Welcome to the Texas ACSM website!
I hope this message finds all of you safe and managing through these difficult times. I am thrilled we were able to meet together in Waco for the 2020 Texas Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (TACSM) Annual Meeting prior to the quarantine. From all reports, the meeting was a success. The continuing focus of TACSM is to inspire students to become more involved in exercise science-based research by providing support and opportunities to allow this to happen. Given this focus, I am pleased to announce that we had a record number of 172 abstract submissions this year with a record of 74 abstracts submitted by undergraduate students. We also had several firsts that occurred at the meeting. Dr. Ollie Jay (University of Sydney) gave the inaugural TACSM International Scholar Lecture. Dr. Christopher Hearon (UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Institute for Exercise & Environmental Medicine) gave the first TACSM Postdoctoral Scholar Lecture. The chapter is planning to continue both these lecture series at future annual meetings to expose chapter members to internationally regarded scholars and increase postdoctoral participation in the chapter.
It is disappointing that the National ACSM Meeting to be held in San Francisco was cancelled this year. Our TACSM Student Bowl representatives (Maria Hadjimarcou, Hayden Rich and Cameron Vaughan) from the University of Texas at Austin would have been formidable competitors at the National ACSM Student Bowl competition. Our President’s Cup winner, Jane Cloud, from the University of Texas at Arlington, will still be competing in a virtual President’s Cup competition so we wish her the best of luck. Given the cancelation of the annual meeting, we also were unable to have the TACSM Social, which is one of the highlights to the meeting even for members of other chapters. Special thanks to Dr. Lem Taylor, our Executive Director, for working hard to get all deposits we paid to the TACSM Social site refunded thereby incurring no losses to the chapter. We are hopeful that we will be able to resume the Annual Meeting and the TACSM Social in 2021.
We have added two new positions to the TACSM Executive Board. The first position is an Associate Executive Director. This position will assist our Executive Director, Dr. Lem Taylor, with the administrative tasks of the chapter. The second position is a Director of Social Media. This position will serve to manage the three current social media platforms for TACSM and be responsible for posting regular content related to events of TACSM/ACSM, recognition of TACSM members and specifically highlighting students from the Annual Meeting periodically throughout the year, and being the point of contact for social media activity for the Chapter. Details regarding both positions for interested individuals have been shared via email or you can submit an inquiry to txacsm@gmail.com at anytime. These are two great opportunities to become involved with TACSM.
As we move forward in these uncertain times, the TACSM Executive Board, under the direction of current President, Dr. Matt Brothers, is working diligently on how to best serve the members of TACSM. Given current restrictions, the Executive Board is discussing alternatives for the TACSM Fall Lecture. The 2021 TACSM Annual Meeting will be organized by Dr. Matt Brothers as TACSM President and is scheduled to be held again at the Waco Convention Center in Waco, TX on February 18-19, 2021. Dr. Brothers and the Executive Board are actively working on continued improvements to the overall meeting experience. Please check the both the TACSM website (www.tacsm.org) for chapter updates and the national ACSM website (www.acsm.org) for important developments and information regarding research during the COVID-19 crisis.
It has been a pleasure serving as the President of TACSM. Please stay and strong through these difficult times.
Scott L. Davis, PhD
TACSM Past-President
Southern Methodist University
Texas ACSM President 2019-2020