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AOAC INTERNATIONAL
Committee on Statistics
(Terms of Reference Comments)
July 7, 2017
Name
Section
Sub-Section
Line
Number(s)
Type of
Comment
Proposed Change by Submitter
Comment(s) - Justification for change
1 Mike Zapf
II. Committee
a. Composition
13-33
General
Comment(s)
under comments
I have benefited from Paul & Qian's comments, and see there points to favor their consideration.
I am surprised that the committee might be 18 rather than 12, it seems a little large and suggest
it might consist of 9 full members + 3 associates, "in training". I think at 18 there could be a lot of
disinterested bystanders who become bored as the amount of tasks in StatCom to disperse is
small.
2 Hilde Skår
Norli
II. Committee
a. Composition
13
Editorial
The committee shall be comprised of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 18 members,
including Chair, of which a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 9 are voting (Full Members)
…
Some periods there might be difficult getting 9 voting members, and hence there might be
difficult to make decisions. The minimum number is in line with the current ToR.
3 Hilde Skår
Norli
II. Committee
a. Composition
15-22
Editorial
The President of AOAC on the recommendation of the OMB shall appoint all members
to the Committee (Full and Associate) for a three-year, with no maximum term
limitation. The chair is initially appointed for one three-year term and may serve one
additional three-year term if reappointment is approved with rationale by OMB and the
President of AOAC.
Recommend to keep the current wording that there is no maximum term limitation. Volunteers
in AOAC stay for longer than 6 years, and their experience is needed. It is harder and harder to
get volunteers, so if someone is willing to stay on for a longer period and do an excellent job, it
would be foolish to not use his/hers expertise. To delete the starting/ending of the term give
flexibility - there might be that a new expert is needed between the business meetings.
4 Sidney Sudberg II. Committee
a. Composition
17, 18, 19
Editorial
All Members may serve a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms as a Full
Member, after which they could choose to continue to serve as an Associate Member.
The Chair, at its pleasure, can suggest removal of non-participating members if removal
is approved with rationale by the Official Methods Board.
To disrupt the committee's activities by having to wait for OMB to approve a reappointment, it
would seem self-defeating for a successful committee to continue to maintain its’ success by
'constantly' changing that synergy? I am not sure why there would have to be term limits for
members, especially now that the new TOR will address non-performing members, for whatever
reasons, with OMB approval. Is there a vehicle for a Full Member, after serving 2 3-year terms to
ever be a Full Member again? Maybe after 1 3-year term as an Associate Member, they could be
reconsidered for Full Membership, again. Good Statisticians are hard to find & it seems like the
committee & AOAC would be compromising itself by 'forcefully' removing good members. There
should just be a good way of circulating all members, if nothing else, to allow for more good
Talent to enter the mix.