PRESIDENT'S CORNER
President: Professor Michael J. Marfell-Jones,
UCOL, Private Bag 11-022, Palmerston North, NEW ZEALAND.
Ph: 64-6-952 7000, Fax: 64-6-952 7002,
Email: m.marfell-jones@ucol.ac.nz
1 June 2006,
Dear Colleagues
What a year so far! Our Melbourne conference is now three and a half months behind us and what a pleasure it was to see so many old friends there. The international visitors quite put some of the “locals” to shame by their attendance, with Arthur STEWART taking the most-travelled prize, only slightly ahead of three young English colleagues. For my part, it was a pleasant relief only having to take a single four-hour flight across the Tasman – the shortest distance I’ve ever had to travel for one of our biennial gatherings.
Despite earlier misgivings about a conference venue which was some distance from the various conference hotels, I was very impressed with the whole set up, particularly the Moonee Valley Racecourse which was a wonderful setting with excellent facilities. We were treated very well, being given first-class rooms to hold both our anthropometric presentations and our various meetings in. Interactions with the Conference organisers were positive throughout. The mutually-helpful relationship greatly assisted both the organisation and running of the ISAK stream and the tasks of the editors of, and the potential contributors to, Kinanthropometry X. Today, less than four months from the conference, more than half the contributions have reached the full acceptance stage, with the remainder not far behind. This presages well for an early publication date which equates to early recognition of the authors efforts and scholarship.
One of the highlights of the conference for me was the recognition of a new Level 4 – Tim OLDS. I shall refer to that recognition in more detail elsewhere in this issue of Kinanthreport (with my Accreditation Working Group Chair hat on), but I do also want to acknowledge it here. More than a few anthropometrists have been surprised over the years to learn that Tim wasn’t already a Level 4, as he had always appearedto behave like one. I’m very pleased to be able to say that perception is now reality. Two months after that very pleasant presidential duty, of presenting Tim with his Level 4 certificate in the presence of so many ISAK anthropometrists, I was able to ring another senior anthropometrist, co-incidentally on her 40th birthday, to let her know that she too had been awarded Level 4 recognition — Patria HUME. I record my presidential congratulations to Patria who will, I am certain, make an excellent on-going contribution to ISAK in her new role as a Criterion Anthropometrist.
The other big announcement at Melbourne was the completion of the revised version of the ISAK Manual. This revision has been a major undertaking, with monumental input from its four authors, Lindsay CARTER, Arthur STEWART, Tim OLDS and Yours Truly, ably supported by comment from all Level 4 and many Level 3 anthropometrists. I was pleased to note the decision by the Executive Council at its Melbourne meeting, to award Lindsay, Arthur, Tim and me authorship of the new Manual – a fitting recognition of the hundreds of hours that each of us have put into the task. On ISAK’s behalf, I thank Tim, Arthur and Lindsay yet again for all their efforts on this key component of the ISAK training and accreditation programme.
In mid-May, my copy of Kinanthropometry IX arrived at my office, tangible proof that it had finally completed its journey from conception to birth. I would like to thank my co-editors Arthur STEWART and Tim OLDS for all their mid-wifery efforts in this exercise, but I particularly want to mention the excellent job that my P.A., Jennifer Gordon, did on the formatting and presentation of this publication. Her tenacity in seeing through to fruition what was, at times, an incredibly frustrating task, as she battled, for example, with a seemingly idiosyncratic computer programme which didn’t really want the graph in question to go where it needed to, or interacted with an author who undid all her hard work by repeatedly sending unformatted amended versions back in response to edit queries, was gratifying to behold and sincerely appreciated. I hope that the experience didn’t scar her for life and that it was not in any way contributory to her decision to move on from UCOL, for as some, but not all of you yet know, Jennifer’s last day as my PA was 9 June a big loss for me personally, for UCOL and particularly for ISAK.
Jennifer has done a first-class job for ISAK throughout her tenure as my PA and made a huge contribution to the success of the ISAK Accreditation Scheme, especially in the areas of approval letters, course tracking and certificate production and dispatch. Few who have not had first-hand experience of these tasks can comprehend the nature and magnitude of the work, (and often frustration), involved in handling these crucial components of the Scheme – as Arthur Stewart knows only too well. That Jennifer managed it with, (not always, but mostly) the equanimity of a Saint, is a just reflection of the overall contribution she has made to ISAK over the past two years Many of you have communicated with Jennifer, only a very few of you have had the opportunity to meet her. I and ISAK wish her all the very best for her next career move.
Another major task that Jennifer assisted me and ISAK with has been the finalising of the third component of the ISAK Handbook – the Guidelines for Running ISAK courses. The ISAK Handbook, which will be sent out in July to all Level 3 and 4 ISAK anthropometrists, has three parts to it. These are 1) the definition of the ISAK Accreditation Scheme itself, 2) the ISAK Manual and 3) the above-mentioned Guidelines. The current version of the Scheme was primarily approved in 2004 at ISAK’s Biennial General Meeting (BGM) in Thessaloniki, with a few small, but significant, changes approved at the Melbourne BGM. The ISAK Manual has had a major overall revision. The vast majority of our measurement protocols remain the same, as of course they should, but have been presented in a much clearer, more uniform, way, which I’m confident you will find helpful. A few key changes have been made, however, which you must make it your business to find out about and incorporate into your measurement. The at-long-last publication of the third component, the Guidelines, will greatly assist those who run and examine ISAK courses, as well as those, we hope, who administer the Scheme. Adherence to the decided protocols for such things as course approvals, payments, notification of results and distribution of certificates, should markedly decrease the workload of all involved — “a consummation devoutly to be wished”, as Shakespeare once penned. The four major contributors to the Guidelines were the same four as authored the new ISAK Manual. My and ISAK’s thanks go yet again, therefore, to Tim, Arthur and Lindsay for their major input here, one component of which involved face-to-face discussions in their own homes and offices — no mean feat when you consider that they live in Australia, Scotland and the United States, respectively.
Finally, in this President’s Corner, I want to record ISAK’s thanks to three parties. Firstly I want to thank Tim OLDS, yet again, for his on-going editorship of Kinanthreport. The standard of the report, which needs no literary embellishment from me, is a worthy reflection of the standard of Tim’s contribution from ISAK. Secondly, I want to thank Hans de RIDDER for his quiet, capable management of the ISAK Secretary General’s role. Successful handling of the Society’s financial affairs is essential to its on-going existence. We are indeed lucky to have a steward of Hans’s ability and probity handling this key portfolio. Thirdly, I wish to record ISAK’s gratitude and debt to my own institute, the Universal College of Learning, for its on-going immense support of my involvement in ISAK as its President. I am indeed very fortunate and very proud to work for such a supportive organisation, which, through the good offices of its President, Paul McElroy, has enabled and facilitated my participation in so many ISAK meetings and projects.
Mike Marfell-Jones
President
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