Attendance: Officers: R. Graham (President), C. Whitlock (President Elect), M. Guccione (Treasurer), B. Styles (Secretary).

Council Members: A. Bettis (Geohistory), S. Elias (Paleobiology), E. Grimm (Paleobiology), E. Hajic (Terrestrial Geoprocesses), A. Jennings (Marine Geoprocesses), W. Johnson (Geohistory), E. Ito (Geochronology, Geophysics, Geochemistry), L. McFadden (Terrestrial Processes), R. Webb (Paleoclimatology), D. Yesner (Archaeology).

Others: V. Holliday (ex officio, past President), J. Teller (Univ. of Manitoba).

1. President’s Welcome

President Graham called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m.

2. Secretary’s Report

A. The minutes of the October 26, 1998 meeting were accepted.

B. Secretary Styles announced that the AMQUA booth was in space #451 in the GSA exhibit hall and passed around a sign up sheet for volunteers to staff the booth.

3. Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Guccione distributed the Treasurer’s Report to the Councilors. She noted that AMQUA is financially healthy, although assets continue to decrease. The balance in the general fund shows a several thousand dollar decrease over the last year and a 53% decrease in the last four years. The decline primarily reflects costs associated with the 1998 Biennial Meeting in Puerto Vallarta, such as expenses for travel for speakers and students, mailing of the abstracts, and posting of the abstracts on the Web. Officers and Councilors discussed the downward trend in the general account and noted the need to carefully consider the amount for the registration fee for the biennial meetings. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted.

A. Plans for the 16^th Biennial AMQUA Meeting (AMQUA 2000, May 21-24, 2000, Fayetteville, Arkansas). Treasurer Guccione distributed the first announcement of the meeting and discussed local arrangements. Rooms will be reserved at the Hilton and in the dorms at the University of Arkansas. She briefly described field trips and noted that for the first time the biennial meeting will include short courses. The courses will cover GPS and GIS. The cost of the banquet will be built into the registration fee to increase attendance.

B. Program for AMQUA 2000

1) Webb, the Technical Program Chair for the meeting, distributed a tentative agenda. The presentations and sessions will feature topics related to the overall theme designated for the meeting: "Landscape and Biotic Responses to Climate Variability: Future Impacts and Past Lessons." The invited presentations will cover six major topics: Climate Variability, ENSO, Recent Past, Midcontinent, Southwest, and Future Impacts. Discussion leaders will be selected to pose engaging questions and promote discussion. Contributed posters will also be presented. Councilors were asked to help the Program Committee (Webb, Whitlock, Meltzer, and Bettis) garner commitments from proposed presenters.

2) Guccione noted that the University of Arkansas Press would be interested in publishing a proceedings volume from the meetings. However, Webb and other Councilors were not enthusiastic about producing a publication and argued that it might actually deter some speakers from presenting.

3) Guccione noted that the abstracts will be printed and will also be available online on the AMQUA Web site. Jo Ann Kvamme in Arkansas has volunteered to prepare the abstracts for publication as hard copy and on the Web site. Councilors discussed how abstracts should be submitted to best accommodate the need to produce both printed and electronic versions. President Graham requested that Grimm contact Kvamme and suggest the preferred format and media for abstract submissions.

4) Guccione noted that the second announcement for the meeting would come out in the December issue of Quaternary Times.

C. AMQUA Budget Committee

Two members of the Budget Committee (Whitlock and Guccionne) had a preliminary meeting in the morning (October 25) to look at projected expenses on a two-year basis. Councilors discussed a number of expenses. Guccionne noted that the average cost of bringing the AMQUA booth to a professional meeting is about $1,000 and that the booth generally attracts about 10-12 new members. Councilors discussed future venues for the booth. It was suggested that the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Ecological Society of America (ESA) meetings would also make good venues. Venues will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis with consideration of the city and associated expenses. Grimm agreed to inquire about the cost of taking the booth to the ESA meeting in 2000. Councilors agreed that it would be beneficial to take the booth to the AMQUA 2000 meeting if there was no expense. Styles agreed to store the booth at the Illinois State Museum during her tenure as Secretary since the Secretary makes the arrangements for travel and space rental.

D. Easterbrook Committee Update. Holliday reviewed Easterbrook’s offer to donate money to AMQUA. Councilors discussed AMQUA’s ability to administer the funds. There was some discussion of the merits of AMQUA becoming an affiliated member of the GSA. McFadden described the GSA’s plans to use their donation from Easterbrook. They are creating an Easterbrook Medal that will be presented to an individual along with funds to support their research. Councilors questioned how AMQUA would use the funds. Styles reminded councilors that several ideas had been discussed and were summarized in the October 26, 1998 AMQUA Minutes. Further discussion was postponed until New Business.

E. AMQUA Archives

President Graham noted that National Museum (Smithsonian Institution) has expressed interest in curating the AMQUA archives. Graham will pursue this initiative with the recommendation that original records will go to the National Museum and copies will be maintained with the AMQUA Secretary. Whitlock indicated that she would contact former AMQUA Secretary Brigham-Grette and request that the archival records be transferred to Secretary Styles.

F. AMQUA Travel Grants for the Biennial Meeting (AMQUA 2000).

Councilors voted unanimously to set aside $6,000 for student gravel grants for the AMQUA 2000 meeting and to offer up to 20 awards with a maximum reimbursement of $300 per student, with the stipulation that the award could be used to reimburse receipts for expenses associated with the student’s travel for the meeting (e.g., dorm expenses, registration fee, meals, air fare, gas or mileage). Availability of awards will be announced in the next circular for the meeting and applications will be submitted to Secretary Styles. A selection committee of Styles, Yesner, and Johnson was established to review applications for the AMQUA 2000 meeting.

G. AMQUA Booth Venues

This topic had already been considered as part of the discussion about the AMQUA Budget Committee.

5. New Business

The original order of the agenda was revised to accommodate a presentation on proposed venues for the AMQUA 2002 meeting.

A. Proposed Venues for 17^th Biennial AMQUA Meeting (AMQUA 20002)

1) Jim Teller (University of Manitoba) invited AMQUA to meet jointly with CANQUA in Winnipeg in 20002. He noted that it has been almost 10 years since the last joint CANQUA-AMQUA meeting. The last joint meeting was in Waterloo. He distributed a written document, "An Invitation to Meet in Winnipeg," and discussed the benefits and capabilities for hosting the meeting in Winnipeg, as well as possible themes. He noted that Winnipeg is the site of two universities, the Geological Survey, and is capital of Manitoba. Situated at the center of the glacial Lake Agassiz basin near the prairie-boreal forest border, the region offers many attractions for Quaternarists. Although the themes would be left to the program committee, a number of likely topics were listed: (1) glacial Lake Agassiz, (2) ice marginal lakes and North American meltwater runoff, (3) Holocene flooding, (4) isostatic rebound, (5) economic mineral exploitation, (6) subglacial and proglacial outbursts of meltwater, and (7) the prairie-boreal forest ecotone. Discussion ensued about potential differences in the structure of the meeting that would be required for a joint meeting with CANQUA. Teller noted that meeting structure would need to be discussed with the CANQUA Council.

2) Yesner invited AMQUA to meet at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He referred to the materials that had been provided at the October 26, 1998 AMQUA Council meeting in Toronto, when AMQUA was invited to meet in Anchorage in 2000. He described the facilities for the meeting and listed potential field trips to the Spencer- Blackstone Ice Complex, the Bering Glacier, the Anchorage area and Kenai Peninsula, interior Alaska, the Nenana and Tanana Valleys, and the southcentral Alaskan Coast. He also noted potential themes related to climatic change in northern settings: (1) the paleoecology and archaeology of Beringia, (2) relationships between late Pleistocene and early Holocene climatic, vegetation, and faunal change, and (3) human migration/ colonization. He noted some additional benefits not listed in the 1998 letter of invitation. President Graham requested that Yesner submit a new letter of invitation to provide an update. Discussion ensued about the capabilities for housing and costs of air fares.

President Graham noted that the council will make the final selection of the venue for the 2002 meeting at the AMQUA 2000 meeting in Fayetteville.

B. 2000 Denise Gaudreau Award

Styles noted that we had 7 applications for the award and needed to establish a review committee. Graham asked Styles, Ito, and Webb to serve on the committee. Webb declined due to a conflict of interest and Ely was drafted in absentia. The committee will review the applications and select a winning candidate. President Graham will notify the successful applicant in sufficient time so that he/she can make arrangements to attend the AMQUA 2000 meeting. Announcement of the award will be made at the 2000 Business Meeting and in the Quaternary Times.

C. Distinguished Career Awards for 1999 and 2000. Graham distributed a list of current nominees for the award. Councilors noted several other individuals who had been nominated and should be added to the list. Graham will send out a revised listing and asked councilors to send him the names of the top three candidates. Graham will designate the top two candidates as the winners of the 1999 and 2000 awards and will contact the winners so that they can attend the 2000 meeting. Announcement of the awards will be made at the 2000 Business meeting and in the Quaternary Times. At the AMQUA 2000 meeting, councilors will discuss offering the award every two years rather than every year.

D. Foundation

Discussion resumed on the potential need to work through a foundation to administer the funds from the Easterbrook donation. Councilors discussed the possibility of AMQUA becoming an affiliate of the GSA. It was noted that GSA prefers that affiliated organizations meet at the same time as the GSA, but that this is not a requirement. If groups meet at the same time as GSA, they are provided a free space for a booth. However, no interest was expressed in changing the timing of the AMQUA biennial meetings to coincide with GSA so there would be no cost saving on the space for the AMQUA booth. There was also discussion of the fact that many AMQUA members are not geologists. Whitlock noted that AMQUA is already a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and that we already contract with A G Edwards and Sons Inc. to watch over our investments and that they could probably help. Whitlock will continue to look into the issue of creating an AMQUA foundation.

E. AMQUA 2000 Ballot

Whitlock distributed the names of candidates and their biographical sketches for the AMQUA 2000 election. Styles will finalize the formatting of the list and prepare a ballot, which will be distributed with the Quaternary Times.

F. Proposed AMQUA Web Page: Clearinghouse for Questions to Quaternary Experts. Elias has proposed developing an electronic list of "experts" who can answer E-mail responses to queries about a variety of Quaternary topics. The menu of names would be organized by topic. It could be served from Colorado or Flagstaff; the National Geophysical Data Center has expressed interest in helping to launch the project. Councilors were asked to send Elias names of regional experts. Elias volunteered to prepare an announcement for Quaternary Times. Styles volunteered to set up a listserve for the AMQUA Council to facilitate communication between councilors on this and other topics.

G. Proposed Topics for AMQUA 2002. This topic was covered under item 5.A. above. Holliday reiterated that migration in the Quaternary would be an interesting topic and requested that the AMQUA Council meeting be scheduled at time that does not interfere with the papers.

H. Memorial Notices for AMQUA members. Guccione noted that Charles Denny had passed away on August 21, 1999. Discussion ensued about the desirability of including memorial notices in the Quaternary Times.

J. Other New Business

1) Whitlock noted that the Budget Committee recommends that AMQUA dues be raised. The Council voted unanimously to raise the dues effective January 1, 2000. Professional dues will be raised to $20 per year or $50 for three years and student dues will be raised to $10 per year. A faculty advisor must sign the student’s dues sheet to verify that the he/she is an active student. Following current procedures, a 5% processing fee will be added for dues paid with a credit card. The increase in dues reflects the increase in AMQUA expenses associated with numerous member services, including presentation of the AMQUA booth at professional meetings, preparation of membership brochures, awarding of travel grants and awards, and preparation of the newsletter and Web site.

2) Grimm raised the issue of funding for speakers at biennial meetings. Graham noted that in the past, funding (air fare only) had been provided to presenters from outside the United States. Webb requested guidance and flexibility so that he could waive or reduce the registration fees for speakers. He has a budget ($2,000) to use for meeting expenses. Graham indicated that the Budget Committee would convene and determine if and how much registration fees for speakers could be reduced. He will share this decision with the Council.

7. Adjournment

Graham adjourned the meeting at 2:45 p.m.