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Session 47 - The Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program.
Topical, Oral session, Tuesday, June 09
Friars,
In the last four years a number of changes have been made in the operation of the Shapley Program. One of the first was to encourage lecturers to make visits by car rather than by air. Driving trips end up costing an amount about equal to the amount contributed by institutions. More remote locations are still done by air. All the Shapley data that I inherited from Mary Kay Hemenway have been placed in a database so now it is easy to find out who went where and when, which universities have had visits, how many visits are made each year, how many visits have been made by each lecturer. We have started awarding certificates to lecturers who have made 15 or more, or 25 or more visits. The AAS Council has agreed to place interest in excess of 4% back into the Shapley Endowment Fund. This helps mitigate the effects of inflation over long periods of time. The Shapley Program is being extended to Mexico and in the 1998 - 99 academic year we hope to have a few Mexican visits. The papers at this meeting will be placed on the AAS web pages and will serve as a resource for those interested in finding out more about the Shapley Program.