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AOCS Agricultural Microscopy Division
Newsletter November 2007

Division Representative Meeting
Neil Vary

On September 10th the AOCS held a Division Representative Meeting in Chicago to discuss how the Society can best serve the needs of the Division members while at the same time establishing acceptable procedures for coordinating Division activities. The meeting was well attended as 9 of the 12 Divisions sent representatives, including myself on behalf of our Division.

The meeting was a brainstorming session that revolved around the following topics:

1. Purpose and role of AOCS Divisions
2. Current challenges facing AOCS Divisions
3. Effective operations of AOCS Division
1. Interaction with AOCS
2. Interaction with other AOCS Divisions
3. Fiscal responsibility
4. Current best practices

The session began with some interesting background information starting from the initial proposal of Divisions back in 1990 and how they have evolved since then. Since we were the American Association of Feed Microscopy (AAFM) at that time (and I was busily working on graduating grade 8), it was interesting to see how the AOCS members spontaneously formed their own ad-hoc committee and approached the Society with the idea of Divisions and how these would best serve their members. Since the AOCS was, and still is, structured from the bottom up (i.e. member driven, not AOCS staff driven) the AOCS readily responded and adopted the proposed Divisional structure we now have.

All Division representatives agreed that the current structure is needed and does fit the overall purpose and needs of the Divisions. However, it was also agreed that there is a lack of guidelines for the Divisions, which is sorely needed due to the relatively frequent Division Officers turnover. There is "A Guide for Division Officers" that was available in the past, but the last revision of this document was 12 years ago. A lot has changed since then. Through the efforts of this meeting, the AOCS was able to get enough Divisional feedback to allow them to update this document in the hopes that it will be finalized and available at the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo next May in Seattle. This guideline will help steer all Divisional activities as it is intended to: outline the responsibilities of each of the Division Officers, the Divisions, and the AOCS; and provide a list of services available to the Divisions.

I found this meeting to be both beneficial and productive. I am confident that this guide will help our Division interact with the AOCS staff more effectively, thus allowing us to take full advantage of all of the available services. Our Governing Board currently enjoys a very strong relationship with the Society's staff, but there are some services that we didn't even know were available that could help our Division flourish.

Also in this newsletter:

Let Us Share the Light, by Patricia Ramsey

In Focus, by Marge McCutcheon, Chair

Division Profile, by Catherine Watkins

Preview of Agricultural Microscopy Division Technical Sessions Planned for the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, by Neil Vary

AOCS Agricultural Microscopy Laboratory Proficiency Program Series, by Gary Ideus, Program provider

Microscopy Websites

Agricultural Microscopy Division web page
AOCS, 2710 S. Boulder, Urbana, IL 61802-6996 USA