President´s Message

It is the end of my term as AP-S President and I am feeling a bit wistful. Several new programs are “in the works,” and it would have been nice to have completed them in 2010. However, our new President, Dr. Magdalena Salazar-Palma, has allowed me to continue working on some that have been special pet projects with particular value to AP-S members. These include our new financially co-sponsored international conferences, and an extension of Xplore offerings to AP-S members. Like many of you, I normally try to let go of responsibilities that are scheduled to pass from my hands, and of course extensive volunteerism is not always a good career practice. So, why am I breaking these sacred rules of our modern over-committed world? It is because my heavy travel schedule to four continents and many conferences and Chapters on behalf of the Society this year, and the conversations I have had with many of you, have educated me concerning the exceptional importance of AP-S. At first it was an ego boost to learn this, but it shortly caused me to realize how serious AP-S decisions can be, not to mention the administrative positions themselves. Here are some of the thoughts I have shared with conference and Chapter members this year. You can take it as a reaction to a very personally rewarding year on my part, or accept it as a justification for your having pursued a career in a highly demanding ubiquitous professional field.