To see Motions Considered and Acted Upon click here.
To see Minutes of Face-to-Face Portion of Summer Meeting click here.
These reports were presented at the 2016 Summer Policy Council Meeting and are listed alphabetically by the last name of the reporter. Reports are Acrobat® (.pdf) files and can be read using Acrobat® Reader® software available from adobe.com. Supporting materials may be provided. Links, when shown, were supplied by the authors and were current at the time of publication.
Reports
Andersen, David VP Finance Report (I expect that this will be my last report to the Policy Council as Vice President for Finance. I am pleased to be able to turn over my Vice Presidency with the Society in overall sound financial condition. That said, 2015 was a challenging year financially for the System Dynamics Society. We posted a net income of $-84,763 and our overall equity dropped from $1,299,111 at the opening of our fiscal year to $1,214,348 at the close of the fiscal year. Our more usual recent pattern has been for a modest loss in net ordinary income to be made up by gains in our investments. However, in 2015 our investments also declined. Our budget for 2017 projects a very slight surplus with a Net Ordinary Income loss of $76,503 being more than offset by projected gains in our investment portfolio.) Report
Andersen, David Community Service Award Committee Report (The members of the committee have done the work to give the award in 2016. Past Outstanding Service Award Recipients: 2015 Dean Christensen, 2014, Pal Davidsen and Jac A.M. Vennix, 2012 Peter Milling, 2011 David Andersen and George Richardson, 2009 Andrew Ford; 2005 Robert Eberlein, and 1997 Alexander L. Pugh, III. ) Report Link to Award Information
Bleijenbergh, Inge Diversity Committee Report (This report provides an overview of the System Dynamics Society demographics for 2015 membership and conference. Total membership decreased from 1159 in 2013 to 1097 in 2015. Overall, the reporting of demographic information remained high at 90%. Results using revised estimates shows that the percentage of women members decreased slightly from 18.1% in 2014 to 17.6% in 2015. The small proportion of female members and the lack of critical mass possibly affects the culture and image of the System Dynamics Society. The age distribution has remained relatively stable. Students moved down from represented an estimated 20.1% of the membership in 2014 to 18% in 2015.) Report
Cooper, Kenneth VP Professional Practice Report (A number of activities relating to the commercial practice of System Dynamics are under way and projected for the future. Our committee has worked out many of the logistics and organizational arrangements for establishing a Forrester Internship program. This program intends to place our best students in System Dynamics into firms doing high quality commercial work. We are evaluating this pilot program and expect to admit another 3-5 interns beginning in the fall of 2016. In addition, we are planning to (1) repeat and update the survey of commercial practice, (2) begin a program to videotape senior practitioners of system dynamics as they discuss the “back story” of important commercial projects in the past.) Report Supporting
Farr, Warren K12 Initiative Report (Report from K12 Initiative. In April of 2016, An SDS policy change was approved by PC vote to establish a “VP of K12 Education” position beginning in 2017 with a term of three years. ) Report
Ford, David Publications Strategy Report (The primary purpose of the System Dynamics Society’s Publications Strategy is to provide a plan for leveraging publications to support the Society’s overall vision. To that end, this document reviews the Society’s vision, discusses the potential role of publications in promoting the Society’s aims, and presents a gap analysis comparing what publications currently exist with what is envisioned. This analysis is used to organize recommendations for addressing the gaps identified. A second purpose of the Strategy is to move the ongoing discussion of publications in the System Dynamics Society forward in ways that will lead to constructive actions. As a plan for all types of publications, the Strategy is not intended to address or resolve all significant publication issues or design specific strategies, but rather to identify, describe, and discuss the most important. Please see full report for many details.) Report
Glass, Tracey System Dynamics Review Publisher's Report (Confidential Publisher's Report on SDR 2015 volume from Wiley presented at Face to Face Meeting.)
Glass, Tracey System Dynamics Review 2015 Impact Factor Report (System Dynamics Review 2015 Impact Factor Report) Report
Rouwette, Etiënne Draft Agenda for the Summer Policy Council Meeting, July 17, 2016 (Draft Agenda for the Summer Policy Council Meeting, July 17, 2016. Please send any additions or corrections. ) Report
Spencer, Roberta Annual Report on Home Office Operations for Fiscal Year 2015 (In 2015 we worked diligently to provide service to all of our members, plan and administer the conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provide prompt delivery of our products, and maintain and improve our web presence. See the full Annual Report for details.) Report
Spencer, Roberta 2016 Delft Conference Brief Facts and Figures (See report for a brief overview of the 2016 Delft Conference.) Report
Spencer, Roberta 2017 Cambridge Conference Report - Call for Papers (Please see the attached Call for Papers.) Report
Spencer, Roberta Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interest Blank Form (The purpose of this form to report a CHANGE IN STATUS since the original Conflict of Interest form was submitted for the February Winter Policy Council Meeting. It is for the disclosure of a potential conflict of interest by any Policy Council officer and/or member, committee member, or key employee who believes that a potential conflict of interest or related party transaction exists now. If this is the case, use this form for the purpose of disclosure and subsequent discussion, consideration, and vote by the appropriate Policy Council Officers and/or Policy Council Members, committee members, and key employees at the Policy Council meeting in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article III of the Society’s Conflict of Interest Guideline. NOTE: This form is not necessary if the potential conflict of interest has already been disclosed by way of the Annual Declaration of Conflict of Interest form.) Report
Spencer, Roberta Conflict of Interest Report (The annual review of Conflict of Interest was performed at the Winter Policy Council Meeting (February 23, 2016). At that time it was agreed that the members of the Policy Council are satisfied that all potential conflicts are being handled appropriately and that no conflict exists that will interfere with the operations of the System Dynamics Society. ) Report