>I received ASA President Miles' September 1, 1998 letter describing the
>financial challenges ASA is facing a few days after reading this article,
>which ran in last Saturday's Knoxville newspaper (Terry Mattingly has a
>weekly column that appears in over 100 papers, the Knoxville paper is among
>them.)
>
>I see connections between the two. I've been a member of ASA for about 7
>years, I don't recall a PSCF or an ASA newsletter article that addresses
>issues Mattingly does. Given ASA's mission statement, I think it
>reasonable to expect ASA'ers who are in academe to be disportionately
>represented on University and College Honor Code Committees and to be
>disportionately represented on scientific integrity panels and oversight
>groups. I think it reasonable to expect ASA'ers in industry to be
>disportionately represented on ethics and professionalism committees of
>their professional societies.
>
Thanks for posting Mattingly's article, Joseph. Mattingly seems to me to
be suggesting mainly that faculty members ought to mentor students --
influence them by working one-on-one with them. I agree wholeheartedly.
I'm not sure, though, that being "disportionately represented on University
and College Honor Code Committees and ... disportionately represented on
scientific integrity panels and oversight groups" accomplishes the same
thing. Boards and committees have their function, and I agree we should do
our part by serving on them. But I suspect we have a far greater impact on
students by interacting with them. (I suppose I could repeat what I
occasionally hear from students about faculty members and other adults who
spend a lot of time in meetings at the expense of mentoring students, but
it's unprintable and you've heard it). I suspect as well that faculty
members who are ASA members taking a strong interest in students will also
have a positive impact on ASA membership and giving. I'm grateful to
faculty members at Calvin College for mentoring my older son, and to
Wheaton College for mentoring my younger son. But such effective mentoring
needs to be more widespread than it is.
Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems MC 480-106-390
GM R&D Center
30500 Mound Road
Warren, MI
hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com / whamilto@mich.com (home)