Divisional Activities
To Join A Division
To Enhance the Structure

Links to Other ASM Pages:

Initiatives

ASM Divisions

Members of common scientific interest may be authorized by the Council to meet as a group to be known as a Division. Divisions function mainly in the programming of the General Meetings. Division membership, primary or secondary, offers a valuable professional network and an information resource about division activities and pertinent scientific issues.

Divisional Activities
Division Structure - designed to facilitate information exchange.
Division Descriptions & Links to Division Home Page

Benefits of Participation

Divisions plan the scientific agenda at the ASM General Meeting and publish information about divisional activities and scientifically related issues. Division Homepages are on-line (many are under construction), and offered as a means to obtain useful information about Division Officers, activities and provide sites of related interest to division members. Each Division elects its own officers.

Participation in ASM Divisions offers members the opportunity to interact with other members with similar scientific interests. Members can:

(1) Be involved in arranging ASM's agenda for scientific sessions, lectures and seminars held at the ASM General Meeting;

(2) Be on a list to keep informed through newsletters, direct mail, and participate in on-line discussion groups;

(3) Participate in the governance of the Society;

(4) Attend and network at specialized programs such as business meetings, social events and other colloquia at ASM General Meetings.

To Join A Division
Full Membership
Student Membership
ASM Division Change Form

Full members can select one voting and one non-voting division from among 26 when renewing annual memberships. Prospective members can select a primary and secondary division when joining the Society through the membership application process. To change division affiliation, Full and Student members can complete an ASM Division Change Form.

Primary and Secondary Division Membership: Members may hold elective office and vote only in their primary division.  Secondary membership does not offer voting privileges for selection of Division Officers, Division Councilors and Divisional Group Representatives. In addition, secondary division membership does not count towards the minimum of 150 members needed to form a division.

To Enhance the Structure

To create a new division, at least 150 Full members must sign a petition agreeing to become a primary member of the division if it is successfully created.   Once the membership requirement has been met, the issue can be presented to CPC and ASM Council by the Chair of the Membership Board.  If the new division is approved by the ASM Council, all qualifying signatories are automatically transferred to the new division.

To change the name of a division, Division members must agree by vote that the change is required.   The newly proposed name must be sent to the Chair of the Committee on Divisions for review with the General Meeting Program Committee.  If there are no problems, the proposal goes to the Chair of the Membership Board to present the issue to CPC and the ASM Council for approval.

To change the description of an existing description, the Division Chair should discuss any recommendations with its members, then send the revised description to Jennifer Mercurio at jmercurio@asmusa.org. The proposed description will be reviewed by the Committee on Divisions for possible undesired overlap with any other Division's description, and if none is found, the new description will be adopted.

To change the name of a divisional group, the respective Division Chairs within the divisional group, the division group representative and the Chair of the Committee on Divisions and the GMPC must agree to the proposed name change. No council vote is necessary.