Even as this newsletter is being posted on the web, the Health Physics Society (HPS) Continuing Education Committee and Board of Directors are considering the final proposal for the 2008 professional development school (formerly called the HPS summer school). Expected to be held from January 31 through February 2, the school is tentatively titled "Topics in Accelerator Health Physics." With approval from the HPS board, the school will be sponsored jointly by the Accelerator Section and the Northern California Chapter of the HPS, and will follow immediately after the 2008 midyear meeting in Oakland.
The academic deans, Don Cossairt of Fermilab and Vashek Vylet of Duke University, have developed a draft schedule of courses that offers two concurrent tracks, one to provide an overview of accelerator health physics and the other to provide more in-depth coverage of special topics in accelerator health physics. They have lined up several very distinguished instructors for the courses--with names to be named as soon as the school is approved!
The committee and board members are working overtime this holiday season to ensure the proposed school gets adequate consideration. Because the proposed school will be held six months earlier than the traditional "summer" school, the approval schedule is compressed and the e-mails are flying. Adding interest to the process is the fact that the HPS committee structure has changed dramatically in the past year.
Approval of the school proposal is an important responsibility that comes at a stressful time for committee and board members, adding yet one more task to the list of things to be done this season. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the HPS Continuing Education Committee (with special thanks to Rob Sitsler, the committee chair) and the HPS Board of Directors (with special thanks to Armin Ansari, the board liaison) for all their hard work in reviewing and commenting on the proposal on very short notice.