ASA President Nathaniel Schenker led the board through a full agenda during its first meeting of the 175th anniversary year of our association April 4–5 at the ASA office in Alexandria, Virginia. Here are the highlights of the meeting:

• Three new journal editors were appointed for the period 2015–2017:
– Nicole Lazar, University of Georgia, The American Statistician
– Mark Glickman, Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports
– Daniel McCaffrey, Educational Testing Service, and Li Cai, University of California, Los Angeles, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics (jointly appointed by the American Educational Research Association (AERA))

• The board approved the “ASA Statement on Using Value-Added Models for Educational Assessment.” Details may be found at the ASA Community website.

• Steve Pierson, ASA director of science policy, updated the board on legislation regarding science and statistical agency budgets and other legislative items his office is tracking, the status of the Statistical Science at NSF (StatsNSF) Committee, and activities of the ASA’s ad hoc Forensic Science Advisory Committee.

• The representatives of the Council of Chapters Governing Board and the Council of Sections Governing Board reported on activities and interests of the chapters and sections. Noteworthy items include the formation of a new interest group on astrostatistics, a proposal for the formation of a Section on Genomics and Genetics, plans to expand the “traveling course,” and providing additional funds for prizes in statistics at the International Science and Engineering Fair.

• The board heard the plans developed by staff and a board subcommittee in conjunction with Stanton Communications, a national public relations firm, to launch a national campaign to inform and encourage high-school and undergraduate students regarding careers in statistics. More information about this is found in this month’s President’s Corner.

• The board also heard recommendations from Campbell and Company, a national firm providing consulting on fundraising, about how to enhance the ASA’s fundraising/development capacity. The board will receive and act on further recommendations from ASA staff later this year.

• The board received updates from chairs of three workgroups leading Schenker’s strategic initiatives. The groups (chairs in parentheses) are:
– Statistical Leadership (Janet Buckingham)
– Statistics Portal (to be called Statistical Commons) (David Banks)
– Undergraduate Curriculum (Nick Horton)
Each group reported making good progress. All have had several meetings, have work product at the appropriate stage of completion, and are on track to deliver their intended outcomes during 2014.

• President-elect David Morganstein introduced four strategic initiatives he is considering for 2014 and received feedback from the board. The collection of feedback is in accordance with the strategic planning cycle and gives the staff and Morganstein time to consider any financial needs that may be connected with initiatives. Morganstein emphasized how important this feedback would be to make sure his thinking aligns with that of the board, the strategic plan, and the board’s understanding of members’ needs.

• ASA Vice President Jim Rosenberger, chair of the Membership Council, and Holly Shulman, vice chair of the Membership Council, reported on the activities of the committees that comprise the council. They reported the major accomplishments for each committee, compared them to the planned activities reported last year, and looked ahead to activities for 2014. Schenker emphasized that these reports are important for keeping the board in touch with its committees and that equally important is the work the Membership Council does to keep its committees in touch with the board.

• Morganstein updated the board on the new process for making appointments to ASA committees. Prior to this year, ASA presidents-elect had 150+ appointments to make single-handedly. This was problematic enough, but under the strategic plan beginning in 2009, the president-elect also must be developing strategic initiatives at the same time. The appointment process has been reorganized to delegate many of the appointments to committee council chairs, vice chairs, and a few others, including the executive director. An emphasis has been placed on ensuring the diversity of the appointments. Data has been collected and is being continually updated to track our progress in this regard.

• Lynn Palmer, ASA director of programs, updated the board on the data science initiative launched in 2013 by the three presidents at that time: Schenker, Marie Davidian, and Bob Rodriguez. A series of meetings is being held with leaders to help the ASA better understand the needs of industries working with very large data sets, particularly to help in evaluating curricular guidelines for statistics majors in light of “Big Data” and “data science” so that students are well prepared to enter the work force. We also want to learn about the work force needs of these industries. Davidian reported that a workgroup on enhancing the PhD curriculum to provide students the needed skills in the age of Big Data is being chaired by Bill Cleveland. The group’s report will be ready prior to JSM and a panel discussion on this topic is scheduled for Monday morning of JSM.

• Rob Santos, president of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), reported to the board about some of this association’s activities. He described the association and its fundamental activities, emphasizing the diverse makeup of the membership. He noted the numerous collaborations between the ASA and AAPOR and said AAPOR is eager to promote further collaboration. Santos offered an open invitation to the ASA to work together more on conferences, educational activities, and other ventures.

• As is the case at every spring meeting, the board addressed several financial matters.
– ASA Treasurer Mingxiu Hu reported to the board, as the treasurer does at every meeting. He noted that the ASA’s investments are doing very well. Market value of our portfolio (at the time of the meeting) was $15.4 million, due both to a strong market and to the $2.5 million net contributions to the portfolio in the past three years. He reminded the board about the policy under which the ASA invests its funds.
– Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations Steve Porzio, the ASA’s chief financial officer, presented the ASA’s financial summary from 2013, noting we had a net operating income of $991,000 that further strengthened our reserves and will aid our ability to weather a downturn. Importantly, our fund balance also provides the board with flexibility when considering the funding of new or expanded programs.
– The board received the audit of the ASA’s 2013 fiscal year. The board thanked Porzio and his staff for another excellent job as reflected by the clean audit. As always, the ASA’s audit is published in the print edition.
– Journal subscription rates for 2015 were set by the board.
– Vice President James Rosenberger led the board’s review of five proposals submitted for funding through the Member Initiative program. All five proposals were funded.

• The board heard and approved a proposal by the organizers of DataFest to make the ASA the national headquarters for this undergraduate Big Data competition.

• The board also heard and approved a proposal to form student chapters of the ASA. These would be autonomous campus-based organizations that would, by adhering to a small set of rules, have the right to be known as ASA student chapters. Student chapters are not specifically related to the ASA’s chapters, but connections between regular chapters and student chapters will be valuable for both groups. The concept is being tested immediately on a couple of campuses. Details will be forthcoming.

• Palmer updated the board on the ASA’s efforts in the area of professional development, including recommendations from the Task Force on Continuing Professional Development, the ASA’s newly formed Personal Skills Development program, and changes made by the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education regarding Computer Technology Workshops at JSM.

• The board considered whether a statement on appropriate use of, and problems with, the p-value would be worthwhile and what the audience for and intentions of such a statement could be. The board will engage in a discussion with some of the experts on this subject to find out if they think an ASA action would be helpful and if they would be willing to participate.

The board next meets on June 20 at the ASA office for its annual budget meeting.