These annual meetings offer opportunities for members to share research, keep current by attending workshops and tutorials, discuss academic issues, renew and nurture old friendships and make new friends. Regardless of the location, the Institute's annual meetings continue to be highly successful. Much of the credit for this success must be shared by the program chairs, program committees, and Home Office.

Appointment of Program Chairs

The first responsibility of a president-elect is to select a nominee for program chair for the Executive Committee's consideration at its March meeting and for the Board's approval at its April meeting. This means that, immediately after the results of the annual election of officers are known, the president-elect must begin the nomination process for a program chair, and the nominee must determine if there is sufficient support of his/her dean and department head. It is remarkable how well this process has worked for more than 27 years.

The Institute is indebted to Past-President John Anderson for nominating Lori Franz (University of Missouri-Columbia and Midwest DSI) as the 1996 program chair for the Orlando meeting. It has been a pleasure for both John Anderson and me to work with Lori during the planning period for the 1996 meeting. For many years, I have had the good fortune to know Lori and observe her leadership, scholarship, creativity, and dedication. When I learned of her appointment by the Board, I knew that the Institute's 1996 program would be exemplary, a model for future programs.

As president-elect I had the unusual good judgment to nominate David Olson (Texas A&M Univesity and Southwest DSI) to be the 1997 program chair. His nomination was enthusiastically endorsed by the Executive Committee at its March 1995 meeting, and a month later the Board unanimously approved his appointment. Immediately, David began work on the 1997 program (incidentally, the 1997 calls for papers will be mailed in mid-October). I feel certain that Michael Parent (Utah State University and Western DSI), the 1998 program chair nominated by President-elect Jim Evans, has consulted with both Lori and David and is recruiting track and theme chairs for the 1998 meeting.

It is interesting to note that these chairs and the 1995 chair, Ernie Houck (Virginia Tech and Southeast DSI), are from four different regions of the Institute. They are all exceptionally talented individuals who have long histories of dedicated service to the Institute. We are fortunate that they are so willing to spend many months planning these important meetings. I personally thank them and their program committees for their dedication to the Institute while balancing already very busy academic and personal schedules.

A New Look for the Annual Meeting Program

Program Schedule

From its inception the Institute has made improving instructional competencies within decision sciences one of its priorities. This became apparent to me in 1994 when I completed my tenure as archivist for Southeast DSI. Before mailing to my successor copies of almost all programs of the annual meetings for the Institute and Southeast DSI since 1973, I decided to look at them again to see who participated and what their interests were.

The list of members who have presented papers and workshops on teaching, case study development, business school curricula, and other pedagogical issues is impressive. It was interesting to note that the members' interest in these topics has not diminished over the years, but rather has increased. In fact, the expansion of the 1995 Annual Meeting's ``Designing the MBA Curriculum'' mini-program was in response to attendees' requests that mini-programs be expanded to include curricula issues of the undergraduate and Ph.D. programs in 1996. As a result, the three curricular issues' mini- programs are scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This schedule will eliminate scheduling conflict for those who might like to attend more than one of these sessions.

Brochures highlighting these mini-programs have been mailed to approximately 3,600 deans, directors and DSI members. If the heads of the undergraduate, M.B.A. and Ph.D. programs in your college or school have not received copies, please let the DSI Home Office know. If you have questions regarding these conferences, see articles in this issue, or visit the annual meeting section of the DSI Web site (http://www.gsu.edu/~dsiadm/). Also, you may contact Anne Koehler (Miami University), Theme Chair for Curricular Issues, for more information.

I encourage you to invite your dean and directors of your undergraduate, MBA, and Ph.D. degree programs to participate in these professional meetings with you. It would be a great opportunity for your dean and directors to share their expertise and to hear how others are solving some of our shared curricular problems and professional challenges. Who knows, they might enjoy a brief visit to sunny Florida with thoughtful and interesting faculty whose only agenda item is to understand better how to solve our common problems!

Over the years program chairs have planned programs that struck a good balance between the traditional and contemporary. Although the Institute is proactive in incorporating tutorials, workshops, and sessions on new, cutting-edge technologies and current issues, there are the traditional, ``tried and true'' sessions. This year's program includes the 18th Instructional Innovation Award for Teaching Excellence, the 17th Annual Case Workshop for New Case Writers, and the 22nd Annual DSI Case Writer's Workshop. All of these are scheduled for Sunday, and I encourage you to attend. Workshops and competitions with such a long history of success are important to the membership and merit our continued support.

International Meetings and Regional Meetings

While at the Hong Kong meeting, I talked with Norma Harrison (Macquarie University). She and Miles Nicholls (Swinburne University of Technology), program co-chairs for the Institute's 4th International Meeting, are planning another excellent conference. It is scheduled for July 20-23, 1997, in Sydney, Australia, and the deadline for paper submissions is December 31st. The conference theme is ``Innovation New Products, Processes, and Techniques.'' Along with an excellent program, the conference will offer the attendees an opportunity to participate in a number of pre- and post-conference tours (see pages 27-29). Norma assures us that the Australian winter weather will be perfect by any standard in July. I look forward to a successful meeting and seeing many of you in Sydney and other parts of Australia.

On a final note, let me encourage you to peruse the Institute's Web site at http://www.gsu.edu/~dsiadm/. When you have the opportunity to read the preliminary program and review the information on the Web, I believe you'll be impressed at how well the Program Committee, along with the Home Office, has addressed each of the 1996-97 Board's priorities. Together they have worked to: (1) increase attention to the Institute's role in improving instructional competencies within the decision sciences, (2) increase internationalization of the Institute, (3) increase visibility of the Institute in promoting interdisciplinary research, instruction, and service initiatives within the decision sciences and related fields, (4) increase use of advanced technology within the programs and workings of the Institute, and (5) improve the functioning of all activities of the Institute. The Institute is appreciative of their efforts.