I was playing the back nine at Torrey Pines when I got the call. “Sir, HAPS President O’Loughlin has injured her ankle and cannot participate in the World Summit 10K next week. You’ll have to step up.” Just then, HAPS One – a refurbished Huey helicopter – came through the clouds and landed on the tee box of hole #16. Before I knew it, I was being whisked away to Albuquerque, New Mexico to run in the same heat as Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.
Okay, enough with the Walter Mitty riff. Back to reality.
As the president-elect for the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS), I’ve been writing weekly blog entries to share with you the “behind the scenes” work within the Board of Directors and the Steering Committee. I have several more entries to publish in the coming year, but I wanted to take today to share the global function of these groups in terms of HAPS.
HAPS is primarily a volunteer organization. Incepted in the late 1980s, it started as a bunch of college teachers wanting to share ideas about teaching anatomy and physiology. It grew into a larger body of educators that reached from coast to coast. In time, we realized the need for official assistance and hired both a management firm and an executive director. However, a lot of the work is still performed by volunteers.
The Board of Directors serves as the Executive branch of the HAPS leadership. They monitor the finances and policies of HAPS. They serve as the interface with other societies and with vendors. They help to make conferences – regional and annual – a reality. Keeping in contact with the membership, they find out what works at the conferences and what doesn’t (the Monday mixer has been a big hit, the laser tag competition on the Las Vegas strip…not so much).
The Steering Committee serves as the Legislative branch of the HAPS leadership. Each member of the SC is the chair of a separate committee. Each committee tackles an issue or policy important to HAPS. The Chairs come together in the SC to make sure that these projects work together and nothing is being left out. They bring up concerns from their committee members and take responses back to those same members.
Here’s where you come in. “Ask not what your Society can do for you…” No wait, feel free to ask what HAPS can do for you. The Board and the Steering Committee would love to hear from you. We’d love to find out what you are curious about or what you’d like to share or do.
- Check out the HAPS Committees web page and see if there is a committee that sounds interesting to you. Contact the Chair in charge and learn what they’re doing and how you can participate.
- Contact your Regional Director and find out what is going on in your area or share what is going on in your area. See if we’re hosting a regional conference in your area and start making plans.
- Speaking of making plans, check out the next Annual Conference in Jacksonville, Florida in 2014. Next week, I’ll share some ideas of things to be thinking about while making plans to attend.
- OMG, there are so many ways to be active within HAPS. There’s the list-serv, the Facebook page, the Twitter account, and so on.
We’re boldly going to new frontiers in education. Here’s your chance to step up and enjoy the amazing journey with us!