Jeff Witmer, Section Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm., Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at the Hilton Morgan Suite, New York City. Those in attendance were:

1. Introductions

   The Section officers introduced themselves.

2. Election Results

   Jeff Witmer, Section Chair, announced the election results: Ron Wasserstein, 2003 Chair Elect; Katherine Halvorson, Council of Sections Representative (2003-2005); Joy Jordan and John Walker, Executive Committee (2003-2005).

3. Minutes and Treasurer's Report (Carolyn Pillers Dobler)

   The minutes of the 2001 business meeting were distributed. Several corrections were made: Carol Joyce Blumberg's name was incorrect, Allan Rossman was omitted, in (3), paragraph 3, Jeff Witmer announced the 2003 Program Chair, and in (5), "with one being" was deleted and interchange the words "group focus". The minutes as amended were approved unanimously.

   Carolyn Dobler, treasurer, reported that the Section is financially healthy, with a balance of $12,203.60 as of August 9, 2002.

4. Reports

   John Holcomb, 2002 Program Chair, thanked all Invited Session Chairs and Topic Contributed Paper Session Chairs.

   André Lubecke, 2003 Program Chair, reported on next year's program. She encouraged submission of topic contributed paper sessions; the deadline is February 1, 2003. She also encouraged those with possible sessions to give her advance notice. André noted that there are also poster sessions and invited technical sessions, which avoid the one paper per person rule. She asked for volunteers for session chairs. André asked for ideas for introductory overview lectures; the deadline is September. There are three invited sessions allocated to the Section for 2003. She reported they will be: Assessment (Beth Chance), Software (Ginger Holmes), and Math Stat Course (Tom Moore). There are two invited sessions in the open competition: History (Carol Blumberg) and Data Mining (Norean Radke-Sharpe). André distributed a list of software usage.

   Joan Garfield, 2003 Section Chair, announced that the 2004 Program Chair will be Dex Whittinghill, Rowan University.

5. Best Contributed Paper for 2001

   Ron Wasserstein announced that the Best Contributed Paper for 2001 recipient was Brian Jones. The award was accepted by Brad Hartlaub, as Brian Jones was not present.

6. Chair's Report (Jeff Witmer)

   Jeff Witmer announced that five of the new fellows are members of our Section: Russ Lenth, Dalene Stangl, Dennis Pearl, Linda Malone, and David Rindskopf.

   Jeff announced that a school in Texas has been named in honor of Joe Ward, member of the Section.

   Jeff noted that the Section is encouraged to spend down our treasury. We had about $4,000 coming in with only about $2,000 going out. Several other expenditures were approved at the Executive Committee meeting on Monday including Stat Ed Booth in 2003 ($500), non-ASA speaker reimbursement of registration fees ($1,000 maximum), Project NeXT fellows ($1,000 per year for 3 years), TEAMS and SRTL-3 conferences ($1,000 each). He also reported that roundtable luncheons will be half price for students.

   Jeff reported that two of our members passed away this past year; Anne Sevin and Gordon Bril. John McKenzie remembered Anne's contributions to the Section and the profession, as well as to humanity. Carolyn Dobler remembered Gordy's accomplishments and spirit. All stood for a moment of silence in memory of Anne and Gordy.

7. Council of Sections (John Boyer)

   CD Proceedings: John reported that the CD Proceedings are at a break-even point. The cost will increase to $35. He encouraged members to have their local libraries purchase the CD. He reported that possible future enhancements include page numbers and section program included with hot buttons. About 700 CD's were sold last year. A straw poll voted in favor of the enhancements.

   Registration Fee increase: The JSM registration fee will increase by $50 next year. This will be a one-time increase, but is necessary because of increases in technology fees, message center, and email access. John McKenzie indicated his disappointment in the cost of roundtables this year. John Boyer said that ASA breaks even on the roundtables, but that when JSM will be held in convention centers, the cost should be reduced. Carol Blumberg mentioned that the abstract book is a large expense for JSM.

   ASA membership: John reported that the ASA membership is horrendous. He encouraged members to go online and update their own membership information.

8. Waller Award (Rosemary Roberts)

   Rosemary Roberts re-presented the Waller Award to Beth Chance. Beth had received the award at the previous evening's awards ceremony. Rosemary read the citation.

9. New Business

   Dennis Dixon, National Institutes of Health, reported on the current shortage of biostatisticians. He wants ideas for opportunities to encourage students to pursue careers in biostatistics.

   Dick Schaeffer said that ASA strongly supports Statistics Education, even though membership is down. He reminded members about the ASA's member initiatives. He also reported that ASA is under-staffed. Bob Mason, President-elect of ASA, will narrow down the strategic plan. Chris Lacke asked about reduced fees for young faculty.

10. General Announcements

    Dex Whittinghill asked members to consider hosting a roundtable in 2003; they are due in December.

    Katherine Halvorson mentioned that Continuing Education core courses should include suggestions from Stat Ed.

    Joe Ward announced that NCTM will be in San Antonio this year and encouraged members to attend.

    Milo Schield announced the Statistics Literacy Project.

    Roxy Peck mentioned that a new edition of SAGTU (Statistics - A Guide to the Unknown) will be forthcoming and asked for suggestions.

11. Thanks

    The Section expressed thanks to retiring officers: Rossman, Past Chair; Deb Rumsey & Karla Ballman, Executive Committee; John Boyer, Council of Sections Representative; and John Holcomb, Program Chair.

    The Section also expressed thanks to Terry King, Newsletter Editor; Ron Wasserstein, Contributed Paper Award; Jackie Dietz, Webpage Designer, and Carolyn Crockett, Refreshments.

The meeting was adjourned at ??? pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Pillers Dobler
Secretary-Treasurer

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