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ASP Announces New Board of Directors Officers for 2007

James Kaler of the University of Illinois is ASP President and joining him as Vice President is Tim Slater of the University of Arizona. ASP Treasurer Eugene Epstein and ASP Secretary Mary Kay Hemenway were both re-elected in their respective positions.

Jim Kaler, Professor Emeritus of astronomy at the University of Illinois, earned his A.B. at the University of Michigan, his Ph.D. at UCLA, and has been at the University of Illinois since 1964. His research area, in which he has published over 120 papers, involves dying stars. Prof. Kaler has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium and the University of Mexico, gave both the Armand Spitz Lecture to the Great Lakes Planetarium Association and the Margaret Noble Address to the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society, and received the 2003 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement. He has written for a variety of popular and semi-popular magazines. His latest book is "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars." Jim becomes President of the ASP after serving as Vice-President and President-elect.

Tim Slater, Associate Professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, completed his BS in Physical Science and a BS Ed in Science Education at Kansas State University in 1989, Masters in Physics & Astronomy from Clemson University in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of South Carolina in 1993. His research areas of interest are Astronomy and Astrobiology Education (K-14, Public Outreach), Physics/Earth/Space Science Curriculum and Course Development, Faculty/Teacher-Enhancement Programs, Student Research Projects, Authentic Assessment. Tim has an extensive publication and presentation record and currently serves as the education officer for the American Astronomical Society.

Mary Kay Hemenway is currently Director, Educational Services Office of the Astronomy Department at the University of Texas at Austin and research associate with McDonald Observatory. Eugene Epstein is a retired radio astronomer with the Aerospace Corporation who assisted in running the company’s radio telescope and conducting his own research, which included measuring the thermal emission from the surface of Mercury and the rings of Saturn and studying the variability of the radio emission from quasars.