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SOT's Global Mega Issue—Preview of SOT's Global Strategy
Submitted by SOT Councilors Michael Holsapple and Denise Robinson Gravatt
The 2007–2008 SOT Council developed a survey under the auspices of a Global Working Group. Some of the principle conclusions include the following:
- SOT is currently a "global" organization rather than an "international" one (e.g., according to conventional thinking—to be international, some portion of SOT programs would need to be conducted outside the U.S.).
- While SOT is mainly a U.S.-based Society, the proportion of members and revenue that is non-U.S. based is growing. Statistics show that: approximately 15% of SOT members are non-U.S. based; SOT Affiliates from countries other than the U.S. account for slightly more than 10% of the affiliate income; and 23% of the participants in the 2007 SOT Annual Meeting came from outside the U.S., as did 28% of the exhibitors.
These statistics indicate that it is very timely for SOT Council to consider and articulate a proposed strategy for SOT's global role and influence.
Because there are a number of ways to think about a global strategy, the 2008–2009 SOT Council utilized the Knowledge-Based Decision Making Framework during discussions at their July and September meetings. The first step was to identify the following "Mega Issue:" What should be our role in advancing the science of toxicology globally? To develop some perspective about our "capacity" and the "strategic position" of our organization that is relevant to our global strategy, Council considered the current committees, task forces, and other components of SOT's organizational structure (e.g., Special Interest Groups), as well as our Strategic Plan. Council agreed that some aspects of each of our five Strategic Priorities will support our future global strategy; although some Key Objectives and Committees are obviously more relevant to the global strategy than others. Therefore, the primary focus has been on those committees and those key objectives considered as a higher priority.
Council has identified a number of potential elements of our Global Strategy, which were prioritized at their November meeting. Because Council recognized that our Global Strategy should include some components that are conducted in partnership with IUTOX, as well as some others that will be addressed independently by the Society, this relationship will be considered during that process.
The remaining steps will be to determine areas of consensus and to identify actions, intent, and accountability associated with each of the elements chosen to become part of our Global Strategy. A Global Focus Group has been asked by Council to review a draft SOT Strategy and report to Council in April. In lieu of a "Town Hall Meeting" at the 2009 SOT Annual Meeting, Council will use a portion of the SOT Annual Business Meeting to outline the activities thus far taken to develop the SOT Global Strategy. An expanded presentation of the elements of our Global Strategy will be included in a future issue of the Communiqué, following the Global Focus Group Report.
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