Recorder's Job Description

In the AAS Constitution, the job of Recorder is described as such: “It shall be the duty of the Recorder to chair the program committee and collect papers at the time of presentation before the Association and forward them for publication to the journal selected by the Association.  The Recorder shall represent the interests of the Association and serve as liaison to the editor of the journal.  The Recorder shall be a member of the Nominating Committee, and the Award/Fellowship committees.”  In essence, the job of the Recorder is three-fold: to chair the Program Committee, to put together the ASC program, and to manage manuscripts submitted for publication in the Journal of Surgical Research.

As Chair of the Program Committee, the Recorder presides over the formal meetings of the Program Committee, which consists of approximately 25-30 members of the AAS.  It is the job of this committee to review and score all abstracts submitted for the Annual Meeting.  The Program Committee then selects the abstracts to be presented, and creates the program venue for which these abstracts are presented.  This is done in conjunction with the Society for University Surgeons Program Committee.

In addition to selecting the scientific abstracts for the meeting, the Recorder’s job is also to create the remaining portions of the program.  The Recorder is a focal point, and the person who communicates with all parties who participate in the Annual Meeting.  This would include, but is not limited to, organizing the awards presentation with the President-Elect, presiding over the plenary session with the President, inviting moderators and discussants for the program, organizing the Annual Founders Lecture, coordinating the State of the Art, Presidents Session, and Hot Topics sessions, coordinating the Education Session with the Education Chair, coordinating the Issues Session with the Issues Chair, and arranging the New Members Breakfast with the Chair of the Membership Committee.

The third main focus of the Recorder’s job is to coordinate all of the manuscripts which are submitted to the Journal of Surgical Research associated with the Annual Meeting.  This process is now handled online.  In the most recent years, there have been as high as 120 manuscripts submitted.  The Recorder serves as the Associate Editor and handles the peer review process, assigning manuscripts for review to AAS Program Committee members.  Furthermore, the Recorder organizes all the formal competitions and awards for the best papers, best presentations, and best abstracts, which are awarded at the Annual ASC Meeting.

As mentioned in the duties listed above, the Recorder also serves on the Nominating Committee and on the Research Awards Committee.

It should be noted that the AAS Recorder works closely with the SUS Publications Chair and SUS Secretary.  The Recorder and Publications Chair alternate years taking the lead organizing the joint Publication Committee, so that when the Recorder is in their first year, the SUS Publications Chair is taking the lead.  The Recorder and SUS Secretary alternate years taking the lead running the annual ASC meeting.  This process helps foster a seamless transition from year-to-year.  Thus, in the first year of the position, the Recorder is learning from his/her SUS counterparts.

This is probably the most time-consuming officer position in the AAS.  Just the abstract review and selection requires a significant amount of time.  For instance, during the abstract review, the Recorder handled over 800 abstracts for the 2011 ASC meeting.  The Recorder handles all of the scoring, and then organizes these abstracts into separate sessions.  Therefore, for those interested in this position, you should be prepared to commit a significant amount of time to the job.  It is not recommended that you have any other significant service positions during this two-year period.

However, with that said, the AAS just recently proposed to split the job of the Recorder into three positions:  Recorder, Program Committee Chair, and Associate Editor of JSR.  This proposal will be voted on at the AAS Business Meeting in Feb 2011, and if passed, will take effect Feb 2012.  This change will significantly lighten the workload for the Recorder position in the second year of the term, when this person takes the lead role.

Some rough deadlines for the Recorder include the following:

March – Correspondence with all of new members of the Program Committee.  During this time, the Recorder needs to figure out the expertise of the individual members of the committee to help organize the review of abstracts.

April – Organize the formal Program Committee Meeting, which is usually held at the American College of Surgeons Meeting in October. 

May – Develop a preliminary program for the Annual Meeting to be presented at the Executive Council Meeting in June.  The Recorder should also have the abstract submission site under review and ready to start within the next few months.

June/July – Abstract submission site opens.

August – Review all abstracts submitted to the ASC.  Coordinate all of the reviews of the Program Committee.

September – Assemble all final scores for abstracts and start to preliminarily create the scientific portion of the program.

October – Meet in a one-day session with the Program Committee at the American College of Surgeons.  Finalize all abstract selections.

November – Send all accepted abstracts to the Journal of Surgical Research for publication.

December – Select moderators and discussants for the main meeting.

January – Manuscripts associated with the ASC meeting will be due to the JSR website for review.  Assign reviewers for all of these papers.

February – Annual Meeting

Throughout the year, the Recorder will also handle the review for the JSR Associative Meeting.  This is a year-long process which the Recorder should be prepared to commit at least several hours a week, every week.

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