96
February 2016
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
ASPRS
NEWS
Prudent Changes Now for a Bright Future | New Members
ASPRS MEMBERSHIP
ASPRS would like to welcome
the following new members!
At Large
Bikram Gangwar
Rui Liu
Sahel Mahdavi
Mozhdeh Shahbazi
Fubara Warmate
Zhang Yajie
ChengMing Ye, Ph.D.
Central New York
Robert Stevenson
Columbia River
Matthew Borish
Florida
Audra Ferlan
Alexandra Fredericks
April Gibbs
James Kirkpatrick, IV
Heartland
Kalen Brady
Paul Kim
Jonathan Phillips
Scott Wolf
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ASPRS MEMBERSHIP, VISIT
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Your path to success in the geospatial community
Mid-South
David G. Anderson
Ciaran Manning
Dorris Scott
North Atlantic
Andrew Sechrist
New England
Anthony Campbell
Eric Lundell
Pacific Southwest
Tajudeen Abdulazeez
Madison Davis
Ryan Jackson
Potomac
Craig Labbe
Stephen McGregor
Jessica Stiff
Joseph Zinger
Rocky Mountain
Lisa Godwin
Benjamin Haugen
Michael Sutherland
Award for those members who have contributed to the Society
throughout their careers.
The Emeritus member category itself is eliminated with no
replacement since there is no funding source to pay for the
member benefits, previously granted under this membership
class. ASPRS had not created an investment model to bank
some portion of a member’s dues to use in future years,
when one might be eligible for Emeritus consideration. New
member growth cannot provide sufficient revenue to cover
the emeritus members cost. Consequently, ASPRS now has
approximately 600 Emeritus members with no source of funds
to pay their expenses, which contributes to the withdrawal of
Reserve funds. To avoid this problem escalating, the Emeritus
membership category will be eliminated. On a personal note,
I became eligible for Emeritus status in 2013, but did not
take it since I was and am still working and I know ASPRS
needs my membership fees. Now with the Board decision, I
will never be an Emeritus member of ASPRS, but ASPRS will
be better without me as an Emeritus, since I will continue
my membership and continue to pay dues. I may, however,
receive an Emeritus Award.
Additional functional streamlining changes include
modifying the governance structure to eliminate the current
11 member Executive Committee and 27-member Board and
replace them with a single governing Board of Directors of 9
voting and three Ex Officio members. The Board approved
changes establish: (1) the Technical Divisions Council
consisting of the Directors and Associate Directors of the
eight Technical Divisions; (2) a Regions Council consisting of
the Region Presidents and Vice-Presidents; existing councils
for Sustaining Members, Young Professionals, and Students
become the Corporate Members Council, Early-Career
Professionals Council, and Student Advisory Council. Each of
these five Councils will elect its own Chair, who will likely be
a Council’s selected member to serve as a Director. Thus, the
governing body of the Imaging and Geospatial Information
Society will include nine voting members, President,
President-Elect, Vice President, Immediate Past President,
and five Directors, one each for the Technical Divisions,
Regions, Corporate Members, Early-Career Professionals,
and Student Advisory Councils. Additionally, the Executive
Director, Treasurer, and Secretary are non-voting members
of the Board of Directors.
Changes to increase revenue within and services
from ASPRS include the membership changes, changes
to publications including a new subscription model for
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
, a new
approach to advertising, steps to increase our online presence,
and more adaptive models for conferences. The conference
changes include the redesign of the Annual ASPRS conference
into the Imaging and Geospatial Technology Forum (IGTF)
and the organization of small topically focused conferences,
such as UAS Mapping Reno in 2014 and 2015.
In conclusion, ASPRS is undergoing basic changes that
are the product of many years of effort and hard work by
the ASPRS leadership and members. I call on the Society
membership to support these efforts. The strength of the
Society is based on its members and the Society will continue
to be the primary American organization for imaging and
geospatial information with a new membership model and
governance structure.
I hope this brief description and chronology helps explain
the actions taken by the ASPRS leadership and provide a
better basis for your understanding the current state of the
Society. Your comments are a source of information used
by the Executive Committee and the Board to help frame
the governance and operations of ASPRS. At this time of
critical change, we are grateful to all members who provided
comments and encourage further debate.
E. Lynn Usery
President
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Research Geographer and Director
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information
