Message from the President

Those who attended CASCA '99 at the end of June in Halifax will attest that this was a very successful meeting. On behalf of our Society, I wish to thank Dave Turner and the Local Organizing Committee for a job well done. The scientific quality of the presentations--oral and poster--was very high. Of particular note were the award lectures, Sidney van den Bergh (Petrie Lecturer), Stéphane Charpinet (Plaskett Lecturer), and Paul Chodas (Hogg Lecturer), as well as the invited oral presentations. Congratulations to Steve Shorelin (UWO) who won the award for the best student oral paper, and Glen Petitpas (McMaster) who won for the best poster.

The Business Meeting was productive, but long. Too long. I will have to explore ways of expediting some of the more mundane agenda items next year. Of immediate interest to all is the fact that the membership approved a motion put forward by the Board to raise the annual dues; 33% for regular members and 25% for student members (to make round numbers). The increase was in response to a careful study by the Board. In essence, the new initiatives proposed by the Board and consistent with (preliminary) recommendations by the Long Range Planning Panel require about 30% more money than our Society takes in annually.

These initiatives involve a co-ordinated and enhanced public outreach campaign. Largely through the efforts of our Publicity Officer, Robert Lamontagne, we are stepping-up our "media visibility." We are also committed to improving our educational programs. In particular, I announced that the Society would be mounting a (modest) Lectureship program within one year. We are currently in the planning process, but foresee a program that will bring professional astronomers to institutions and communities that have a burning interest in our subject but who lack the local expertise. A new, more comprehensive website for our Society is also being developed and should be released some time in the fall.

Participants in the Halifax meeting will also vividly recall two lunch-time sessions with Ralph Pudritz, Chair of the Long-Range Planning Panel. Ralph was grateful for the input provided by the membership at these sessions and remarked that all perspectives would be considered thoughtfully in the final draft which we anticipate should be released in the very near future. The Board has plans to "advertise" this report in a variety of ways, but the onus is also on all CASCA members to play an active role in "selling" the Report to local politicians and even the media. Suggestions for how best to accomplish this will be provided.

Ralph informs me that the English version should be available on the web in the very near future (at the time of writing), about the same time a hardcopy version should also appear. A "formal" release cannot take place until the Report is available in both official languages, however. The French translation will begin as soon as the English version appears on the web. The time-scale for translation is expected to be of the order of one month. A second volume containing the advisory material, including the text of a recent economic impact study by a firm hired by NRC, should also be complete and available when the first volume is released on the web.

CASCA Board and the National Research Council (Public and International Relations, and Conference Services) are nearing the completion of a bid to the International Astronomical Union to host the 2006 Congress and General Assembly in Calgary, Alberta. The bid will be submitted to the IAU Executive later this fall and a decision will be made just prior to the Manchester General Assembly in 2000. I wish to express my thanks to the Department Chairs who have submitted written letters of support in response to my request earlier this summer. We are very confident that with NRC's support, we have an excellent chance of securing this meeting for Canada which will be particularly important for younger astronomers.

Speaking of the IAU, there will soon be a general call for membership in the IAU by the Canadian National Committee of the IAU which happens to be CASCA Board. The call will take place via our Society's e-mail exploder and will include the requirements for membership in the IAU.

Michael De Robertis      <mmdr@yorku.ca> President of CASCA Michael, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at York University, is the current President of CASCA. He obtained his BSc at the University of Toronto (1977), his MSc at Queen's University (1979) and his PhD at the University of Victoria (1983). De Robertis completed two years of postdoctoral work at the Lick Observatory (UC Santa Cruz) before taking up a University Research Fellowship at York University in late 1985.  His research interests focus primarily on the activity in galactic nuclei using optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic techniques. He has also developed an interest in Galactic structure and the low-mass end of the main sequence.