PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Learning from the Past,
Looking to the Future
I
venture to say that any American Statistical were kindly invited by RSS President David Hand,
Association president preparing for his or her whom we invited to JSM 2009 on behalf of the
presidential address takes time to peruse the col- ASA membership.
lected addresses of previous presidents. In my case, The RSS meeting will celebrate the society’s
there are 103 previous presidents, spanning 169 175th year, making the RSS four years older than
years. This journey through the history of the asso- the ASA. Coincidentally, Hand and I are both the
ciation is always illuminating, but also, at times, 104th presidents of our respective associations, due
daunting. It is “a wonderful walk through history to the differing presidential terms in the infancies of
through the eyes of our leadership,” as ASA Past- the two societies.
President Sallie Keller-McNulty said. I agree with The RSS meetings theme is “Statistics in a
Sally C. Morton
Past-President Michael O’Fallon, who said, “I found Changing Society—175 Years of Progress” (see
no shortage of wisdom in the words of my predeces-
www.rss.org.uk/main.asp?page=3021 for more infor-
sors.” However, I also agree with Keller-McNulty in mation). The welcome reception will take place at
that I have realized I “have nearly nothing new to Edinburgh Castle; the anniversary dinner will be
say.” By the time you read this column, of course, I held at Our Dynamic Earth, which requires a trip to
will have already given my address.
www.dynamicearth.co.uk for a full explanation. The
Fortunately, all can easily ponder the words of dinner will be preceded by a malt whiskey tasting.
our previous presidents. As reported in the July issue Did I mention there are scientific talks, as well?
of Amstat News, ASA Past-President Fritz Scheuren, Suffice it to say, Ron and I will bring back
along with Wendy Alvey and Beth Kilss, have been numerous ideas for the ASA’s 175th celebration and
working hard on an electronic volume of presiden- JSM 2014, slated for Boston, Massachusetts. As the
tial addresses and biographies for the first 100 presi- countdown to the ASA festivities begins, no doubt
dents, due out soon. As the 104th president, I must numerous segments of the membership will con-
admit feeling slightly excluded. Absent major medi- tribute to the planning.
cal breakthroughs due to the contributions of statis- Having opened with quotes from ASA presidents,
ticians, I won’t be around in 2109 when the second I close with words from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
volume appears. Regardless, I thank these members “We know what we are, but know not what we may
for their leadership and hard work in preserving the be.” We have much to learn from the past and much
history of the association, and most importantly, mak- to be excited about in our future. And I have no
ing it accessible. apologies for the shortness of this column, for after
As the ASA nears its 175th celebration, Executive all, “brevity is the soul of wit!”
Director Ron Wasserstein and I have taken on the
responsibility of considering various celebration
options. To that end, we will journey together to
Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Royal Statistical
Society (RSS) annual meetings in September. We
AUGUST 2009 AmstAt News 3
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