Volume 23, issue 1 Winter 2016 Priscum NEWSLETTER OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E President’s State- President’s Statement ment improvement over what we had before. New Code of Con- By Steven Holland duct Past issues have been rescanned and are 2015 was an important year for the now available as fully searchable pdfs with Amended Bylaws Paleontological Society, and 2016 will be superb image quality. Cambridge also and Articles of too. Our biggest news is that we began the Incorporation brings a wealth of marketing experience first year of our five-year contract with from their other journals, experience that Avocational Pale- Cambridge University Press, who will will help us extend the reach of our ontology publish our journals, Journal of journals around the world. The editors of Honorary Junior Paleontology and Paleobiology. The both journals plus several Council officers Paleontologist search for a new publisher began in 2013, will meet with Cambridge in New York Amery Green when this month Interview with Council to develop a Derek Briggs confronted road map the long- for the Book Reviews term future of Support the ad- financial our vancement of pale- implications journals. ontology and the of staying Changing understanding of with Allen publishers the history of life Press. is a on Earth through Through the challenging membership in the Publications task, one Paleontological Committee, that falls Society. chaired by Society unveils new logo hardest on Roy the editors. Renew Online Plotnick, the Society called for proposals They had to continue to process https:// and considered the bids of eight manuscripts that originated in the rock.geosociety.o publishers. Three of these were selected AllenTrack system, while also learning the rg/membership/ for in-person interviews with the modern publishing practices of paleo/renew/ Publications Committee, Editors, and Cambridge. The editors of both of our other officers in the Spring of 2014. renew1.asp journals have done heroic service this past Cambridge University Press was the year to make the transition as smooth as unanimous choice. possible. Delays have developed at the I'm pleased to be working with Journal of Paleontology, but the editors Cambridge. The print quality is and Cambridge have a solid plan for outstanding. Submitting papers is a great eliminating those this year. P a g e 2 P r i s c u m President’s Statement, cont. We are working to build our relationship with Cambridge, legal requirements of a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In and we will extend our contract with them to include our many places, the bylaws were far too specific about Special Publications. Once we have secured all the procedures, and this specificity either hamstrung Council or copyrights to the various series of our special publications, forced it to emend the Bylaws too frequently. they will be available for the first time as searchable high- I began a complete rewrite of our governing documents in quality pdfs. Beginning this year, Cambridge will publish our 2014, and the Executive Committee (Sandy Carlson, Arnie Short Course notes. Miller, Peter Harries, Mark Wilson, and myself) met in In 2015, we launched a beautiful new website. This project, February 2015 to complete these drafts. These were spearheaded by our Communications Officer Leif Tapanila, submitted for legal review, which resulted in more changes, included not only a complete audit of all of our web content, compliance with 501(c)(3) regulations and standards, and a but also a redesign of the navigation, and hands-on work simplification to an Articles of Incorporation and a Bylaws. with Rave Communications to develop the look and feel of Council voted to approve these at our annual meeting in the site. November, and they await ratification by the members of the Society. We see the website as an important part of the future of the Paleontological Society, and Council will consider a search The revised Articles and Bylaws were not written to upend this year for a half-time person to update its the Society, but to reflect better how the Society content on a daily basis. The site will include links operates now and to streamline how it will operate to news stories, job announcements, and grant in the future. Much of the specificity of the previous listings. We want it to become your first stop for up Bylaws has been removed and placed in an -to-date news on paleontology. In this same way, Operations Manual for Council, one that can be we plan to increase our presence on Facebook and easily updated as our needs change. Twitter to take advantage of all of the ways of Three changes in the new Bylaws are particularly reaching our members and attracting new worth noting. First, they offer greater clarity on our members. ability to engage in lobbying within the limits of a In 2015, we introduced a bold new logo in 501(c)(3) organization. We need to be able to lobby conjunction with the launch of our website. You legislators on paleontologically important issues, can see it in this issue, and you'll see it in other and these Bylaws make that ability clear. Second, places through the coming year. This logo was we have made it easier to form sections of the selected by Council from almost two dozen designs Paleontological Society, and these can now be of developed by Rave Communications and any size or any region; they needn't follow the Cambridge University Press. The logo is highly historical outlines of the GSA sections. We want to recognizable, and it is a strong symbol of the foster paleontological communities of any size, and changes being made in our Society. these Bylaws will help us do that. Third, the new Bylaws change the requirements for the Schuchert In 2015, Council voted to approve a nondiscrimination Award from being granted "normally to someone under the policy and statement of expectations. You will find it in this age of 40" to someone within 15 years of their Ph.D. This is issue, along with a perspective from Phoebe Cohen, who an important change recommended to us by several of our developed this policy with Margaret Fraiser. This policy is members, one that will make the Schuchert Award possible an important statement of our values as a Society and the for a greater range of early-career paleontologists. standards that we uphold. In 2016, we will also begin to find new and meaningful ways More changes are coming this year. In March, you will vote to reach out to the large community of avocational on a sweeping update of our governing documents, which paleontologists. Ours is one of the few sciences where are now available on our website and in this issue. We amateurs can make important contributions, and many of us currently have an Articles of Incorporation, a Constitution, have experienced these first-hand. We currently recognize and a Bylaws, and this structure was a perennial source of exceptional avocational paleontologists through our confusion among the officers on Council because it was Strimple Award, and we want to find more ways to engage a unclear why any given policy was in any particular broader set of this community. President-Elect Arnie Miller document. In some cases, these documents were in conflict. has championed these efforts, and he writes about it in this In other cases, they no longer reflected how Council actually issue. Reaching out to avocational paleontologists will operated. In some ways, the documents did not reflect the P a g e 3 P r i s c u m President’s Statement, cont. benefit all paleontologists, and this is an important initiative have made reflects their efforts. If you're interested in for the Paleontological Society. serving on Council or working for the Society through a committee, let me know; we'd be glad to have you. Last, if I want to thank everyone who has served the Paleontological you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to Society through Council or committees, including those who email me at [email protected]. Your thoughts and ideas are have recently stepped down. All of them are volunteers who have given generously of their time, and all the progress we important to us, and we are here to serve you. Paleontological Society Adopts Code of Conduct By Phoebe Cohen entist was disinvited from speaking at a scientific conference because she was 7 months pregnant and the organizing com- At the spring 2015 meeting of the Paleontological Society mittee felt it was too great of a risk for her to travel to the Council, Council adopted a society-wide Nondiscrimination meeting. Instead of allowing her to make that decision on Policy and Conduct Expectations that applies to all mem- her own and in consultation with her medical care providers, bers. The policy states that members of the society will not the committee made it for her, thus discriminating against discriminate on the basis of any reason not related to scien- her based on a factor wholly unrelated to her scientific merit. tific merit (including sex, gender, age, nationality, religion, and disability). This policy also outlines what is considered Issues of sexual harassment in field-related disciplines have to be unacceptable behavior for also been brought to light, most all society members. Examples http://paleosoc.org/about/policy/ notably in a study by Kate Clan- of these behaviors include pla- nondiscrimination-policy-of-the-paleontological- cy and co-authors, who showed giarism, and harassment in any society-and-paleontological-society-conduct- that many students, both male form.