History
The Atlanta Genetics Society, Inc. was formed on October 25, 1971 "to provide a forum for interchange of information among its members, to stimulate creative investigation in genetics and to disseminate information in the general field of genetics to the Atlanta community. " All of the original eleven members of the Board of Trustees were in the metro-Atlanta area.
Initially, monthly meetings were held in Atlanta with participation by members at Emory University, Centers for Disease Control, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and Agnes Scott College. Soon, joint meetings were held with colleagues at the University of Georgia. Eventually, participation in the Society had become statewide. The membership list reflected this with nearly half of the members coming from outside the Atlanta Area. Efforts were made to nominate members to the Board from institutions across the state. In 1984, the by-laws were amended to delete the phrase "…in the Atlanta community" from the purpose of the society. In 1985, the by-laws were again amended, changing the name of the organization to the GENETICS SOCIETY OF GEORGIA, INC.
Annual meetings have been held in various institutions across the state, including Emory University, Georgia Tech, CDC, Agnes Scott College, Kennesaw State University, UGA, UGA Marine Extension Center at Skidaway Island, Georgia Southern University, Columbus college, Mercer School of Medicine and Medical College of Georgia. The typical, all-day format includes lectures by invited speakers, platform presentations by members and poster presentations by members. Students have become more and more active in the society over the years contributing to both platform and poster presentations. In addition, group outings to local points of interest such as Sapelo Island, St. Catherine's Island, Callaway Gardens, Anniston Museum of Natural History, Midway Museum, LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation and Fernbank Museum have been offered. In 1994 and 1995, annual meetings were held jointly with the Georgia Academy of Science at Kennesaw State University and Augusta College, respectively. Attendance has ranged from approximately 30 to 200. In 1996 the Georgia Genetics Society became an affiliate of the Georgia Academy of Science.
Membership dues have supported annual
meetings and special presentations, a newsletter (The Southern Blot published
from 1978 until 1992) and cash awards for students for excellence in presenting
original research.
Meetings
2000 - Valdosta State University, March 24-25
2001 - Coastal Georgia Community College, Brunswick, March 23-24
2002 - Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville (tentative)
Membership Information
Annual Dues: $10.00
Contact: adkison.lr@gain.mercer.edu
Board of Trustees
| Chair
Vice-Chair Program Chair Secretary-Treasurer |
Kathleen A. Fleiszar, Ph.D. | Kennesaw
State University
Columbus College & State University Kennesaw State University Mercer University School of Medicine |
| Trustees | Mike
Arnold, Ph.D.
Barbara Baumstark, Ph.D. John T. Chance, Ph.D.
|
University
of Georgia
Georgia State University CDC Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University Mercer University Georgia Southern University Clayton State University West Georgia State College and University
|
Report of the 2000 Genetics Society
of Georgia Meeting
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia
March 23-25, 2000
On Thursday, March 23rd, GSG members met in Valdosta and were treated to a tour of the Lowndes County Historical Museum followed by a personally guided tour of Grand Bay. Thanks to Jenifer Turco of Valdosta State who made all the arrangements, we were able to spend over 3 hours at Grand Bay with two excellent guides, Neda and Tip. The day was capped off by a delicious meal at Mom and Dad's Italian Restaurant. Never let it be said that geneticists don't like to eat!
This year's program featured 4 presentations by undergraduate and graduate students. There were 3 faculty presentations and two invited plenary talks. Dr. John Elder (VSU) presented at Friday's plenary session and Dr. Kathy Hancock (CDC) was Saturday's invited speaker. Dr. Elder spoke on "Ecological Genetics of Clonal Fishes of the Gyno-genetic Cyprinid Minnows in Voyageurs' National Park, Minnesota" and Dr. Hancock presented a talk entitled "Sequence Variation in the COI Gene of Taenia solium.." Several poster presentations were available for viewing. Overall, we had a very strong showing at our section, both member and non-members in attendance.
Report of the 2000 Genetics Society
Business Meeting
Valdosta State University
March 25, 2000
The meeting of the society was called to order by Dr. Kathleen Fleiszar, Chair of the society at 10 am.
Written copies of the minutes were distributed and approved without changes. The new GSG web site was projected for the viewing pleasure of those in attendance. Suggestions were requested for the site and Brian Schwartz asked that those listed on the site provide a home page address for others to access. All officers and trustees already are "hot-linked" to their email addresses. Jason Welch, a student at Kennesaw State University (KSU), designed the site. The site will be maintained by the Kathy Fleiszar and Don Davis until further notice.
Nominations were taken for the position of secretary-treasurer. Sara Bennett nominated Kristina Detmer. As no other nominations were received, the nominations were closed. Voting will take place by email. The members were asked to pay their annual dues ($10) as soon as possible. Members were also encouraged to become a member of the Georgia Academy of Science (GAS for $25 annually). Since the GSG is now officially Section IX of the GAS, all are encouraged to join both GSG and GAS. Money collected was given to Kristina to bring to Linda Adkison, our present secretary-treasurer who was unable to attend.
Brian Schwartz volunteered to be the Councilor to the GAS. This person represents our section at GAS meetings. Kathy agreed to share this responsibility with Brian should he be unable to attend any meetings. Since the GAS requires that each section have a chair, a secretary and a councilor, the following recommendations will be made to Lisa Hubbard (secretary of GAS) until further considerations can be made by the GSG:
Section Chair = Chair of
GSG
Section Secretary = Secretary
of GSG
Section Councilor = Vice-chair
of GSG
Kathy asked for someone to fill the position of program chair, as Ben Golden's retirement left that position open this year. Brian Schwartz accepted the responsibility and Kathy Fleiszar will assist. As this year's program chair, she will be able to help Brian in planning for next year's meeting. Next year's meeting will be in Brunswick. Joanne Brock offered to help with planning the "social" outing prior to next year's meeting.
Awards for student paper presentations were discussed and the following vote was taken:
Danielle Gunning and Nichole
Hair shared graduate award.
Undergraduate award was given
to John Chipley.
A suggestion was made that the Genetics Society gives a small monetary award along with the student certificate. This and the suggestion to provide a stipend to the invited speakers will be presented to the secretary-treasurer and then to the voting members.
Kathy will email members requesting
a vote on the nomination for secretary-treasurer. It was agreed that
all future correspondence should be by email as this provides a good, easy
way to communicate among the membership.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Fleiszar and Don Davis
(for Linda Adkison)
Upcoming Events
Next Georgia
Academy of Science meeting will be held March
23-24, 2001 in Brunswick, Georgia. Start
planning for presentations now! Look for further information about
the Genetics Society session as it becomes available.
Please e-mail any upcoming events to Kathleen A. Fleiszar, Ph.D.