Press Release

August 24, 2004 - Dr. Harold McNamara, Professor of Astronomy at Brigham Young University, has retired as Managing Editor of the ASP's Conference Series. Associate Editor Dr. J. Ward Moody, also a Professor of Astronomy at BYU, has been named Interim Managing Editor.

In 1968, Dr. McNamara became Editor of the refereed journal Publications of the ASP (PASP). Under his aegis over the next twenty years, the PASP grew by a factor of more than three. In the late 1980s, seeing a need for rapidly-published, low-cost conference proceedings, Dr. McNamara relinquished editorship of the PASP and founded the ASP's Conference Series, which has grown to become one of the community's leading publishers of conference proceedings, with over 300 volumes produced to date. Recently the Conference Series has been upgrading and modernizing its publications process, with the aim of providing even faster publication times. An important new service, electronic access to recent volumes, is also very close to completion.

"Harold's contributions to the ASP over his 36 years of service are beyond calculation," said ASP President Katy Garmany. "The ASP just won't be the same without him." Dr. McNamara received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and joined the faculty of BYU in 1955. He has published over 100 scientific papers, served as a Board member of the ASP from1968 to 1969 and in 2000 was awarded the AAS's George Van Biesbroeck Prize, which recognizes "long-term extraordinary or unselfish service to astronomy."

Interim Managing Editor J. Ward Moody received his PhD in astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1986. Among other work, he with his advisor Robert P. Kirschner discovered emission-line galaxies within the volume of the Bootes void. He is the author or co-author of 70 research papers, primarily on the nature and distribution of young forming galaxies in clusters and voids. He joined the BYU faculty in 1990.

Garmany announced that she is forming a search committee and that a national search for a new Managing Editor will soon begin. "In the meantime," said Dr. Garmany, "I have complete faith in J. Ward Moody's ability to keep the Conference Series running smoothly. He has served as Associate Editor for five years and is familiar with all aspects of the operation, especially the move to faster publishing and the implementation of electronic access."

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