FW: president's message from John Lee

[Jim White]

MESSAGE from Past President of the International Symbiosis Society

Three years in the life of our society has gone by already. I first
want to thank all those who have helped the society get started:
Margalit Galun, Jim White, Doug. Zook, Charles Bacon, Lauraine
Hawkins and Maria Correia. I know we are all looking forward to the
congress in Marburg later this summer. As look to the future of our
fledgling society it is a time to examine our goals. Why do we
perceive the need for a society focused on SYMBIOSIS? What is the
purpose of a scientific society? How can we further its aims? I
know that if you are reading this you have already bought in to the
ISS. How far? What kind of services do you expect from your
Society? What are you willing to give to the society? Usually
scientific societies provide 4 main services to their membership: 1)
Act as a focus for recognition of the field; 2) Provide the
necessary venues and forums (newsletters, web sites, meetings) for
free exchanges and discussions on the societies' main themes; 3)
Publish a journal to record significant advances in the field; 4)
Provide the resources and the materials to instruct others at all
levels of education. To various degrees we meet these 4 goals, but
we have plenty of room for improvement. Our group is still very
small. Symbiotic themes have been given major exposures in a number
of journals in the past 3 years, yet we are still very low on the
horizon of general biology.

The challenge lies ahead. We all must become salesmen. We must
convince our colleagues that symbiosis is one of the central themes
of life and its evolution on earth. We need the help of everyone to
help us grow and become more visible in the years ahead. Make a
resolution to get just one more colleagues to join our society and
support our journal.

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