Place: Houston,
USA, Fairfield Offices
Days: 13-14 April 2003
Participants:
Mike
Bahorich, SEG President
Ali
Tura, SEG Vice President of Executive Committee/GAC Liaison
Bill Barkhouse, USA Country
Representative/Past SEG President
Fred
Aminzadeh, Past SEG Executive Committee Member
Yoram
Shoham, Past SEG Executive Committee Member
Shane
Coperude, Chairperson GAC
Mariangela
Capello, Vice-Chairperson GAC
Tim
Berge, Past GAC Chairman/representing Africa Region
Alfred
Liaw, Asia Regional Coordinator
Jim
Thomas, Latin Region Coordinator
Brian
Russell, Past SEG President
David
Pitcher, Azerbaijan/Kazakhstan Country Representative
Kurt
Strack, GAC Committee Member
Roy
Clark, President-Elect Geophysical Society of Houston
Lawrence
M. Gochioco, TLE Committee, Chairperson/Editor
Richard
Chimblo, Representative for Middle East
Karen
McDonald, International Showcase Chairman
Scott
LaBaume Fairfield International Director Of Marketing
Gregg
Larson- Fairfield Human Resources Manager
Mary
Fleming, SEG Executive Director
Jim
Lawnick , SEG staff
Pamela
Terekhova, SEG staff
Dean
Clark, SEG staff
Shane
Coperude, GAC Chairperson (opening remarks):
Welcomed the participants and stated the objective of the meeting as
continuing and expanding the importance of the role of GAC in achieving an
effective global influence, participation, expansion and relevance for the SEG.
He
Informed on the general agenda, including schedule, lunches and made a formal
invitation for dinner on Monday night graciously offered and sponsored by
Fairfield Industries. He thanked
Fairfield Industries for their continuing support of the SEG GAC programs.
Members
of the committee were asked to introduce themselves. S. Coperude directed the members to the file folder before them
containing the AGENDA and REFERENCE MATERIAL that Terekhova had prepared for
the meeting.
S.
Coperude informed the committee that each year the finance committee sends a
letter to all committee chairmen asking if they have any additional budgetary
requests other than the $400 that is allotted to all committees. M. Capello raised the concern that she may
need financial help to travel to Dallas for the annual meeting as newly
appointed GAC chairman. The SOVG had
paid for her airfare to attend the GAC meeting in Houston but she would need
addition financial support for Dallas.
She asked if the $400 could be used for her travel. It was stated that the $400 was typically
used for postage, copying, etc. A
motion was made by B. Russell and seconded by K. Strack that S. Coperude write a letter to the Finance Committee asking for
additional monies (or the $400) for M. Capello’s travel expenses. Motion passed. S. Coperude said he would contact them about this request. He asked if there were any changes in the
Agenda, and being none asked the regional Coordinators and Country
Representatives to provide their reports.
ü ASIAN-PACIFIC REGION (Alfred Liaw):
Reports
on the main Geophysical Conference of Beijing, on the third week of June 2003.
Reads
Kevin Dodds, new GAC regional coordinator for the Pacific/Australia (see
attached) report on ASEG. Also, reports
that YOGYA 2003 was cancelled due to the problems in Bali.
ü LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN REGION (James Thomas):
Mexico
will hold its 11 Symposium on Geophysics at Cancun, SEG has a Level III
Participation, with John Castagna appointed as Technical SEG Co-Chairperson and
Efraín Méndez as Mexican Geophysical Society appointed Technical
Co-Chairperson.
Efrain
Mendez is suggested by Javier Nunez as GAC Country Representative for Mexico to
replace him. The committee is in
agreement.
Brazil
invites to the SBGf Geophysical Conference at Rio de Janeiro, Sep 14-18, which
SEG supports at Level III participation.
Art Weiglin is SEG’s technical program representative. The Rio 2003 Steering Committee and SBGf has
requested SEG to send a booth and staff to the conference. Jim Thomas and the
general consensus of participants acknowledge that it would be preferable to
send representatives to SEG Level III meetings worldwide.
Argentina
does not have any upcoming events of relevance for geophysics. This Country is
requesting an explanation on the reason why SEG did not include them in the
2003 DISC program. Answer was provided by SEG staff regarding the absolute need
that all countries interested in any SEG program request with appropriate
timing its participation, filling the forms provided in the web page. The
request should be placed one year in advance.
SEG
staff and Shane Coperude, Chairperson will prepare paperwork, or email
invitations, in order to attend the DISC Program 2004.
A
need for a schedule of deadlines for all SEG procedures and programs became
apparent, since it was reasoned that each activity requires at least a year or
more for programming. No one was
appointed to prepare this. M. Capello suggested SEG staff should prepare one,
at least for DISC, Level III and IV Conferences request and GAC PC Program post
it on the web and deliver it to all Committees.
M.
Capello informs that about 85% of Geophysicists were laid off, as a result of a
political and economical crisis undergoing in the country, and guided by
political reasons. After a long strike that began last Dec 2002, PDVSA has
reduced personnel in 18.000 employees. This situation impacted also the service
companies and associations operating in the country, who also reduced scale of
use of Geophysicists. M Capello acknowledged SOVG, who sponsored her air-ticket
trip to this meeting and SEG, who sponsored the stay.
ü USA REGION (Bill Barkhouse):
Reported
on the next SEG Dallas Meeting, and the different Summer Research and D&P
Committees workshops in place. Bill Barkhouse stated that he has received the
endorsement of the Geophysical Society of Houston
for the concept to create a program in which an SEG US section (GSH) pairs up with an international SEG
section. Bill proposes a mentoring
program to assist international Student Sections. The Geophysical Society of Houston
will support a pilot Program where an
international exchange of students and fostering among students societies could
take place, to then expand the model to other SEG Sections and Societies all
over the world. The goal is to provide low- and middle-income countries with
the opportunity to expand their in knowledge and networking possibilities, to
expand the Geophysical scientific level to the excellence-guided SEG standards.
M. Capello explained that a pilot program similar to this idea already took
place with an International Exchange last may 2002, between Universidad Central
de Venezuela (UCV) and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), finances provided by
donations of the Venezuelan Geophysical Society, the UCV and the SPE Venezuelan
Chapter. It was decided to form a Committee to develop a pilot program with the
Geophysical Society of Houston and a
Venezuelan Geophysical Student Section. STUDENT SECTIONS PILOT PROGRAM COMMITTE
MEMBERS: Richard D. Chimblo, Mariangela Capello and Bill Barkhouse.
Bill
also agreed to talk to the Dallas Geophysical Society about a similar program.
ü AFRICA REGION (Tim Berge):
Activity
in the region is extensive. More than 7 meetings were reported. In particular
the SAGA meeting, that will take place in Oct. 2003, and the Women Geosciences
Conference in Capetown.
ü MIDDLE EAST REGION (R. Chimblo):
R.
Chimblo read the report sent by Aldo Vesnaver in reference to GEO 2004
requesting that SEG endorse the conference and send a staffed booth. Also, he requested the visit of a
Distinguished Lecturer or DISC. R.
Chimblo announced that he had been asked by Aldo Vesnaver and Dick Edwards to
attend the meeting and represent the Middle East and would be happy to offer
his support to the GAC. He encouraged
the GAC to keep the communication and activities healthy and strong with our
colleagues in the Middle East.
ü CIS/EUROPE (Y. Shoham for T. Galikeev and A. Tura for Waif
Beydoun):
Y.
Shoham will report on Moscow tomorrow morning.
There was nothing to report from
the
European coordinators.
A
report was provided by several members involved in this program including Dave
Pitcher, Vik Sen, and Mike Buryanik. PCs were purchased for the Baku student
section, Indonesia student section with possibility for a Ukraine student
section. This program has met with
great success, and raised matching-funds from an oil & gas local companies
that allowed the possibility of giving not only hardware but software to the
students.
S.
Coperude informed the committee that the SEG Foundation has approved only
$3,000 for 2003 for the PC Program and that the GAC needs to find alternative
funding for this program.
Mary
Fleming stated that it would be necessary for the GAC to establish a
methodology or procedures for selection of students sections to be used in the
GAC PC program.
A
discussion regarding the need of a PC PROGRAM COUNTRY SELECTION COMMITTEE took
place. B. Barkhouse moved and it was
seconded by T. Berge that a committee be formed to develop procedures to select
student sections to receive PC and software donations. Motion passed. The members are Alfred Liaw, Shane Coperude and Dave Pitcher.
They will provide the GAC Chairperson with a 5-year list of countries where
student sections will be awarded this donation. They would also include as a
consideration the selection of countries where the matching-founds campaign
would be possible every time the Program is to be implemented.
It
was also suggested that the GAC use the PC program as a tool to focus on
developing SEG relations in the country – such as an incentive or motivation to
create a student or regular section in a country we have no members. The committee was advised to send current
student sections a letter/survey announcing the procedures and scope of the
program and how the student section can apply.
The
PC for Students program also needs more promotion to the SEG members in order
to receive additional sponsorship of software and hardware in the future.
T.
Gochioco informed the committee that he had initiated the pending student
section in the Philipines and would like this new student section to be
considered to receive a PC in the future.
Several
participates stated that a problem exists regarding the low participation of
the GAC Country Representatives and a new mechanism of selecting Country Reps
should be implemented. M. Capello informed that in several regions, like Latin
America and Caribbean it is usually the case that the local geophysical society
president is selected as the natural country representation. Unfortunately, it is obvious that the
obligations and responsibilities of these persons interfere and do not allow
them to actively participate as a country representative. M. Capello suggested
appointing past-presidents as a guideline to select Country Reps. or as an
alternative. Terekhova pointed out that
this is already being done in the Pacific Region for the Australia coordinator
and is working well. It was also
suggested to use a different title for these person so as not to compete with
the “authority” of the local presidents.
“Country Liaison” was suggested. L. Gochioco said this could be possible
also for the Philippines. It was also proposed that in order to better assure
compromise and participation from Country
Representatives and Regional Coordinators, to have them prepare a statement of
Goals, and make sure the Chairman and this Committee review those every
year. It was decided that the GAC
Chairperson, S. Coperude, would write letters and email communications to
Country Representatives and Regional Coordinators asking them to be more
proactive and declare a Statement of Goals to renew their participation.
It
was moved by Tim B. and seconded by M. Capello that a committee be formed to
create a timeline of deadlines and more detailed descriptions and expectations
for both the regional coordinators and the country representatives. The proposal was approved and T. Berge, M.
Capello, and K. Strack agreed to serve on this committee
Fred
Aminzadeh recommended that the GAC Chairperson write a formal letter to the SEG
Executive Committee to report that the list of countries eligible for Global
membership be revised and that the list will be reviewed by the GAC. Changes will be suggested by the GAC
whenever necessary to accommodate for worldwide events encompassing problems
for Geophysicists around the world. The
GAC will take on the responsibility of reviewing and revising the countries
eligible for Global members Bank every year at their bi-annual meeting and will
recommend these changes to the Executive Committee.
B. Barkhouse moved that the GAC will take on
the responsibility of reviewing and revising the countries eligible for Global
membership every year at its bi-annual meeting and will recommend these changes
to the Executive Committee. A committee
should also be appointed by the Chairman to aid in the selection of these
countries. The motion was seconded by
T. Berge and passed unanimously.
A
motion was moved by M. Capello and seconded by R. Clark to include Venezuela
and Mexico in the list of global countries eligible for Global membership
during 2003, due to the recent very extreme problems faced by Geophysicists in
those countries. It was unanimously approved.
It
was suggested by A. Liaw that the SEG staff prepare quarterly reports on global
members by region and country and e-mail them to the appropriate regional
coordinators to distribute.
Terekhova
will discuss with the membership department.
S. Coperude reported for Vik Sen, GAC Webmaster, that the web page is active. A copy of the front page is in the packet. He encouraged all regional coordinators to contact their country representatives to submit reports to V. Sen to add to the GAC web page.
Mike
Bahorich, SEG President made his presentation to the GAC. He pointed out the fact that the 50% of
members are from outside the US, and are in average younger than the US ones.
Bahorich
also revealed that the new SEG web page had three main objectives: to expose
and communicate the benefits of SEG to Members, to better reach International
Members (*) and to encourage young people to become geophysicists.
(*)=
Note of Minutes authors: International Members are not to be mentioned as that.
Since SEG wants to become GLOBAL, every member is international, and there
should be no distinction among SEG Americans (previous
domestic), Canada or any other country member.
M.
Fleming stressed the issue that there is a 26% decrease in attendance at the
SEG Annual Meeting. Also, many members
from outside the US could not attend last year due to the stricter visa
requirements from the US Embassy. This
is a serious problem because the SEG relies on a good profit from the Annual
Meeting. The GAC should take into consideration
the problem of obtaining visas when planning for their international luncheon
meetings and other events.
Chairperson
Coperude asked what was the position of this Committee on the VOTING Rights for
Global members. He read an e-mail sent
by M. Burianyk asking the committee to consider recommending to the Executive
Committee/Council that Global members be allowed to vote and dividing the
Global Membership into Active and Associate categories. They should not be discriminated against due
to financial reasons. T. Berge seconded
M. Burianyk’s opinion but
there
was no formal motion made. It was
pointed out that this is a long process and that it was too early to know
whether or not the Global Membership category itself would be successful in the
long-term.
Terekhova
directed the members’ attention to the report on Global Members created by the
Membership Dept. that indicates there is a decline of approximately 300 Global
Members who have not renewed their membership for a second year.
M.
Fleming reported that the US Government, by which SEG is legally regulated, has
made it mandatory for companies including non-profit societies or associations
to discontinue any involvement or doing business with the following sanctioned
nations:
ü IRAN
ü IRAQ
ü LYBIA
ü SUDAN
ü CUBA
She
explained that two lawyers had been hired to advise SEG of its rights in this
matter and both had come to the same conclusion – we were legally bound to
enforce the government’s mandate and cease membership services and any
activities to benefit the sanctioned nations.
The
SEG has requested in writing a license/exception from the US Department of
Foreign Assets (?) to do business with the countries involved on the basis that
SEG is a scientific organization, but it can take up to 12 months for a
response.
Several
GAC Members and Ex Com representatives stated that this was a measure that
affected the progress of science and in particular geophysics, given that
discoveries and breakthroughs may come from any university and trained
scientific mind worldwide.
SEG staff said this measure affected about 100 SEG members.
It
would be difficult to tell at international SEG-level III sponsored meetings
how to distinguish between which delegate comes from any of the mentioned
countries and other countries, so a suggestion was made regarding including
acquisition in the forms to be filled in at registration such as : Do you come
from Iran, Iraq, etc .. It would be mentioned and suggested in a report to the
Executive Committee. However, since SEG
would only be a co-sponsor of these meetings, the main sponsor would have to
approve.
R.
Chimblo moved, seconded by L. Gochioco that the SEG Executive Committee pursue
the humanitarian approach to promoting our participation in scientific
endeavors in Iraq ‘s geophysical activity. It was approved unanimously. This was later extended to all of the
sanctioned
countries.
F.
Aminzadeh made a motion that a position statement indicating that these
sanctions are harmful to the growth of the science of geophysics. This statement should be written and
communicated by SEG in the name of all members to the US Government that if SEG
obliges the sanctioning of these nations it will damage the growth and
expansion of Geophysics as a science. SEG is a scientific society and should be
free to exchange ideas of technology.
It would welcome an easing of these restrictions. The statement would have to be approved by
the Council. Also, SEG could ask SPE
and IEEE to sign the statement as well.
It was ultimately decided that F. Aminzadeh and R. Chimblo would prepare
a statement of SEG regarding this matter that would not oblige or put SEG in
problems with the US Gov., but at the same time any member worldwide would
identify with.
Tura
brought forth the concern that there is no formal procedure used by the
Nominations Committee to ensure that an international candidate be (1) be
selected for nomination, and (2) be elected to the Executive Committee. Thus, it is possible that future Executive
Committees have no global/international representation. M. Bahorich also voiced his concern that
there may not be any officer on the upcoming Executive Committee .
B.
Barkhouse and B. Russell shared their experiences as past presidents on the
Nominations Committee of how the system works.
Often it is very difficult to find candidates living outside of the
United States who can financially participate in Executive Committee
meetings. It was pointed out that the
By-Laws do not state that the Executive Committee meetings have to be held in
the United States but historically almost all of them have been held in the
U.S. B. Russell and M. Capello stated
that they were opposed to setting quotas to formally force the Nominating Committee
to select candidates based upon their residence or citizenship.
The
Committee for Nominations would benefit from nominations coming from all over
the World. The GAC Chairperson would contact regional Coordinators for them to
let Country Reps to provide a list for the NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS Committee.
Special emphasis should be placed on the Emerging Leaders Award. The candidates
for Executive Committee should send a short resume plus a digital photo.
Tura
also brought up the fact that no Level IV or V international conferences were
planned past Moscow 2003. The Executive
Committee was requesting that the GAC become more proactive in encouraging
their regional coordinators and country representatives to request conference
support from the SEG several years in advance.
The GAC needs to be proactive in a long-range plan selecting venues by
rotating regions to host international conferences. It was suggested that this topic also be further discussed in
the International Strategies Ad Hoc Meeting.
Regarding
the need for more ACTIVE MEMBERS, A. Tura stated that progress
was made recently, since SEG now has increased the number of Active Members
recently.
An
invitation to the Student Reception was made to all GAC members to encourage
the membership among students.
D.
Clark introduced L. Gochioco as the new Chairman of the TLE Editorial Board and
stated that Ali Tura will return to the TLE Editorial Board to complete his
tenure. He informed the committee
members about the opportunities for publishing in TLE by any Committee or SEG
member. They are:
ü Tutorials: If you have seen a presentation you like, or
posters, or procedures, publish it!
ü ENCORE: What has appeared in Journals that may be of local
circulation or other sciences, may be included, if provided with permission
from the original writer/publication
ü The President’s Page: Any Ex Com Member can publish notes of
interest for the SEG community.
ü Articles on Geophysical-exploration of a country or form a
historical perspective.
ü Professional profiles of renowned geophysicists from all
over the world.
ü Service companies articles of general interest
ü Explanations on legal context for particular countries, of
interest for service GP companies
ü Technological articles (Nasa)
ü Articles that explain Potential Methods, non-seismic methods
ü Reports on the DISC Programs
ü Student sections activities
Every year P. Terekhova works with the
GAC Chairman and Regional Coordinators to publish an article about GAC programs
and reports on Level III, IV, and V sponsored global conferences. She also works with TLE staff to help
publicize Annual Meeting global events and activities. Regional Coordinators should be more
proactive in communicating with country representatives in encouraging them to
submit articles on geophysical “happenings” in their
part of the world. A copy of the recent publications of
articles concerning GAC is in the committee packet.
The
DISC Program was then analyzed and discussed from several point of views. It was pointed out that SEG and EAGE are
co-sponsors of this program and a new contract has written outlining policy and
procedure of the DISC. The EAGE is now
responsible for sponsoring the DISC in Africa, Middle East, and Europe. Of particular interest is the fact that
instructors should be selected with a more open procedure, where more options
could be considered. A dense agenda of more than 23 countries to visit in a
year for the Instructors raised the suggestion from M. Capello in having TWO
DISC instructors during the year or one instructor for a two-year term, in
order to cover all cities and divide the effort. It would be cost-wise and time
saving for the Instructors.
A
suggestion to include three Globally-designated countries on the DISC list each
(to be rotated) and recommended by the GAC was tabled. Suggestions for countries were Baku and
Lagos. S. Coperude will contact the
DISC Chairman to discuss the possibility of these recommendations and how to
work together with the DISC committee.
The
need to implement new approaches for the CE Program, such as Distance-learning
and video conferencing was also promoted.
K.
McDonald provided a complete report on the progress of the International
Showcase for the Dallas Annual Meeting. She reported that exhibitors would be
requested once again to bring power point presentation about their country and
company and national music cassettes.
It is hoped that at the end of each day beer will be available to
attract more visitors to the Showcase to meet with the exhibitors in a more
relaxed environment. Also, a Global
Forum will be organized. Currently, the
Dallas sponsoring committee is trying to raise money for the showcase to give
grants to needy companies from Third World Countries.
A
questionnaire sent out to Salt Lake City IS Exhibitors indicated that almost
all of the companies attending made major contacts and negotiated deals.
Y.
Shoham advised that the committee be very selective in their decisions as to
what companies are permitted in the showcase.
They must search for companies with unique characteristics and
technology. The perception of the Showcase
must change. Last year the booths were
facing a bad location and the venue on the exhibition floor should be changed.
J.
Lawnick stated that this had been resolved.
Mike
Burianyk, GAC Country Rep for Ukraine and International Showcase Liaison sent
along a report that was read at the meeting.
It requested from all GAC Regional Coordinators and Country
Representatives their assistance in finding new sponsors and potential
exhibitors for the Showcase. A letter
from Mike along with two IS Exhibition Brochures and packets will be mailed to every
regional coordinator and country representation for their distribution to
potential exhibiting companies in their country or region.
P.
Terekhova stated that information on speakers (photos, bios, presentation
titles) and sponsors for the regional meetings is due to her by May 10th
in order to appear in the only SEG Dallas Convention Announcement. This year the sponsorship committee has
tried to collect money from sponsors for the luncheons, however, thus far none
has been collected. Regional coordinators
are responsible for inviting luncheon speakers and finding sponsors to pay for
food and beverage and audio-visual expenses.
Thus far, Brian Russell has accepted the invitation to speak at the
Asian/Pacific luncheon and Professor G. Berkhout has agreed to speak at the
CIS/European lunch. Landmark has agreed
to sponsor the entire reception for ULG and is currently in search of a speaker
and entertainment. There are no other
sponsors for the luncheon meetings. R.
Chimblo agreed to work with Aldo Vesnaver and Dick Edwards and look for a
speaker and sponsor for the Middle East Luncheon.
The
GAC Meeting will be held on Sunday morning as it has been in the past. P. Terekhova stated that since every
Committee changes members after its functions, it may be necessary to implement
some kind of training for new members. Specifically for GAC, this would imply a
registration or statement of Procedures, some kind of Manual where the Country
Reps, Regional Coordinators and even the Chairpersons would learn their
responsibilities as well as SEG policy and procedure during their tenure.
S.
Coperude summarized the discussions of the previous day, and laid out the
agenda for the day.
B.
Barkhouse was brought up to date with discussions on how the Nominations
Committee can provide more international candidates on the slate for Executive
offices.
Action
Item: Chairman to ask SEG membership
department for assistance in making a report of the active members in each
region – bios should be collected by regional coordinators/country
representative which can be later used for GAC recommendations for Nomination
Committee.
The
list of Events for the upcoming 2003 and 2004 period was presented and
analyzed. NO level IV or V is posted for 2004. It is the task of all GAC
members to spread the word about this possibility and encourage section
presidents to request SEG support.
Information and explanation on this process can be found on the web.
A
suggestion was made that our Chairperson informs the Ex Com of this matter and
compels them to encourage advertisements and communication regarding supporting
worldwide events and how SEG support would benefit our international sections
and associations. This would financially benefit SEG and spread the excellence
in Geophysics all over.
A
questionnaire should be sent to sections and societies asking for their
comments on the Levels of Support and what additional types of support they
would like to see coming from the SEG.
A GAC committee could then go over the responses and recommend revisions
to the Levels of Support offered by SEG.
Y.
Shoham, who just returned from a Moscow 2003 Organizing Committee meeting in
Moscow, reported extensively on activities in progress for Moscow 2003, Level-V
sponsored SEG meeting this year. The
technical program call for papers deadline has passed and over
380+
papers have been submitted with over 80 from outside of Russia/CIS. The Exhibition brochure has been distributed
and 15+ booths have been sold to Russian exhibitors and
11+
booths have been sold to US exhibitors.
The SEG need to purchase registration software for use in its international
conferences. This should be a priority
if SEG intends to be operator for international meetings.
Brian
Russell pointed out how necessary for SEG is to become Global as soon as
possible, given the nature of advancement of meetings and leadership and
structure of other professional societies.
It
was explained that even though the SEG was pioneering on the reach-out
strategies earlier on, now it has fallen behind several important professional
societies such as SPE and AAPG.
Ali
Tura stated that several models could be followed, specifically:
ü OTC meeting
(going BIG, with more than 5 societies involved, this provides funds and is
beneficial to Members)
ü ARCHIE
Conference (small, but sponsored by 4 societies. Renowned worldwide, it could
be revamped)
ü RESEARCH /
D&P Committee meetings as the SUMMER WORKSHOPS (get them worldwide, outside
US)
ü Actual SEG
Level 5 model (but with SEG initiative to perform it. Going to several and new
locations, addressing the local GP society)
It
was discussed that the future of our society lay in attracting and developing
our younger members, many of which are from outside of the U.S. The GAC should recruit younger members for
its committee. B. Russell will contact
the Karcher Award winners and try to involve them on SEG committees including
the GAC. There should be a special
reception for emerging leaders or the younger professional under 35+.
A
round-table approach was taken to identify what were the main problems related
to SEG becoming more global. Some answers were:
ü Too
financed-focused
ü An American
Society
ü Cultural
differences
ü Too many
professional Societies
Some
suggestions to become more global were given by GAC members:
ü Encourage
active participation from Country Reps and Regional Coordinators
ü Training of
SEG Staff and Ex Com with no-international experience
ü Travel
extensively for the SEG President to represent SEG at international Level III
and upper meetings
ü Support Level
III and above conferences with SEG Booth and staff member
ü Extensive use
of Distance-Learning with SEG web page as portal
ü Hyperlinks in
WebPages for all regional Societies and voiceovers
F.
Aminzadeh made a motion and M. Capello seconded that the GAC recommend to
Executive Committee that for all Level III and above SEG sponsored meetings an
SEG representative (President, President-Elect, or someone from the executive
committee) must attend the
Meeting. Motion Passed. The Nominations Committee should make potential candidates aware
that they would be required to travel to international meetings.
(Recorded
by Shane Coperude, Chairman, Mariangela Capello, Elected Chairman and Pamela
Terekhova, SEG , April 24, 2003)