The Membership Committee has news to report!
Student memberships
A grant from GEICO allowed us to pay for three student memberships. We queried our membership for nominations and offered the memberships to:
- Mackenzie Melton (University of Washington) .
- Annette Kaufman (George Washington University) .
- Bryant Goodine (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).
Mackenzie was able to attend the Boston meeting with a patchwork of financial help from her sponsor (Dr. Abigail Halperin), the Tobacco Control Research Branch at NCI and our Section. We put her to work at “the booth.” We hope that Bryant and Annette will be able to help us review abstracts and assemble the Section program this spring.
“The Booth”
After much discussion about the inherent difficulties of decorating and staffing the Section booth, there it was, a Phoenix rising from the ashes at the Boston Annual Meeting. Finding enough volunteers to “man” the booth was a challenge, but we managed. Marilyn Daley identified several potential student volunteers at Brandeis. Unfortunately, the booth was in the Exhibition Hall, with access restricted to those with Annual Meeting badges. Our Section did not have funding to offer scholarships. We were, therefore, unable to take advantage of the volunteer help. The Section leadership is looking for ways to fund student scholarships in the future.
The booth motif was ATOD Section members’ work. You sent us trinkets, pamphlets, papers, reports, and (my personal favorite) two NCI tobacco use prevention and control monographs. We displayed it all and people took it. We talked up the Section and collected names and e-mails of APHA members who were either unaffiliated or considering a secondary membership in our Section. This month the membership committee will send them a personal invitation to participate. We have attractions they won’t be able to resist – we’ll let them review abstracts and work at the Section booth during the 2007 APHA Annual Meeting!
Finally, this is my official request for help to build the ATOD Section membership. The number of sessions we sponsor is contingent on the size of our membership, and we get a LOT of abstracts. As of last fall, we were down to approximately 930 members, whereas several years ago our membership topped 1,000. Please pitch the Section to all your friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers. They can either go to the APHA Web site and join the Section, or contact me by e-mail and I will forward the request.
Carol Schmitt
Membership Chair
schmittc@battelle.org