AMERICAN SOCIETY 
OF EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGISTS
Founded 1997

President’s Report
November 1999

I hope everybody had a pleasant Thanksgiving.  The month of November was not a productive one for me regarding my ASEP duties.  To the personnel in our lab, November could have been titled “ The Month of the Sick”!!!  I have been fighting the flue on and off for several weeks, Sue-Ellen had been hospitalized for almost 2 weeks, and there was a large backlog of responsibilities that grew from delaying items until after the conference that I had to complete.  Anyway, I am back on track now with many of these duties complete and eager to forge ahead on many issues important to ASEP.

Based on last month’s report the issues that are immediately important to ASEP are:

    the interactions ASEP has had with state exercise physiology associations and their efforts towards licensure,
    the related need to complete an official ASEP Scope of Practice for Exercise Physiologists,
    the increasing submissions to JEPonline,
    the continued shunning of ASEP by ACSM, and
    the need for my continued efforts to reach the thousands of exercise physiologists in the USA who are still non-members of ASEP.
Licensure and Scope of Practice
My efforts to bring together interested individuals to develop a scope of practice did not materialize into my expectations.  However, I have decided to draft a copy based on the current version, and the completed versions I have received from state associations.  I will then have Tommy look at it, as well as circulate it to individuals who have expressed an interest in this document.  Once a decent draft has been completed, a meeting will be needed to “hash out” the contents and hopefully arrive at a final version to circulate to state associations.

JEPonline and PEPonline
I have completed and circulated instructions for my new Associate Editors.  I am currently reviewing many manuscripts to clear the present backlog of submitted manuscripts, and new submissions will be mailed to Darryn Willoughby, Ph.D., David Armstrong, Ph.D., and Gid Leadbetter, III.  I am also working with a Ph.D. student to assist me in the format editing for html and PDF publication.  Based on member questions from the meeting, Tommy and I will also be inquiring about the process to have JEPonline included in computer and internet scientific publication search resources.

Apart from issues concerning JEPonline, I want to continue to stress the need to publish our thoughts and attitudes on the professionalization of exercise physiology in ASEP’s journal Professionalization of Exercise physiologyonline.  I, as well as many of you, have ideas that suit publication in a journal concerned with the dissemination of professional thought, both positive and negative, on the professionalization of exercise physiology.  This journal is unique in that it provides a professional peer-review outlet for non-research based content in exercise physiology.  As emerging professionals in a developing profession, we need to realize that research is just one of the many bones in the skeleton of professionalism.  As such, important contributions can be made to our profession, and are desperately needed, that are based on thought processes.

ACSM
As indicated in last month’s report, the consensus among members and the ASEP Board of Directors is to continue to do what we do best – to professionalize exercise physiology.  Our actions will speak the loudest for our professionalism and importance, and there is nothing good to come from continued efforts to have ACSM publically support us.  ACSM has and continues to reinforce an attitude of disrespect and a lack of professional ethics in their unwillingness to recognize ASEP.  This is now clearly embedded in the historical record of our existence and only detracts from ACSM.  In time, with future successes in the initiatives ASEP is currently pursuing, ACSM will need to recognize ASEP.  Nevertheless, I remain frustrated that this is the road that we are forced to take.

Membership
As I mentioned at the conference, we are all required to promote ASEP and attempt to recruit more members.  During the early months of 1999 I stated that we should have 1,000 members by October 1999.  Obviously this did not happen, but it now becomes a goal for the 2000 conference.  Remember, the additional membership of a segment of the faculty and student body of a university may add anywhere from 10 to 50 members.  This recruitment only has to occur in at least another 14 universities for us to reach a membership of 1,000.  Membership should also be increased from hospital, fitness center, and corporate fitness locations.  As many of you would agree, membership needs to come from non-university-based locations, as these locations are arguably more important to the professional duties that the majority of exercise physiologists complete.

Once again, have a productive transition towards the end of the Fall semester, and a joyous start to the 1999 festive season.

Robert Robergs, Ph.D., FASEP

ASEP Table of Contents