EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS

Abstract

I ’M happy to report that the Executive Committee and Board of Governors of ASIH have passed the Joint Code of Conduct (as have the other Joint societies). Everyone who wants to attend the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) must accept the policy in order to register for the meetings (https://www.asih.org/meetings). We have hired Burk and Associates, Inc. to provide an ombudsperson. Burk and Associates have extensive scientific meeting management experience and will have an ombud trained to respond to alleged violations of the JMIH Code of Conduct on site at JMIH 2019. They will also have an anonymous reporting hotline system called NAVEX available for attendees. To help broaden our pool of candidates for plenary awards, we have added a new Mid-Career Award (the Margaret M. Stewart Achievement Award). The Student Diversity and Inclusion Award has also been established by the ASIH Diversity Committee to help broaden participation (https:// www.asih.org/student-awards/diversity-inclusion-award). At JMIH 2019 there will be an ‘‘Empowering #HERpers in Academia and Beyond’’ symposium that we hope many people will attend and support. We need everyone’s help to recruit and retain people from diverse backgrounds to make our Society as inclusive, safe, and welcoming as possible. Please remember to nominate the outstanding members of our Society for awards! Also, please remember to renew your membership, and I hope to see you all in Snowbird (https://conferences.k-state.edu/JMIH/) in July. The various committees of ASIH are made up of volunteers who care deeply about our Society. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or to any members of the Executive Committee about your concerns or suggestions. Sincerely, Prosanta Chakrabarty ASIH Secretary [email protected]