Genetic Toxicology Association (GTA)
Minutes of the Fall Board of Directors Meeting
Clayton Center, Newark, DE
September 20, 2007
Meeting commenced at 3:15 p.m.





Attending Board Members: Matt Cowlen (Chair), Patricia Escobar, Magnus Evertson (Secretary), Warren Ku, Jiaqin Yao, Jane Clarke (new board member)

Board Members Participating by Phone: N/A

Attending Committee Members: Leon Stankowski (Treasurer), Chris Farabaugh (Assistant Treasurer), Maria Donner (Membership Chair)

Other Participants: N/A



Welcome New Board Members

Presenter:  Board

Discussion:  Welcome newly elected Board members: Brinda Mahadevan and Jane Clarke.

Election of New Board Chair

Presenter:  Board

Discussion:  Warren nominated and seconded, but declined due to changing responsibilities at Pfizer. Discussion ensued about roles and responsibilities. Matt was then nominated and seconded.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: Matt accepted role as new Chair.

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Web Site Report

Presenter: N/A

Discussion: Board discussed the responsibilities of the Website structure. The Webmaster is responsible for technical aspects of the website. The Board will be responsible for the website content.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: The Board elected Patricia to oversee Web content.

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Membership Report

Presenter: Maria

Discussion:

1. Member-list not accurate. Registration online would aid in gaining a more accurate database.
2. Jane suggested the GTA should host a job fair.
   Warren discussed the possibility of Patricia and Ofelia to work on networking functions at the GTA meetings.
3. Jiaqin suggested the Board make industry aware that companies are represented for job networking.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: None.

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Newsletter Report

Presenter: Warren (in Krista's absence)

Discussion: Newsletter goes directly to the Webmaster from the Newsletter editor. Leon suggested the newsletter be folded for mailing rather than stuffed in envelope.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: No action items. Further discussion during the Winter meeting Newsletter report.

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Student Outreach

Presenter: Patricia

Discussion: Warren suggested strategy for student outreach to include:
   - 2-day meeting format
   - More aggressive award
   - Expand outreach to student investigators in industry (contract and pharma) and academia.
Matt suggested the student outreach should be agenda driven.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: Action items to be established during Winter Board Meeting.

Meeting Evaluations

Presenter: Jiaqin

Discussion:

1. Jiaqin volunteered to lead the meeting evaluations. Jiaqin reviewed the Fall meeting survey and found that ~ 50% of members are in favor of a 2-day GTA meeting. A full assessment of the survey will be performed by Jiaqin.
2. Warren suggested the Board send out an email distribution asking members if they would like periodic updates from GTA.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items:

1. Board agreed to Jiaqin leading the Meeting evaluations.
2. Action:  Chris to work with Webmaster to arrange an email distribution of periodic updates.

Old Business

Presenter: New Chair

Discussion: Excellence in Science Award for 2008 meeting. Patricia introduced a discussion regarding the GTA Board's involvement in the Excellence in Science Award. It would be beneficial to the Board to know how the award committee is formed.

Decisions and Assigned Action Items: Jiaqin will work with Dan Benz to see if Dan will continue to lead the Excellence in Science Award. Also to learn about the procedure.

New Business

Discussion:

1. SOP for Next meeting. The Board discussed the "ownership" of GTA SOP documents.
2. 2008 2-day Meeting Format Strategy (Warren, Chris, Matt, Jiaqin). A general outline of the 2-day meeting was discussed and presented.
        Discussion points for the 2008 meeting:
          -Speaker Dinner?
          -Advertise the new GTA meeting format at EMS?
          -Relative timing to EMS 2008
          -Topic overlap with EMS
          -Meeting attendance: local or national
          -Where to hold the meeting
          -Funding
          -Vendors
          -Speaker support (travel and accommodation cost)
          -Student investigator reports
          -Job fair
   It was suggested to the Board that a working Board member meeting will be held the night prior to the meeting.
   Board discussion suggested the speaker list should be finalized by the end of 2007. The Board need to work with the Treasurer to establish a budget for the 2008 meeting.
   The winter meeting was suggested to be held at Covance the week of 25 Jan 2008.
3. Support for meetings from SOT, form and strategies (Ofelia/Patricia). Patricia and Ofelia presented SOT sponsorship form. ( Award $1000). The deadline for filing the form is April 1st (quarterly).

Decisions and Assigned Action Items:

3. Matt will fill out the SOT sponsorship form as a function of the Chair of the Board.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm.

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