I wrote in the April 8 ASA at 175 blog about ways to help the ASA promote the practice and profession of statistics through volunteer service. This week, a committee has been quietly but diligently working to select the 2014 honorees of the Founders Award, the highest honor bestowed by the ASA. It is particularly appropriate to write about the Founders Award during our 175th anniversary year because it was first awarded during our 150th anniversary year.
The Founders Award is presented annually for distinguished service to the association. Award honorees have served the association over an extended period and in a variety of leadership roles, including chapter, section, committee, officer or editorial activities, roles in which effective service or leadership was provided within the ASA or on behalf of the association to other organizations.
I have had the privilege of serving on this committee since 2006, first as a volunteer and since 2007 as executive director. For me, the privilege is being reminded annually of the enormous commitment many individuals have selflessly given to this association.
The recipients of the 2014 award already have been selected, but their names will not be announced until the President’s Address and Awards Ceremony August 5 at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Boston. (This is the only ASA award whose winners are a surprise to everyone outside the selection committee—including the honorees.) However, you can get a flavor for the caliber of people who have been presented the award by perusing the list of recipients over the past 24 years, which is reproduced at the end of this blog.
Not including this year’s honorees, 86 people have been selected for this award since it was established in 1989. The list includes statistical luminaries, ASA presidents and vice presidents, and leaders in industry, government and academe. Many Founders Award honorees fit into at least one of these categories, but what they all have in common is an uncommon level of commitment to their professional association. Take a good at the list and ask yourself what our profession and our association would be without the influences of these people.
Do you know someone who should be considered for the Founders Award? If so, pass on their name to me at ron@amstat.org.
The next 25 years of Founders Award honorees are in the making now. Might you be one of them?
Founders Award Honorees 1989 to 2013
1989: Fred C. Leone, Margaret E. Martin
1990: Morris H. Hansen, John Neter, Richard L. Scheaffer
1991: Robert V. Hogg, Ronald L. Iman, Paul D. Minton, Ingram Olkin, Joan R. Rosenblatt
1992 Richard L. Anderson, Ralph A. Bradley, William H. Kruskal, Robert L. Mason, John D. McKenzie, Fredrick A. Mosteller
1993: Rich D. Allen, Samuel W. Greenhouse, Daniel G. Horvitz, I. Richard Savage, Bruce E. Trumbo
1994: Vickie S. Hertzberg, David C. Hoaglin, James M. Landwehr
1995: Mary A. Foulkes, Charles H. Goldsmith, J. Stuart Hunter, Donald W. Marquardt,
1996: Susan Ellenberg, Ramanathan Gnanadesikan, Donald Guthrie, Michael H. Kutner
1997: Barbara A. Bailar, Judith M. Tanur, Lorraine Denby
1998: David R. Morganstein, Janet L. Norwood, Jerome Sacks, Fritz J. Scheuren
1999: Richard F. Gunst, Jerry L. Moreno, Gladys H. Reynolds
2000: Nancy J. Kirkendall
2001: Jon R. Kettenring, David S. Moore
2002: Sallie Keller-McNulty, W. Michael O'Fallon, Edward J. Wegman
2003: Roxy L. Peck, James H. Matis, Lynne Billard
2004: Roger Hoerl, Dallas E. Johnson, William R. Schucany, Ray A. Waller
2005: Linda H. Gage, Joan B. Garfield, Albert Madansky
2006: Wendy L. Alvey, John E. Boyer, Jr., E. Jacquelin Dietz, Robert L. Santos, Joe H. Ward
2007: Katherine Wallman, George Cobb, Gary McDonald
2008: Linda Young, David Scott
2009: June Morita, Bob Rodriguez, W. Robert Stephenson, Jessica Utts, Stephen Fienberg
2010: Janet Buckingham, Dan Solomon, George Williams
2011: Wayne Fuller, Nat Schenker, Bill Smith, Robert Starbuck
2012: Mary Batcher, Christy Chuang-Stein, Lynne Stokes
2013: Mary Ellen Bock, Xiao-Li Meng, Jeri Mulrow
In 2014, the American Statistical Association is celebrating its 175th anniversary. Over the course of this year, this blog will highlight aspects of that celebration, and look broadly at the ASA and its activities. Please contact ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein (ron@amstat.org) if you would like to contribute an entry to this blog.