Greetings ISMA-USA Members

Well, it's time to renew your membership. We are doing it a little earlier than last year because the deadline for journal renewal is December 1st. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to keep on this schedule every year. When submitting your renewal form, please make sure all of your information is current. If you have a two-year membership and you are not sure if it's time for renewal, please check your membership renewal form. Even if your membership is current, please mail back the form so we can keep your information up to date.

This past year was a productive one for ISMA-USA. We had our first US conference in Chicago, July 14th- 15th. It was a great success! Currently we are working on our first international conference hosted in North America, co-hosted with the Biofeedback Foundation of Europe (BFE). BFE is conveniently located in Montreal, Canada, which is the site of our conference from July 9-13, with additional workshops on July 14-15. The title of the conference, "Globalization of Stress," speaks to the escalation of stress felt by people everywhere.

Catch up with the very latest biofeedback and neurofeedback technology and applications with in-depth pre-conference (July 9-10) and post-conference (July 14-15) workshops and conference presentations. Keynoters for the three conference subthemes are Drs. O'Donnell and Perez (health/wellness), Quick and Colonel Greene (workplace/military stress), "yet to be confirmed" (performance/sport enhancement), Rosch for the Hans Selye celebration lecture, and Spielberger to welcome us at the opening reception. Other presenters are names you know: the Thompsons, Wilson, Moss, Schwartz, LaVoie, Bacon, Gevirtz, Andrasik, vanDixhoorn, Pirker-Binder, Lehrer, and Sime. Additional topics include asthma, PTSD, certification, healing meditation, fitness, and much much more!!

That we are paying tribute to our founder, Edmund Jacobson, MD, who developed the principles and technics of relaxation, AND celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birthdate of Hans Selye, father of the stress concept in his adopted home, Montreal, and the site of this International Stress Institute, makes this 8th international ISMA Conference historically significant. You wouldn't want to miss this information, cutting-edge conference, or Montreal in mid-Summer.

We had some changes to the board this year. Mike McKee is leaving his post as Chair after two years of great leadership and will remain on the board as past-chair. Also Mary Adler is leaving her post as Treasurer and is being replaced by Blithe Runsdorf. Carolyn Massello is our continuing Secretary. Paul Lehrer will be joining the Board as Chair-Elect.

In addition to organizing the conference this year, the board took the steps to formally incorporate ISMA-USA. We are also working on restoring the Certification in Stress Management Education. Robert Schachter is in charge of this project, so if you have any ideas about this, please contact him at rss99@earthlink.net.

We are still offering the service of a professional resource section located on our website at www.isma-usa.org. It's there to help you find resources for your professional needs. If you would like to be a part of the resource page, please contact our secretary, Carolyn Massello, at carolynmassello@comcast.net.

For any question regarding your journal subscription or your payment, please contact Blithe Runsdorf. If you want to avoid interrupting your journal subscription, please make sure you return your response by December 1st. If you miss the deadline, your name will be taken off the journal list but can be put back on once we receive your renewal fee. It can take up to three months to receive your journal if you are taken off the list. The three-month waiting period also applies to new members. Journals can be back ordered but only within the same calendar year. If you need to reach Blithe, her email address is: Brunsdorf@hotmail.com.

If you have any change of information during the year, please forward it to Serena Wadhwa at Bserenwad@aol.com. As our Membership Chairman, she is also in charge of issuing ISMA's Certificate of Membership.

Thank you for being a part of ISMA-USA. We want you to remain a part of ISMA, so please continue your membership. Should you have any concerns or questions, please let us know. We are trying to expand our organization, so if you think of any person or organization interested in joining, please refer them to our website, www.isma-usa.org.

Marigold. A. Edwards, PhD, CHES Assoc. Prof. Emerita, University of Pittsburgh ISMA-USA Chairman and Program Chair, ISMA8 mae@pitt.edu