ASA President Rob Santos called to order the final 2021 meeting of the ASA Board of Directors on November 19. The meeting was conducted in hybrid format—several board members were in Alexandria, Virginia, at the ASA headquarters and the rest joined via videoconference over two days. The highlights of the meeting follow.
Actions
The board …
- Updated the document describing the roles and responsibilities for each board member.
- Approved a change to the bylaws that makes the ASA treasurer position an elected, rather than appointed, position and gives the treasurer a vote. Before the change, the treasurer was appointed by the board and was not a voting member.
- Extended the appointment of Ruixiao Lu as treasurer for an additional year, providing time in the election cycle for the aforementioned bylaws change to take effect.
- Endorsed the “Quality Manifesto for the 21st Century,” prepared by the International Academy for Quality.
Reports and Discussions
- Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations Steve Porzio summarized the financials as of the end of the third quarter of 2021. He noted the status of various segments of the budget and said the association’s balance sheet is healthy. Of note is an uptick in the use of the ASA JobWeb.
- Lu reported on the ASA’s investments. She reviewed the allocation of the ASA’s nearly $23 million among various types of investments as of September 30 and the results of our investments over the past decade. Lu also updated the board on the activities of the Investments Committee, Budget Committee, and Audit Committee.
- On behalf of Adrian Coles and David Marker, co-chairs of the ASA’s Antiracism Task Force, Ron Wasserstein updated the board on the progress of the task force. It is well along on drafting its final report.
- ASA Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson provided his regular report on the ASA’s advocacy efforts. He introduced our new science policy fellow, Edward Wu, who updated the board on the projects he is working on. Pierson outlined several areas of focus for the policy office and noted efforts to broaden the ASA’s advocacy work.
- The board discussed plans for JSM 2022, which we are planning to hold in person next summer in Washington, DC. A large number of sessions will be recorded so those who register for JSM can view some of the sessions they could not attend in person.
- Also regarding JSM 2022, the board heard and discussed plans for the ASA Awards Ceremony.
- Rebecca Hubbard reported on the activities of the task force on increasing diversity in ASA journals. The task force will have recommendations early in 2022.
- Lu reported on the activities of the strategic planning working group and noted the tasks for it. The group will be collecting a wealth of feedback from various constituencies as the board considers modifications to the membership growth and public awareness portions of the strategic plan.
- Amanda Malloy, ASA director of development, updated the board on development activities during 2021. Malloy reviewed the results of a successful Giving Day 2021. She thanked the board and members of the Development Committee for their support. She also introduced the new members of the ASA GivesBack program and noted the key projects for the development program in 2022.
- Jing Cao, chair of the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics (CoPE), and Rochelle Tractenberg, former chair of CoPE, presented a draft revision of the ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice. They reviewed the process by which the revisions were made. The board provided feedback on the draft. The final draft will come to the board in the first quarter of 2022.
- Dionne Price presented the annual report of the committees that comprise the Professional Issues and Visibility Council, and Dick De Veaux did likewise for the entities in the Education Council. Santos noted the importance of these reports in keeping the board informed of committee activities and needs.
- Matilde Sanchez-Kam reported the findings of an ad hoc committee to review the ASA nominations process. The ad hoc committee was formed to review a set of recommendations from the 2021 ASA Committee on Nominations. Some changes in procedures recommended by the ad hoc committee will be implemented and a procedures manual has been developed. Santos thanked both the ad hoc committee and Committee on Nominations for their efforts to improve our processes.
- Donna LaLonde, ASA director of strategic initiatives and outreach, brought to the board for its preliminary review a proposed joint statement with NCTM on Pre-K–12 teacher preparation in statistics and data science. She asked for feedback so the joint ASA/NCTM committee can review it, revise the statement as necessary, and bring it back to the board for approval.
This board meeting was the last for Santos. He was appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate to be the director of the US Census Bureau, effective January 1, 2022. At that time, he will resign his position on the ASA Board.
The next meeting of the board will be April 8–9 in Alexandria, Virginia.
2021 Board of Directors
Rob Santos, President
Kathy Ensor, President-Elect
Wendy Martinez, Past President
Richard De Veaux, Third-Year Vice President
Dionne Price, Second-Year Vice President
Matilde Sanchez-Kam, First-Year Vice President
Anamaria Kazanis, Third-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Ji-Hyun Lee, Second-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Alexandra Hanlon, First-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Mark Glickman, Third-Year Council of Sections Representative
Rebecca Hubbard, Second-Year Council of Sections Representative
Kate Calder, First-Year Council of Sections Representative
Alexandra Schmidt, International Representative
Bin Nan, Publications Representative
Ruixiao Lu, Treasurer
Ron Wasserstein, Executive Director and Board Secretary
2022 Board of Directors
Kathy Ensor, President
Dionne Price, President-Elect
Matilde Sanchez-Kam, Second-Year Vice President
Nick Horton, First-Year Vice President
Scarlett Bellamy, Vice President (completing the term of Dionne Price)
Ji-Hyun Lee, Third-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Alexandra Hanlon, Second-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Kendra Schmid, First-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Rebecca Hubbard, Third-Year Council of Sections Representative
Kate Calder, Second-Year Council of Sections Representative
Michelle Shardell, First-Year Council of Sections Representative
Alexandra Schmidt, International Representative
Bin Nan, Publications Representative
Ruixiao Lu, Treasurer
Ron Wasserstein, Executive Director and Board Secretary
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