We are already one month into spring, however, we are off to a slow start in the Pacific Northwest. On the other hand, ARPAS is off to a fast start on several major projects. I’ll take the chance to briefly highlight the membership on just some of these but ask that you read the other newsletter reports to get more details about the many other things going on with ARPAS. 

We continue to need to remind everyone of the importance of maintaining our ARPAS membership and CEU credits updated. If you have not renewed your membership it is very easy to do online. Members of the governing council will be making personal contact to members who have not yet renewed for 2013. Although it may be hard to know the full value of your annual dues, your membership is truly paying off in several key areas. The first is the ARPAS exam is being considered as an assessment tool for our Animal Sciences Departments to gauge the knowledge base our graduating seniors have gained. This is an obvious step along the process of allowing those students (and all the rest of us) to be recognized for their qualifications – this can be similar to the way other professional degrees are certified. Another very worthy development is that the ARPAS foundation is growing very nicely to enable our support of educational events that help our industry. In light of all the funding cuts in higher education, it is very critical that ARPAS has stepped in to lend their support in these difficult times. Another important component of our professional membership is our code of ethics. I’m pleased to see the activity of our Ethics committee on activities to remind our membership of what the code of ethics means and of the articles that have been published with all the details of these key principles. Our ACAS committees have also been busy updating our by-laws to allow those with DVM’s to be able to gain board certification (our previous by-laws stated that only MS and Ph.D.’s were eligible). Finally, it is amazing to see the growth and excitement that two new chapters in ARPAS have brought to our membership. Congratulations to our newly created Midwest and Northeast Chapters – due to the fact that they have risen to 50+ members, each of these new chapters have received a place on the Governing Council to be part of our annual board meetings and help steer the overall direction of ARPAS.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the California Chapter meeting to be held in conjunction with the California Animal Nutrition Conference in Fresno May 15th. I also look forward to seeing many of you in Indianapolis at our annual meeting.

One last item – look for an email from ARPAS requesting your vote for next year’s officers. It is very important to cast your vote and participate in this process as we are once again filling key leadership positions within the organization. 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president! Please let me know if I can ever be of any personal service to you or if you want to share ideas for the organization. Feel free to call me at 503-504-3797 or email me at bsanchez@diamondv.com.

Bill Sanchez, Ph.D., PAS, Diplomat ACAN