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President's LetterQua operor nos vado ex hic? Where do we go from here?by Krishna S. Dhir, DSI President
As stated by past DSI president G. Keong Leong in his farewell letter, at the start of his term he and I agreed to coordinate the strategic planning process of the Institute over a two-year period. Keeping in mind our raison d'etre, the 2010 Development Committee, chaired by Thomas Jones of the University of Arkansas, undertook a detailed study of the key forces shaping the evolution of our Institute. They also examined the current status of the Institute in terms of its position in the 'industry' of academic and professional associations, and its capacity to exploit this position. Additionally, at the annual meeting of the Institute in November 2010 in San Diego, Wickham Skinner of Harvard Business School gave us an inspiring analysis of the state of the decision sciences discipline, traced the contributions made to it by our Institute, and highlighted opportunities afforded to us by the prevailing state of affairs. Wickham Skinner asked: "What's next? Where do we go from here?" He said, "We are immersed in . . . a high density of big, serious, varied and widely dispersed societal problems. These challenges . . . are in the air we breathe . . . . Once again, let the debate begin . . . become the best worldwide solvers of major problems." Armed with deep insights acquired through the past year, the Board of Directors has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting activities that add and enhance value to the members of the Institute. The Board has endorsed an ambitious investigation by an ad hoc committee, co-chaired by Thomas Jones and William Carper of University of West Florida, into the role our Institute should play in the evolution of the discipline of decision sciences. This committee will focus on initiatives to transform and differentiate DSI into the distinctive premier organization of the discipline. Concurrently, the 2011 Development Committee, chaired by Norma Harrison of Macquarie University, has set out to identify specific initiatives, both strategic and operational, to further enhance the value of membership. It will also evaluate the Institute's key processes for application of continuous quality improvement principles. In addition to the goal of transforming the Institute into the premier organization for the decision sciences discipline, the Board of Directors have adopted the goals of consolidating the integration of the regional subdivisions into the Institute's strategic initiatives and operations, enhancing the global reach of its journals, and improving the efficiency of the Institute through ongoing deployment of emerging technologies. The Board of Directors has also charged the 2011 Information Technology Committee, chaired by Sub Samaddar of Georgia State University, to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the Institute's information technology requirements including its various web-based applications, social media/networking applications, conference implementation applications, and security procedures. The Member Services Committee, chaired by Gyula Vastag of Corvinus University of Budapest, and the Program and Meetings Committee, chaired by Funda Sahin of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, will assess the impact of innovative initiatives implemented by the Institute, and also suggest additional services to add value to your membership. With the assistance of Kwei Tang of Purdue University, the Board continues to explore the development of a coalition of associations to organize and implement a World Congress. A number of additional ad hoc and standing committees of the Institute, along with various journal editors, program and specific interest group coordinators, and the appointed officers of the Institute, continue to serve you, our members, with zeal and commitment. I am highly impressed by the large number of members who volunteered to serve on various committees, far exceeding the available slots. Many of these volunteers are new members, who have come to the Institute recently. I believe our future is secure. The Institute has an outstanding Board of Directors to guide the Executive Committee comprised of Past President Keong Leong of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, President-Elect Powell Robinson of Texas A&M University, Vice President and 2012 Program Chair Thomas Choi of Arizona State University, Treasurer Shaw Chen of the University of Rhode Island, and yours truly, assisted by Executive Director Carol Latta of the Home Office. Program Chair Ken Boyer of Ohio State University is hard at work and has already made enormous progress in organizing the next annual meeting to be held in November 2011 in Boston. He has lined up a number of notable speakers and is planning to implement a number of innovations. Program Chair-designate Thomas Choi of Arizona State University has already started work on the San Francisco annual meeting to be held in November 2012. The Board has also tapped Funda Sahin of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to serve as the program chair for the 2013 annual meeting. She has graciously accepted this challenging task. What an outstanding team!
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