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Title: Past Chair's Report. 2004 in Review: Commitment, Serving the “Publics” and Taking Action

Author:

Section/SPIG: Health Administration

Issue Date:

In prior Chair’s columns over the past year, I have addressed the themes of building your commitment to HAS, serving internal and external publics, and moving from commitment to action – that is, doing the hard work of the Section. The 2004 APHA Annual Meeting held in November in Washington, D.C., was an excellent illustration of how the members of the Section have addressed all three of these themes. As many of you know who attended the Annual Meeting, there was high interest and enthusiasm from both new members and continuing members. The accomplishments of the Section at the Annual Meeting and throughout last year deserve highlighting:


  • The Annual Meeting included our HAS Business meetings (four meetings in all), the Strategic Planning and Implementation Session, and Awards Ceremony and Social. All of these were very well-attended and provided opportunity for discussion of important Section activities, recognizing our awards winners, networking, and planning activities and roles for next year. We welcomed many new faces to our meetings and Awards Ceremony!

  • The HAS Program at the Annual meeting was a huge success, thanks to the excellent efforts of Program Chair Diane Adams, her Co-chair, Polly Turne, and the committee members. The evaluations of the sessions were very positive, and the committee has left us with a wonderful process to be followed in future program planning.

  • The Web and IT Committee completed many initiatives under the expert leadership of Laura Larsson and Jorg Westermann. Plans for change on the Web site were announced, as well as plans for profiling HAS member expertise. Laura continues to do an excellent job on the HAS Newsletter and spends lots of time coordinating with APHA staff on Web and newsletter issues.

  • The Awards Committee, under the excellent leadership of Marcia Rosenstein, managed the awards process for the section, and determined the award winners for the Excellence in Health Administration Awards given by the Section. Winners this year were William Roper and Polly Turner. At the Awards Ceremony and Social held on Nov. 8, 2004, we honored each of these winners for their achievements and recognized their contributions to public health.

  • Policy Committee. Michael Smylie spearheaded our policy
    development and review process during the past year, and he and
    his committee are to be commended for the time and leadership on a challenging and time-consuming process.

  • Membership. Under the excellent leadership of Co-Chairs Audrey Smith and Linda Moore and LaTonia Peters, Co-Chair, Student Involvement, the Membership Committee identified new ways to reach members and involve the section in mentoring activities for new members and students. The Membership committee also managed the booth at the APHA Annual Meeting and coordinated volunteer staffing of the booth.

  • Strategic Planning and Implementation Committee. Tricia Todd provided excellent leadership to the Section in priority setting and actions regarding work tasks for the year. For her outstanding work, Tricia was chosen to receive the Chair's Award for Leadership Excellence.

  • Linkages Committee. Under the insightful leadership of Bud Nicola, the Linkages Committee expanded discussions with other organizations as to how HAS can work together to share expertise and to jointly meet the needs of members.

  • Nominating Committee. Under the excellent leadership of Joyce Gaufin, the Nominating Committee managed the nominations process for HAS leadership, which resulted in a slate of highly qualified candidates for Section and Governing Council offices.



In summary, this past year was a time of continued accomplishments for HAS. These successes are a direct result of the hard work of all active members of HAS. Also, it is important to remember that these successes were made possible through the contributions of prior chairs, committee leaders and members, as well as current and past members of the HAS Section Council and HAS members of the Governing Council. Past successes have provided the foundation for current HAS successes.

During the present year, I urge you to stand together with Jorg Westermann, PhD, as he transitions to his year of leadership as Chair of HAS. Again, I urge you to stay involved, show your commitment, reach out to others and continue the collaborative efforts that will continue to make the section strong and recognized as a positive force within and outside of APHA.