ACM president's letter: what should be done next?

Several of my predecessors devoted the last of their President's Letters to suggesting worthy tasks for their successors. Although I have often viewed this as either a "strange form of campaign statement" from someone finishing a term of office, or a "form of apology for uncompleted tasks," I don't want to break the pattern, so I'll follow suit. I feel the following items need the most significant concentration and attention during the next two years. This is being written, and will be ready for printing before my successor is known, so my opinions are quite independent of any particular candidate. First, and most important, is the necessity of maintaining our fiscal sound-ness. We have spent three years working our way out of a major financial crisis and the next administration must be careful not to slide back into financial difficulty. The second matter of major concern is JAM (the facetious temporary acronym for the journal to go to all the members as a replacement for the Communications). Whatever the Council decides at its June meeting, the incoming officers will have a significant task on their hands in either (a) implementing JAM if the Council approves it, or (b) trying another approach if the Council does riot approve it. I remain completely convinced that the replacement of Communications as the journal going to all members is essential to the health and growth of ACM; I am less convinced that the current plan is the best of all possible ones, but then there is absolutely no agreement on what "best" means in this context. The third major activity should be education, considered in the broadest 310 possible sense. If the Self-Assessment prototype (see May Communications) is successful, then this should be launched as a major, continuing ACM activity. Any of you who have not yet looked carefully at this material, or have not returned the questionnaire, should please do so immediately so we can determine your reactions. However, with or without self-assessment, we need a more definitive plan to provide for continuing education of our members and anybody else who wishes to partake of our services. We need to better focus our vast resources and pull together material in a coherent fashion from our myriad of publications, conferences , and local professional development seminars. A fourth task is to really use ACM as a catalyst to bridge the gap between the research …