Three meetings were held at the Winter meeting of AAPT in
Kissemmee, Florida, that were to be attended by all the section representatives, the meeting of the section officers held on Sunday evening, the section representatives meeting also on Sunday evening, and the Council Meeting held on Monday evening. In all of these meetings the main topic under consideration was the adoption of a new constitution for the Association.
Steve Iona, chaired the meetings of the section officers and the section representatives. The section officers exchange as it is called is not a formal meeting in the sense that it is a part of the policy making hierarchy. It meets simply to provide a forum for the officers including the section representatives of the sections to share with one another ideas that work and do not work in attempting to make the sections viable and effective. From time to time ideas that originate in this group fine their way into the discussions of the section representatives in their formal meeting. Because the section representatives are members of the Council decisions made in their meetings have a direct line to the Council meetings. It is in the Council where policy is formulated that gives the Executive Board directives on the operation of the Association. This describes how the Association now operates, but should the proposed revisions in the constitution be adopted this will change somewhat.
Except for nominating people for a variety of positions for Association committees and electing officers, the section representatives spent their meeting discussing the proposed changes in the constitution. No vote was taken in this regard as all section representatives would be voting at the Council meeting.
Larry Kirkpatrick chaired the meeting of the Council. Among the issues discussed was the Revitalization, New Faculty, and Department Chairpersons' conferences. There was unanimity in that these conferences should be continued and expanded if possible. It was announced that the Association would be looking for replacements for the editors of the Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics. The treasurer reported a surplus of $182,000 for the last fiscal year. Curt Hieggelke and Thomas Okuma were awarded certificates of appreciation for their serves on the Executive Board. A plea was made for nominations for the many committees and officers of the Association.
The 2000 summer meeting of the Association will be held at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 29-August 2, 2000, and the 2001 Winter Meeting will be held in San Diego, CA, January 6-11, 2001.