From the Chair

Michael Fauerbach, Florida Gulf Coast University

The summer newsletter is always the time to welcome new members to the executive committee and to say good-bye to some others. This year is no different.

I would like to thank Paul Cottle for his hard work as Chair this past year. He truly left some big shoes for me to fill, but with the help of the other members of the executive committee, I will try my best. Thankfully, Paul will still be a member of the executive committee for the next year, as Past Chair and Chair of the Fellow Nominating Committee. Although by the time you read this it will be too late for the current cycle, please remember to think about deserving colleagues and nominate them for fellowship in the future.

Special thanks go out to our outgoing Past Chair Renee Diehl. Over the past four years Renee has done tremendous work for the forum and I always enjoyed her advice and our conversations. I'm sure she will be happy to have to deal with much fewer emails in the future.

We will also have to say good-bye to Angie Little who has served as APS/AAPT Member at Large for the past three years. I had the pleasure to work closely with Angie, as she was very active in the forums nomination and program committees that I chaired.

Lastly, we have to say good-bye to our Secretary/Treasurer Scott Franklin. Scott will still be active within the APS as he decided to lend his talents as the Secretary/Treasurer to the newly formed Topical Group on Physics Education Research (GPER). Congratulations and good luck to Scott, GPER will certainly benefit from his talents.

We welcome our newly elected members to the executive committee: Wendy Adams (APS/AAPT Member at Large), Jorge Lopez (AAPT Member at Large), Charles Henderson (Secretary/Treasurer), and Tim Stelzer (Vice-Chair).

With both the March and April National Meetings barely in our rearview mirror, it is hard to believe, that we already have to start looking forward to 2015. Randy Knight (Chair-Elect) already has put together the program committee for the 2015 March and April meetings, and you will hear a call from him for suggested sessions soon.

As the new Vice-Chair, Tim Stelzer will solicit nominations for the elections to the executive committee. With your help and input we can put together a strong slate of candidates that will assure future strength and success of the forum.

Please keep in mind that the forum can only be meaningful and successful, if its members are actively engaged. Therefore, please feel free to contact any of the members of the executive committee or the newsletter editor, if you have suggestions or contributions to our missions.

Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.