By Richard Kulka, AAPOR President

The summer solstice provides a good time for all of us to reflect on the good fortune in our lives, and especially on close friends and colleagues in our association.  Just over a month ago, it was with great excitement – and not a little trepidation – that I accepted the president’s gavel from outgoing President Nancy Mathiowetz at our annual conference in New Orleans, the city in which I graduated from Tulane University two score years ago.  The standard for AAPOR accomplishments was set pretty high during this past year, including the inauguration of our online learning initiative with the Poynter Institute’s News University (NewsU), the complete redesign of our website, our greatly increased presence in the media as the leading voice on public opinion and survey research issues, and many others. 

The conference itself was also a great success, with 850 attendees, including 235 who attended for the first time, the largest contingent of first time attendees that we have ever had.  For those of you who are also reading this newsletter as new members, let me be the first to welcome you once again.  The technical program solicited and crafted by Frank Newport and his committee and played out by participants in the various sessions over the five days will undoubtedly be remembered as one of our very best for many years to come.  Linda Dimitropolis and her dedicated cadre of conference operations committee members deftly balanced our traditional array of social events with the unique attractions and offerings of the Big Easy to provide a unique schedule, setting and events for the conference.  Mark Blumenthal’s Pollster.com interviews with award winners and presenters – posted on YouTube during the conference -- were a great innovation that we hope to continue and build on as a way of bringing the conference to those who are not able to attend and to entice others to attend upcoming conferences.  If you were unable to attend this year, make sure to check out the photos and AAPOR Award Winner video.

In addition to installing a new Executive Council, the conference also served to mark a change in the editorship  of the Public Opinion Quarterly, our flagship professional journal.  Peter Miller, who has served the association in this role since 2001, stepped down --- and into his new role as AAPOR’s Vice President and President-elect.  Replacing Peter as co-editors will be James Druckman and Nancy Mathiowetz, who will also serve as Past President on our current Council. 

The coming year offers tremendous potential and challenges for AAPOR. We will be working hard to improve the quality of your membership, acting on what you told us in the recent member survey. (The survey report will be completed and distributed later this summer.) We will also be reaching out to increase our membership, to strengthen our chapter relationships, and to continue to develop new resources for you and for the public.  Our overarching goal is to systematically review and evaluate the many innovative experiments and initiatives developed and implemented over the past several years to ensure that AAPOR continues to build and sustain itself as an efficient and effective leader in public opinion and survey research in the best interests of its members and the public.  I look forward to serving you as your President this year and welcome your input and counsel on how we can best accomplish these objectives.

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