Relevant ByLaws
ARTICLE IV — OFFICERS
5. THE SECRETARY.
The Secretary shall edit any newsletter of The Society and shall perform other duties assigned by the President. The Secretary shall maintain the Membership list of The Society, and is responsible for conducting all elections. The Secretary shall serve a term of two years and is eligible for re-election. A secretariat may be established by the Council.
Duties
- Keep the minutes of meetings and distribute copies.
- Handle general inquires.
- Handle correspondence regarding:
- Membership
- Council contact information
- Journal subscriptions
- Liason with Commonwealth of Virginia
- Previous conferences and newsletters
- Other Society business as needed
- Forward other correspondence to relevant Officer or Chairperson
- Maintain membership records
- May serve as Newsletter Editor
- Collect and solicit information
- Write and format some needed entries
- Print and distribute newsletters twice per year
- Arrange payment for printing costs
2015 Secretary's Report
Over the past two years, my primary responsibilities have been managing the membership of the society, attending meetings and keeping a record of the Council's decisions and Membership discussions, editing the newsletter, forwarding list announcements and web content to the list manager and website editors, contacting Council Members concerning their responsibilities, forwarding calls for nominations and awards, running the election, and addressing any particular concerns that arise with respect to the society. Details are below. Here is a report on the Membership:
Active Members 2015
- Regular: 421
- Student: 201
- Emeritus: 40
Total: 664
Membership 2013
- 376 Regular
- 142 Students
- 46 Emeriti
Total: 539
Broken down by nationality:
USA: 519
(US (244) + USA (275))
Canada: 92
France: 39
Germany: 23
Mexico: 18
Italy: 14
UK: 13
Brazil: 12
Spain: 11
Japan: 10
Israel: 7
Belgium: 6
Austria: 4
India: 4
China: 3
Korea: 1
Hungary: 1
Publications Agreement:
I also spoke with Ties Nijssen about our agreements with Springer re: Journal subscriptions. Here is our current agreement, concerning the following journals: History of Biology, Biology & Philosophy, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Acta Biotheoretica and Biological Theory
All journals are USD 50 excl VAT and Posting &Handling
All journals should be ordered and paid directly at Springer stating ISH membership via: http://www.springer.com/generic/order/journals+subscription?SGWID=0-40514-12-128793-0
If this does not work, people can e-mail Ties:
Journals only print, no electronic version
2003 Secretary's Report
ISHPSSB Membership Data (summarized July 9, 2003)
As of March 2000 (when we began the transition to two-year memberships and Chris Young took over management of the membership database)
| Regular members with dues paid through (at least) 2000: | 212 |
| Student members with dues paid through (at least) 2000: | 47 |
| Emeritus members: | 24 |
| Delinquent* | 526 |
| Total members in good standing: | 283 |
| As of April 2001 | |
| Regular members with dues paid through (at least) 2001: | 150 |
| Student members with dues paid through (at least) 2001: | 37 |
| Emeritus members: | 29 |
| Delinquent (453 members were more than a year overdue)* | 709 |
| Total members in good standing: | 216 |
| As of January 2002 | |
| Regular members with dues paid through (at least) 2002: | 184 |
| Student members with dues paid through (at least) 2002: | 104 |
| Emeritus members: | 30 |
| Delinquent (198 members were more than a year overdue) | 333 |
| Total members in good standing: | 318 |
| As of July 9, 2003 | |
| Regular members with dues paid through (at least) 2003: | 261 |
| Student members with dues paid through (at least) 2003: | 113 |
| Emeritus members: | 31 |
| Delinquent | 234 |
| Nonmembers (registered for the Vienna meeting) | 65 |
| Total members in good standing: | 405 |
Since March 2003, approximately 300 individuals have joined or fully renewed their memberships.
A membership drive this fall, prior to mailing of the Fall Newsletter, may help with renewals of the 234 delinquent members and may encourage some of the registered nonmembers to join. This could increase our membership by nearly 200 additional members. It will also help us cull our database more accurately and reduce mailing costs to delinquent members.
*Delinquent members continued to receive the ISHPSSB Newsletter (whether they wanted it or not) because systematic membership drives were not conducted until October 2001. After that time, delinquent members were deleted from the database one year after their status switched to delinquent.
1999 Membership report
About 400 active members: 300 full paying, 100 grad student; 300 members are delinquent in payments
1995 Membership report
Membership at the time of the 1995 meeting stood at 604, a 27% increase over two years previously. 476 were regular members; 128 students members.