On Friday, April 19, ASA President Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar gaveled to order the first 2024 meeting of the ASA Board of Directors at the ASA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Highlights of the meeting follow.
Actions
- The board approved the following editor appointments for three-year terms beginning in 2025:
- Journal of the American Statistical Association Applications and Case Studies and Coordinating Editor: Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina
- Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education Editor: Juana Sanchez, University of California at Los Angeles
- Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics Co-Editors: Laura Marie Sangalli, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and Yuguo Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Journal of Business & Economic Statistics Co-Editors: Dacheng Xiu, University of Chicago; Michal Kolesár, Princeton; and Yingying Fan, University of Southern California
- Technometrics Editor: Kamran Paynabar, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Journal on Uncertainty Quantification ASA Editor: Bani Mallick, Texas A&M University
- The board recommended a change to the ASA bylaws for situations in which the past president position is vacant.
Bylaw Changes Recommended
The ASA Board of Directors recommends a change based on its experiences filling vacancies in the past president position.
Three years ago, 2020 ASA President Rob Santos was unable to serve as past president because he was appointed director of the US Census Bureau. And early in 2024, 2023 ASA President Dionne Price died. The board observed that, in the event of a vacancy in the past president position, it would be helpful to be able to call on recent former presidents to assist.
The proposed change is to a portion of Article V, Section 3, of the bylaws. Specifically, the proposal is to add the sentence in italics:
If a vacancy occurs in the office of Past President, the office will remain vacant for the remainder of that term and the Executive Committee will designate board members to fulfill the ex officio responsibilities of the Past President. At its discretion, the Executive Committee may designate a former ASA president to fulfill some or all of the ex officio responsibilities of the Past President, including serving on the Board of Directors.
If you have comments about the proposed change, please email ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein. The comment period will be open through August 15.
- The board selected Chicago as the site for JSM 2027, subject to final negotiations with the city.
- The board approved the creation of an online-only, open-access journal to be titled ASA Discoveries.
- The board made minor changes to the naming and renaming policies for ASA awards.
- The board replaced a 2016 ASA resolution regarding meeting locations with a new resolution.
- The board endorsed a statement on data science in pre-K–12 with associations representing teachers in computer science, mathematics, physical sciences, and social sciences.
- The board endorsed the recommendations of the ASA-commissioned report The Nation’s Data at Risk: Assessing the Health of the Federal Statistical Agencies. The report—funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, ASA, and George Mason University—is to be released this month.
Reports and Discussions
- The board hosted a LinkedIn Live event launching the Telling Our Stories series, premiering the first video. Nan Laird, whose donation made the series possible, joined the board for the launch.
- The board heard and discussed the report of the Membership Council. The committee councils keep the board and its committees connected with each other. The report reflected tremendous activity across the committees of the council over the last 12 months.
- Derek Curtis II, ASA director of finance and administration, updated the board on the status of the ASA’s 2023 year-end financials. The year ended in the black due to a good recovery of our investment portfolio. Net expenses and revenues followed close to the budget.
- ASA Treasurer Jean Opsomer reported on the ASA’s investments. The committee reviewed and updated its modeling of long-term results from investment strategies based on various spending levels. The analysis suggested the ASA’s investment portfolio should retain sufficient funds to support its programs, members, and mission in the next 10 years, should spending be managed well.
- The presidents updated the board on their strategic initiatives. Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, 2024 president, outlined her plans to date, focusing on artificial intelligence and data science, community, and mentoring. President-Elect Ji-Hyun Lee’s work will center on “building strong bridges,” which she hopes to do by fostering opportunities, growing visibility, and diversifying membership.
- Amanda Malloy, ASA director of development, announced the launch of the “Honor a Colleague” program, providing a simple way to publicly acknowledge individuals through donations in tribute to or in memory of the person.
- The board reviewed its JSM site rotation and selection policy with an eye to expanding the number of potential JSM cities.
- The board heard a report from the ASA’s commercial realtors about the status of the real estate market in Old Town Alexandria. The ASA headquarters is on the market with the idea of moving to a smaller space, but there is no hurry to sell.
- The board conducted a morning-long discussion of the association’s goals in membership retention and recruitment.
The board will meet next on June 14 in a virtual meeting to discuss the ASA budget. The board will then meet in person August 2–3 in Portland, Oregon, before the start of JSM.
2024 Board of Directors
Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar
President
Ji-Hyun Lee
President-Elect
Nick Horton
Third-Year Vice President
Jenny Thompson
Second-Year Vice President
Susan Paddock
First-Year Vice President
Kendra Schmid
Third-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Melinda Holt
Second-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Tomi Mori
First-Year Council of Chapters Representative
Michelle Shardell
Third-Year Council of Sections Representative
Jana Asher
Second-Year Council of Sections Representative
Jennifer Parker
First-Year Council of Sections Representative
Ingrid Van Keilegom
International Representative
Antje Hoering
Publications Representative
Jean Opsomer
Treasurer
Ron Wasserstein
ASA Executive Director and Board Secretary
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