Bob Dodman, Honorary member 1994

Bob Dodman was made an honorary member of the Society at the NZ conference in recognition of his tireless efforts for APPS. A brief summary of his achievements and contributions follows.

 Bob was a Foundation Member and the first Treasurer of the Society. In 1986, he became Mycology Editor of Australasian Plant Pathology and in 1988 he became Editor-in-Chief. In 1992, he introduced the idea of appointing an Assistant Editor-in-Chief to help with the preparation of the journal for publication and an Executive Editor to handle the administrative and promotional aspects of the journal (trying to raise the profile of the journal in the scientific community in Australia and overseas and to increase the level of corporate sponsorship). Both appointments were approved by the Executive at the time. The journal was for a number of years published by Inkata Press in Melbourne . However, after Inkata was taken over by Butterworths, APPS could no longer afford to use their services. Bob negotiated to have R.G. Richardson, Mt Eliza Victoria who also produces Plant Protection Quarterly, publish the journal and subsequently took over publishing it in Toowoomba through his own company, J&B Desktop Publishing Pty Ltd. In 1994, Bob achieved his long-time goal of producing and distributing all four issues of one volume of the journal within one calendar year. Bob has been the major force behind the journal becoming a more professional-looking publication. He has been involved in trying to have the journal more widely abstracted and cited and in investigating the possibility of amalgamating with other societies/organisations/ publications to keep the journal viable.

 In addition, Bob was the person most responsible for steering the society towards successfully achieving incorporation. He was in frequent contact with a solicitor over all aspects of incorporation, especially in clarifying aspects of the Act in relation to the unique way APPS operates.

Helen Ogle, with additions by Bob Dodman

December 2006  

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