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Sue Haig

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  1. Sue Haig
    HI Mercedes--thanks for your note. I agree with you completely. I think I was more responding to John's comments about passing judgement on the "Vision" before the full Plan was developed. Just to be clear--the original SFO committee disbanded. The three committees we now have (governance, publications, and finance) are made up of representatives from the 4 potentially interested societies--AFO, AOU, COS, and Waterbirds. We would be more than interested to hear comments or concerns by anyone. Already this week, we are working on some changes as a result of John's message. That does not mean everything suggested will be changed but there are so many aspects and details to attend to that the more eyes we have reading and thinking about SFO, the better it will be. As I have noted elsewhere, the committees are aiming for a draft plan to be ready for the NAOC. If the productivity gods smile on us, we will be able to email a draft to at least members of the interested societies before they leave for Vancouver. There will be numerous opportunities to hear about SFO and discuss it as a large group, by society, and one on one at the NAOC. So....keep those cards and letters coming.... Sue
  2. Sue Haig
    John--It is important to understand that the title of the document was "Vision for the Society for Ornithology". Not all is set in stone by any means. The potentially interested societies (AOU, AFO, COS, and Waterbirds) are currently meeting to create a plan that is more refined and agreeable to their members. Thus, I will not spend the time discussing each aspect you raise as things are changing everyday with respect to SFO. One issue we all need to understand, however, is that professional societies worldwide are declining financially and w/respect to members. Thus we are not alone but we need to get ahead of the curve. A good review can be found at: What is Important to Biological Societies at the Start of the Twenty-First Century? Author(s) :Susan Musante and Sheri Potter Source: BioScience, 62(4):329-335. 2012. Published By: American Institute of Biological Sciences URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1525/bio.2012.62.4.3
  3. Sue Haig
    More information about "A Vision for The Society for Ornithology"
    The SFO Vision Statement below represents the initial efforts to plan the Society for Ornithology. The document was prepared over the past year by senior ornithologists from across North America. It will now be used by a new committee comprised of 4 representatives from each of the ornithological societies in the Americas interested in helping further plan SFO. http://ornithologyexchange.org/files/file/17-%7B%3F%7D/ Between now and the NAOC in August 2012, the following will occur: The original committee to form the SFO will disband in a few weeks. A new set of SFO planning committees will be formed, comprised of 4 representatives from each society interested in further exploring the SFO’s structure. Societies have until 15 April to decide if they want to participate in this next round of planning. There will be a final planning document ready to present to all attending the NAOC. We will have a special session to listen to comments and provide feedback about the plan at the NAOC. This is an exciting time for ornithology, and the ongoing SFO plans show much promise for a strong future for ornithology in the Americas. We look forward to hearing from you on the forums listed below or please contact your society president. Susan Haig To share your thoughts with your society officers, consider commenting in one of these ongoing threads: AFO: Discussion of AFO’s association with proposed Society for Ornithology AOU: AOU Members Response to SFO VIsion SCO-SOC: President's message regarding SFO WOS: WOS' role in the Society for Ornithology
  4. Sue Haig
    More information about "Strategic Planning for the Proposed Society for Ornithology"
    A meeting held in Dallas, TX, 10-11 February 2012 Over the last several decades, profound changes with far-reaching consequences have occurred in the practice of science and in the diversity and capabilities of communication options (e.g., electronic publication; open access journals). These changes apply to all scientific fields and have produced a cascade of effects that challenge scientific societies generally and ornithological societies in particular. It is time for the ornithological community to embrace these challenges and benefit from the opportunities they offer. The Committee for the Development of the Society for Ornithology (SFO) has formulated a new vision for the future of ornithology in the Western Hemisphere that aims to advance the scientific understanding of birds, enrich ornithology as a profession, and promote a rigorous scientific basis for avian conservation through research, publications, education, and outreach. The SFO Committee met with the AOU Council and presidents of the Association of Field Ornithologists, Society of Canadian Ornithologists/Société des Ornithologistes du Canada, Cooper Ornithological Society, Neotropical Ornithological Society, and Wilson Ornithological Society to explore avenues to re-vitalize ornithology and its professional organization. The Committee had considered various options and developed a draft proposal. Key components of this tentative plan includes formation of a non-profit society governed by a Board of Directors composed of professional ornithologists and members of the philanthropic and business community; management by a professional staff; a new suite of journals, monographs, and books; cutting edge innovations in communications; a renewed dedication to science in support of conservation; and international efforts in outreach and education that span all ages and career stages among members. After two days of discussion, the group elected to move forward by developing a structure for a Society for Ornithology that will result in dissolving the original Committee to make way for a new committee with equal representation from all interested ornithological societies. In the coming months, members of all interested societies will be asked for input into the planning process. Please watch for a message from your society president within the next month that will link you to relevant documents and encourage comments from all interested ornithologists. A public forum for discussion will be held at the NAOC V in Vancouver, BC in August 2012. Signed, @John Faaborg (AOU President), @L. Scott Johnson (AFO President), Kim Sullivan (COS President), Jorge Perez-Eman (NOS President), @Erica Nol (SCO/SOC President), and @Bob Beason (WOS President)
  5. Sue Haig
    Photos from the historic meeting of the AOU Council, including all former presidents, and presidents of the Cooper Ornithological Society, Neotropical Ornithological Society, Association of Field Ornithologists, Wilson Ornithological Society, and Society of Canadian Ornithologists currently in session in Dallas, TX. https://picasaweb.google.com/111868492024708616895/AOUCouncilSFODiscussion?authuser=0&feat=directlink
  6. Sue Haig
    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Nuttall Ornithological Club has joined the group of ornithological societies interested in participating in discussions related to development of the Society for Ornithology. It will be great to hear their perspective on the various issues we face.
  7. Sue Haig
    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Nuttall Ornithological Club has joined the group of ornithological societies interested in participating in discussions related to development of the Society for Ornithology. It will be great to hear their perspective on the various issues we face.
  8. Sue Haig
    John-- Every interested society, including the AOU, is at the same stage right now. They are waiting for a series of committees, made up of 30+ members of all the interested societies, to draft a plan they can take a look at in feb. Honestly, John, your questions in this forum are repetitive and can be answered by reading information I have already provided in this forum. I assume you are speaking from the RRF perspective. Given RRF has bowed out, I don't see why you care about this aside from being a wet blanket for something you will not be part of anyway. Thus, I will refrain from spending more of my time repeating information to you. Sue
  9. Sue Haig
    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Waterbird Society will join our ranks of interested societies. Thus, all OSNA societies except the RRF will join in our planning. The Neotropical Ornithological Society and Western Hemisphere Shorebird Research Group will join us as well.
  10. Sue Haig
    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Waterbird Society will join our ranks of interested societies. Thus, all OSNA societies except the RRF will join in our planning. The Neotropical Ornithological Society and Western Hemisphere Shorebird Research Group will join us as well.
  11. Sue Haig
    Hi Jay--nice to hear from you. I'm sorry you took so much time to review something where there really isn't much to review yet. I've given up trying to answer questions on this forum that would take pages and pages to answer when I have told people we are preparing those pages and they will be better presented in a report this spring than in this forum. That being said, to address your issues briefly: 1. The Governance and Management committee that I chair is reviewing membership issues. I can tell you that status such as "Fellow" etc would be retained in SFO. We are working on the dues being quite minimal --$25/year? 2. AOU 20XX, etc.: it was an AOU idea (!) but we now have lots of interested societies. However, I hear what you are trying to say. 3. Finances/endowments would be tricky and would take years to resolve. Thus, we are not depending on them for starters (aside from the AOU endowment). Finances are also being dealt with by my committee: Fitz, Frank Gill, Bonnie Bowen, Jed Burtt, and Stan Senner. The best people I know in ornithology to deal with such issues. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Sue
  12. Sue Haig
    John--to be specific I would have to give you a plan that we have not finished. Thus, given no one is voting on anything anytime soon, I'm afraid you will have to wait until we have something to show the world--in February. Sue
  13. Sue Haig
    Dick--never would I think of listing you as supportive--no worries, there! However, I do appreciate your non-supportive ideas as we do have a dilemma. Part of the deal with SFO is to hire someone as a serious fund-raiser as we can't support our activities (w/o draining the endowment) w/o some help. And more than money, our membership decline and the fact that the average age of AOU members is in their 50's means we are are not being effective in our efforts to recruit and train ornithologists, let alone fuel the field of ornithology. So it is complex. By the by, if you double click on those figures, they get much bigger. I can email the membership figures if you's like. The bottom line is we have ~25% decline in AOU members since 1999. Can't do that too many times before we have no AOU. I'll pass your ideas on to the respective committees --more ideas are always welcome. Thanks! Sue
  14. Sue Haig
    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Research Group will be joining our planning discussions. They are interested in the opportunity for a small group to have a home with the benefits of the management and meeting benefits offered by SFO yet retaining their identity via special workshops, sessions at annual meeting, etc.
  15. Sue Haig
    CORRECTION: Society of Canadian Ornithologists President Erica Nol just informed me that SCO/SOC should be included in the same interest category as AOU, COS, AFO, and WOS -- that is ...interested in participating in planning discussions but certainly not making any decisions at this point. It will be great to have SCO help us plan efforts for SFO!
  16. Sue Haig
    DIck--Waterbirds and NOS have met and were going to discuss the idea but not vote on anything. SCO is sitting back and waiting to see what happens. We have the presidents of AOU, COS, AFO, and WOS attending the mid-year Council meeting so no doubt they are not voting on anything any time soon--as they understand we do not have a plan for anyone to vote on yet. As for my committee, we have 3 past presidents helping directly and 2 past AOU presidents helping in the wings--5 past presidents is a lot of support. We also have former presidents of AFO, WOS, and COS helping. I've been on many ad hoc AOU committees, so I'm sure we would have been called on this by our ever - vigilant secretary if there was an issue. And, I have never read where a group of AOU members could not present an idea to the Council. Perhaps a focus on the big picture would be more constructive. Consider these OSNA membership numbers: would this not give you reason for concern? http://ornithologyexchange.org/files/file/12-%7B%3F%7D/ http://ornithologyexchange.org/files/file/13-%7B%3F%7D/ Given this situation, how would you solve this problem? I truly would be interested in your response. Thanks, Sue
  17. Sue Haig
    CONGRATULATIONS JED!! What a wonderful and deserving honor! You have done so much for teaching, academia, ornithological societies and the field of ornithology that I am just thrilled that you have been recognized for your incredible efforts. Here's to you! Sue
  18. Sue Haig
    Dick--I was very specific in my notes to the OSNA presidents that we were not asking them to join SFO at that time. Thus, I feel bad that RRF spent all that time going through the process of evaluating their future when they did not have the correct information to do that. Given no other OSNA society took the message I sent the way that RRF did, I think they somehow misunderstood what I was asking of them. In any event, RRF or any other OSNA society is always welcome to join in the discussions at any point. By the by...you keep raising this phrase "unofficial committee". It's kind of like the people that raise the issue of Obama's birth certificate. I asked President Faaborg if we could form a committee to look into the future of AOU. He readily agreed. I kept him and the Exec Comm. up to date on what we were doing. I can't see where there is fault in that. Sue
  19. Sue Haig
    Ruth -- It is surprising to get this response from you as I/we nevered asked RRF to join SFO. We clearly stated in the note to you, as RRF president, that we were asking RRF to join the discussion to explore development of a new society. No society, including the AOU, has been asked to join SFO. And every OSNA society was invited to participate in these discussions. I wonder how RRF made the decisions they did without any idea of what the plan for SFO would be? We do not have a plan yet, hence there is really nothing for RRF or any society to judge the new society. In any event, RRF will always be welcome to participate in discussions related to SFO. We hope you and RRF members will stay tuned for how this society is evolving. Sue
  20. Sue Haig
    We are writing to update the ornithological community on our efforts to develop a business plan for the Society for Ornithology. We understand that lack of details at this point can be frustrating. However, we are working as quickly and thoughtfully as we can so that soon you will have a better idea of what we are proposing and be able to comment on it. The following timeline will give you an idea of where we have been and where we are going between now and the NAOC in Vancouver next summer. AUGUST 2011 Ad Hoc AOU Committee AOU20xx proposes an idea to the AOU Council that a new society be formed called the Society for Ornithology. SFO would provide expanded service to members and ornithology as a science and broaden efforts on publishing the best possible science, foster future ornithologists, promote ornithology and ornithologist as scientists, and facilitate education and outreach. SFO would not be a merger nor a federation of societies. Rather, it would be a new society organized and operated as an NGO with a board of directors and salaried staff. The AOU Council approved a motion that instructed our committee to further develop a business plan for this new society. The draft business plan would be reviewed and discussed at the mid-year Council meeting in February 2012.[/font][/size] Sue Haig presented the concept of the SFO at the AOU business meeting in Jacksonville, FL. Announcement of the SFO Initiative was made on the AOU, OSNA, and Ornithology Exchange websites as well as the Ornithological Newsletter. Several birding magazines also reported on the initiative. We contacted presidents of each OSNA society with an invitation to help plan the new society. We had positive feedback from AFO, COS, and WOS. By positive, it means they were interested in seeing how things progressed. It did not mean they endorsed the concept. Other societies wanted to wait to see what we were planning. No society rejected the concept outright. Our committee, now called the SFO Steering Committee, organized five subcommittees to explore possibilities and costs for the new society in the over-lapping areas of: governance and management, publications, conservation, communication, and education and outreach. FALL 2011 The subcommittees are working on their reports. Committees are made up of OSNA members from across the societies. We have specific members from AOU, AFO, COS, and WOS, however, at this stage no one is representing a particular society. Rather, everyone is brainstorming about their “perfect” society for the 21st century. FEBRUARY 2012 AOU Council meets to evaluate business plan. Presidents of WOS, AFO, and COS will participate in this meeting. Other OSNA presidents are welcome to join us if they are interested. SFO Committees revise business plan according to feedback at the Council meeting. SPRING-SUMMER 2012 SFO steering committee solicits comments from interested OSNA societies and AOU members. Other societies can solicit opinions from members as they deem appropriate. SFO steering committee meets monthly via teleconference with interested OSNA society presidents or representatives to revise business plan. SFO steering committee refines plan as per recommendations from OSNA societies. AUGUST 2012: NAOC SFO steering committee meets with OSNA presidents at NAOC to further discuss plan. SFO committee chairs present proposed plan to AOU Council with a request to fund the launch of SFO. Other OSNA societies can vote to join SFO, reject joining SFO, or choose to join at another time. Fall 2012 Proceed with development of SFO as approved by AOU, if not other societies. NOTE: approval to proceed does not mean AOU or any other society will disappear. AOU would continue while SFO is in transition. Other societies would similarly follow this path (more or less) at their discretion. You can post comments here or send them to me directly. Thanks so much for your patience with this important endeavor. Sincerely, Susan Haig AOU President-Elect on behalf of: Bonnie Bowen, Jed Burtt, John Fitzpatrick, Frank Gill, Dylan Kesler, Brian Olsen, and Stan Senner
  21. Sue Haig
    Ricky--I do not know. The Council has to sort out how to deal with this. Sue
  22. Sue Haig
    John--the following has already been sent to all OSNA members and OE as a new article. However, I guess it takes a while for the messages to go out. In the meantime, this is what you and everyone else should receive: Update on Society for Ornithology business plan
  23. Sue Haig
    John--have you read the previous posts where I outline our plan for gathering input from everyone? And have you also considered that we cannot propose something to the membership without figuring out what to propose to them? How else would you be proceeding? Clearly asking members if they would like to give up the AOU without having a plan for what we might do instead seems a bit ridiculous. Next--the AOU Council in no way voted to disband the AOU. That was very clear in the announcements you have gotten via email, on the AOU website, and on the OE newspage. They voted to let my committee further develop a plan for a new society so they could further evaluate the idea at the mid-year Council meeting in February. As I have stated previously, we have reps from AOU, WOS, COS and AFO on our committees. We have invited the presidents of AFO, COS, and WOS to the mid-year meeting. I won't go into detail about the rest of the plan for comments as I have done it several times above. Ricky and I corresponded quite a bit privately after her note. By the time we were done, it did not seem like there was much left to comment on on OE. I will await your ideas for a better plan for how we should proceed in communicating to the members w/o any sorting of planning document. Sue
  24. Sue Haig
    Ricky--I am afraid people are interpreting lack of communication as an indication there is something we are not talking about, Rather, at this stage we have nothing to talk about as committees are just off putting reports together. There will be a lot more to talk about, and people will have the chance to provide input, once we have the draft SFO proposal put together for the Council. As for the process AOU will go through, we need to wait for the february council meeting on that as well. I cannot say what the Council will recommend. Thanks again for your interest, Sue
  25. Sue Haig
    Ricky--I am afraid people are interpreting lack of communication as an indication there is something we are not talking about, Rather, at this stage we have nothing to talk about as committees are just off putting reports together. There will be a lot more to talk about, and people will have the chance to provide input, once we have the draft SFO proposal put together for the Council. As for the process AOU will go through, we need to wait for the february council meeting on that as well. I cannot say what the Council will recommend. Thanks again for your interest, Sue
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