Ronald Wasserstein, ASA Executive Director

On Friday, August 4, ASA President Dionne Price gaveled to order the second 2023 meeting of the ASA Board of Directors. Board members met in the Delta Hotel in Toronto for two days immediately prior to JSM. Highlights of the meeting follow.

Actions

• The board approved changes to Articles I, V, and VI of the ASA Bylaws published in Amstat News.
• The board accepted the audit of the ASA’s 2022 financials. It was a clean audit, and the report was published in the August issue of Amstat News.
• The board approved the 2024 ASA budget and heard a mid-year financial report from Derek Curtis, the ASA’s director of finance and administration. Spending and revenue are tracking with the 2023 budget.
• The board accepted the recommendation of the Development Committee that the ASA require a minimum contribution of $75,000 to establish an endowed award or scholarship and require that the minimum amount for scholarships and awards funded annually be increased to $2,500 per year with a minimum of a five-year commitment. This action affects future awards and scholarships only.
• Speaking of awards and scholarships, the board approved creating the Norman Beery Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be funded by a planned estate gift from ASA member Susan Mayo in the name of her late father, Norman Beery. It will be for first-generation college students enrolling in a statistics or biostatistics program or a science program that substantially incorporates statistics. Mayo plans to start the scholarship soon through annual gifts to the ASA.
• The board approved in principle a partnership with Taylor & Francis to co-publish the journal Data Science in Science. The board also approved in principle launching a new journal, Statistics and Data Science in Imaging. Approval in principle indicates the board supports these projects subject to details to be worked out by the ASA Executive Committee. The board also considered the creation of a journal, unofficially called ASA Open, to provide a home for strong research papers that do not have a good fit in our current journal portfolio. Many details remain to be worked out before action on that journal is taken.
• The board increased financial support for the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education to allow for an additional issue annually.
• The board continued its rolling review of the ASA Strategic Plan, approving updates to the publications and professional development portions of the plan.
• The board approved an ASA statement on data science and artificial intelligence.
• The board approved partnering with the Royal Statistical Society on its Real World Data Science platform.
• The board approved launching a data science accreditation program in collaboration with the Royal Statistical Society and others through the UK-based Alliance for Data Science Professionals. Details of the program are being worked out and will be announced when ready, probably early next year.
• The board approved a change to the Code of Conduct Review Board. The review board will now be appointed on an as-needed basis.

Reports and Discussions

• The board welcomed five leaders from the Royal Statistical Society, who updated the board on society activities and initiatives and discussed potential partnership opportunities with the ASA.
• Steve Pierson, ASA director of science policy, updated the board on the data science literacy act, science and statistical agency budgets, assessing the health of the federal statistical agencies, National Science Foundation engagement efforts, and a variety of other ongoing matters.
• Past President Kathy Ensor reported that the National Science Foundation funded a $100,000 grant for the ASA to organize three workshops evaluating areas of research in which the statistics field needs to engage. Details about these workshops will come soon.
• Amanda Malloy, ASA director of development, updated the board on Development Committee activities. She reviewed the goals and objectives of the development program, noting ways board members can take part.
• Julia Sharp, chair of the ASA Meetings Task Force, presented the final report on the task force work. Staff and the board have a great set of recommendations to address over the coming months.
• ASA Treasurer Ruixiao Lu reported on the ASA’s investments. She also updated the board on the activities of the Investments Committee, which meets quarterly to review the portfolio. The committee continues to evaluate the ASA’s investment policies, but no changes were recommended at this time.
• The presidents updated the board on their strategic initiatives. Price reminded the board that the StatsForward program was to kick off at JSM. Her communications outreach initiative is ongoing—with a review of multiple modes of communication—and the articulation agreement project is getting underway. Ensor said our involvement with CSAB has placed us at an important table, where we need and want to be heard. She said the Leadership Institute continues to progress and noted the second annual IDEA Forum will be held in November on the topic of open science. President-Elect Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar highlighted her JSM 2024 theme focusing on informing policy and countering misinformation reflects her priorities. Her presidential platform spoke to community, communication, collaboration, and opportunity, and she is building her initiatives on these points.
• ASA Associate Executive Director Donna LaLonde updated the board on ASA education activities, particularly the status of revisions to the Statistical Education of Teachers (SET) Guidelines and Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) College Report.
• Staff from The Nova Collective reported the results of a series of focus group conversations held with member groups over the summer. The board and ASA staff will use the findings to further develop and refine its diversity, equity, inclusivity, belonging, and accessibility work.
• Lu reported on the workshop Overall Survival in Oncology Clinical Trials, a joint effort of the FDA, American Association for Cancer Research, and ASA. The workshop was highly successful, with more than 3,000 participants—mostly online but a good crowd in person. Lu noted the workshop serves as an example of what can be done as the ASA continues to build relationships with the American Association for Cancer Research and other research organizations.
• ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein reported that the ASA has established, in cooperation with the FDA and its Oncology Center of Excellence, the Oncology Educational Fellowship. Fellows will be PhD students or postdocs in statistics or biostatistics who have an interest in oncology drug development.
• Yehenew Kifle of the University of Maryland Baltimore County updated the board on the African International Conference on Statistics, which the ASA has supported and for which it is considering additional support. The 2023 congress took place in June in Marrakech, Morocco.

The board will have its final regular meeting November 17–18 at the ASA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

2023 ASA Board of Directors
Dionne Price, President
Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, President-Elect
Kathy Ensor, Past President
Matilde Sanchez-Kam, Third-Year Vice President
Nick Horton, Second-Year Vice President
Jenny Thompson, First-Year Vice President
Alexandra Hanlon, Third-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Kendra Schmid, Second-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Melinda Holt, First-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Kate Calder, Third-Year Council of Sections Representative
Michelle Shardell, Second-Year Council of Sections Representative
Jana Asher, First-Year Council of Sections Representative
Ingrid Van Keilegom, International Representative
Bin Nan, Publications Representative
Ruixiao Lu, Treasurer
Ron Wasserstein, Executive Director and Board Secretary