EUROPEAN MYCOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Electronic Newsletter, Issue 1 15 September 2004

Acceptance of Constitution

The process of establishing our new Association continues. Earlier year, the text of the proposed Constitution was circulated by e-mail to all of you as Founder Members, with an invitation to cast your vote for or against adopting the text. With 115 Founder Members, a total of 58 votes in favour was necessary for a simple absolute majority. Thanks to so many voting, it is now possible to announce that the text which was circulated has been unequivocally accepted as the Association's Constitution. No votes at all were cast against it. More than 80 were cast in favour, a very clear mandate to go ahead. The Association now, therefore, has a Constitution and can begin to function properly. The Constitution can be viewed on the Association's website in the Documents & archives section.

Honorary Member

Following an appeal in exceptional circumstances for support in making Prof. Skirgiello our first Honorary Member, the positive warmth of those who responded left no doubt of the Association's general support for this proposal, and this distinguished lady now takes her place as our first Honorary Member.

Officers

The Constitution provides for Officers of the Association. Some of these were appointed by Founder Members at the Foundation Meeting of the Association. Three positions are, however, vacant. They are Membership Secretary, Meetings Secretary and Executive Editor. Founder Members were invited in early June to volunteer for these posts. If you feel able to do so, please advise President, Dr Dave Minter or Secretary, Dr T.V. Andrianova. At the time of this message, those posts have not yet been filled. Information from the original message, describing the duties of these Officers follows this e-mail, and Founder Members are advised that there is still time to volunteer for these positions.

Membership Subscriptions

The Officers will now deal with the question of membership subscriptions for the Association. These will become due for the first time on 1 January 2005. A two-tier system is being considered, with a lower tier to be paid in certain countries, and a higher tier to be paid everywhere else. If you have views on how membership subscriptions should be organized, please send them to the President, Dr Dave Minter or Secretary, Dr T.V. Andrianova as soon as possible. Later in 2004, Members will be notified of the level of subscription to be paid, and means of paying.

CBS Honoured by the EMA

The Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, one of the world's greatest mycological institutions, celebrated its centenary in May 2004. To mark the centenary, Dr Pedro Crous its Director was presented with a framed picture commemorating CBS's important role in European Mycology.

Proposal for funding

EMA President Dave Minter and ECCF President Anders Bohlin jointly prepared a proposal for funds to support a European Red List of the Larger Fungi. To date, funding has not been obtained, but efforts continue.

Mediterranean Mycology Group

A proposal has been received to establish a group for Mediterranean Mycology within the EMA. This will be discussed by the Association's Governing Committee in the near future. If you have any views on this topic, or about any other possible specialist group, please advise the President, Dr Dave Minter or Secretary, Dr T.V. Andrianova.

Special Offer of Book

CABI publishing has very recently produced a new book on mycorrhizas which is being offered to EMA Members at a 20% discount. For further information about this and other new publications, see the EMA website news section.

Publicizing the EMA

Now that the Association is functioning with a Constitution, an effort will be made to publicise the activities of the EMA. If you are webmaster of a mycological internet site, or if you know someone who is, you can help by ensuring a hyperlink to the EMA website (http://www.euromould.org/index.htm) is added to any links provided by your internet site, and by advising the President, Dr Dave Minter of that action.

Preparing the Association's Future Programme

An effort will be made to gather the EMA's Governing Committee in late 2004, together with any other EMA member able to attend, for a simple meeting to review the progress of the Association. Information about this meeting will be sent to all Members by e-mail as soon as it becomes available. The EMA's Governing Committee will also consider the Association's programme for 2005. The programme is likely to be modest, as 2005 will be the first real year of operation for the Association. If any Member wishes to host a meeting (foray, workshop), please contact the President, Dr Dave Minter or Secretary, Dr T.V. Andrianova, with proposals.

XV CEM, St Petersburg

The EMA's XV Congress of European Mycologists will be hosted in St Petersburg, with Dr A.Ye. Kovalenko heading the Organizing Committee. The www address "xvcem.org" has already been registered by the EMA, but no website for the Congress is yet in place.

Annexe: DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICERS

Membership Secretary. The responsibility of the Membership Secretary is to maintain lists of Members and Associates of the EMA [Article 4.5]. Maintenance of the EMA Membership Electronic Database and renovation of its data are under the auspices of this Officer. The Membership Secretary have to keep an eye on the current names, electronic and mail addresses, titles, names of institutions, etc. of the Members and Associates, stay in contact with them, supply with current database information the President and all other Officers on their request. Other Officers hand over to the Membership Secretary new and current information for the EMA Membership Electronic Database. This post needs a communicative person.

Meetings Secretary. The EMA Constitution states that apart from Congresses, other EMA events may be organized at any time through the Meetings Secretary with the agreement of the Officers [Article 11.4]. This Officer is responsible for an event preparation by arranging an appropriate venue, promotion of attributes of the EMA, contacting local organizers. The Meetings Secretary works in contact with other Officers and is the member of the EMA event organizing committee. Most appropriate is an initiative person.

Executive Editor. Article 9 of the EMA Constitution gives brief definition of this Officer's job. The Executive Editor is responsible for production of printed and electronic publications of the EMA. This Officer is the member of the Editorial Board that deals with publication of mycological information and representation (reflection) of the EMA activity in printed (i.e. paper) and electronic formats. Working load of the Officer is in accordance with the basic distribution of the Association's printed publication at least once a year and up-to-date functioning of the web-site.