PRESIDENT'S LETTER

Presidential Mandates

Roger Hangarter

As I begin my year as president, I hope you are comforted by the knowledge that my predecessors, the membership, and the dedicated professional staff at ASPB headquarters have placed the Society on a solid foundation, a foundation that does not run on creative deficit spending and other nonsustainable and reckless mandates. I am looking forward to working with everyone in the coming year to build on the Society’s mandates—publishing great plant science, running exciting plant biology meetings, and engaging the public in plant science. The year ahead not only holds great promise for building on our strong foundation, it also presents some interesting challenges.

One of the major functions of our Society is to produce two of the best scientific journals in the field of plant biology. As most of you know, 2005 marks a major change in the leadership of one of our journals, Plant Physiology. Natasha Raikhel is poised to turn over the reins of the editorship to Don Ort, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, in the coming year. I would like to personally congratulate Natasha for her success in continuing to raise the status of the journal. I also would like to thank her on behalf of myself and the membership for the seemingly endless energy she put into Plant Physiology over the past five years. Through her dedication to improving the journal, Natasha has increased the visibility of the field of plant biology and has contributed to making ASPB the premier Society it is today. Thank you, Natasha!

Over the past few years, the transition to electronic publishing has presented numerous challenges to the Society. The journal leadership and the publications staff have worked hard to stay ahead of the many issues associated with electronic publishing and have been instrumental in placing our journals in the strongest possible position. By publishing the best cutting-edge papers in plant biology through the best distribution mechanisms available, we will remain at the forefront. As a Society that is deeply involved in and committed to producing the best journals, we can look forward to many new adventures over the coming years, with our publications program playing a leadership role in guiding the evolution of scientific publishing.

As someone with a strong commitment to plant education outreach, I am also pleased to note that the ASPB Education Foundation has embarked in a new direction for fulfilling its mission through the Grants Award Program it initiated last year. The mission of the Foundation is to increase the public’s knowledge about the roles of plants in all areas of life. This undertaking is an important component of the mission of the whole Society and needs broad support from the Society’s foundation—its members. As you are renewing your annual membership, I join our Education Foundation chair, Jim Siedow, and our executive director, Crispin Taylor, in asking for your help by making a tax-deductible contribution to the ASPB Education Foundation. Your support is vital to the success of this important mandate.

Roger P. Hangarter
rhangart@indiana.edu