and the Dobzhansky award for outstand-ing contributions to the field of behavior geneticswas given, in his absence, to Ron Johnston. In hispresidential address, President Martin discussed hiscareer in alcoholism and other aspects of behav-ioral genetic research.

NOTES FROM THE SECRETARY

After taking the advice of the membership, theExecutive Committee have rewritten two by-lawsof the Association: (i) to allow Special Meetings ofthe Executive Committee to be conducted by tele-conference call, and (ii) to include explicitly as el-igible for membership of the Association those whoare pursuing postdoctoral training in any area re-lated to behavioral genetics.

The Executive Committee is discussing theabolition of several standing committees of the as-sociation, which may be replaced by ad hoc com-mittees when needed. In particular, thediscontinuation of the Professional Training com-mittee, and the Public and Professional Affairscommittee, is under consideration. Advice from themembership on this issue is solicited.