Minutes of Region 2 Steering Committee - Dec. 2008

December 4-5, 2008

Dover Downs Hotel and Conference Center

Dover, DE

 

Attendees: Kathie Sindt, Karen Law, Bruce Norris, Carolyn Quinci, Frank Newton , JoAnn Credle, Linda Bradbury, Paula Dollarhide, Wade Oliver, Richard Brugard, Kristen diNovi, Tammy Russell, Steve Pajewski

•  Budget: The Region 2 budget for 2009 was reviewed by the steering committee. In addition, the monies in the state accounts were discussed. It was decided to fund the site selection coordinator position with money given from NJ to the Region budget for $500 in 2009. In addition, NJ was generous enough to agree to bail out DC. DC currently owes money due to the canceled drive in 2008.

•  Review of 2008 Conference: Steve Pajewski reported that there were about 350 attendees at the Pittsburgh conference including approximately 18 attendees from the UK and 2 from the Czech Republic. The conference went over budget and much of this overage was due to internet and food charges.

•  2009 Conference Update: Carolyn reviewed the budget for the 2009 conference budget. Currently, the goal is to have at least 275 attendees. This allows us to set the registration fee at $140 for NACADA members and $125 for student registrants. As a give-away instead of bags or portfolios, the plan is to giveaway a thumb drive to participants. They hope to be able to pre-load the drives with the presentations.

Two major topics of the conversation were about the internet access for presenters and the schedule of events. We have internet access in two rooms, but that’s it at this time. The hotel is re-negotiating their internet contract and we are hoping the access cost will come down (right now it is $195 per presentation). As for the schedule, we will likely skip an afternoon break and that may bring down our food costs.

It was discussed that if we do have many volunteers bringing projectors, it would be good to assign one person to oversee their use. Right now, Carolyn and Frank are planning to bring some equipment from their institution.

•  Mentoring program report: Bruce reported that there were 17 mentor/mentee matches last year and he hopes there are more this year. He hopes to make a tip sheet for mentors and establish a statement of the goals of the program.

•  Membership report: Janine reported that there were 6 recipients of the student emerging leader travel grant last year. We discuss what the money for this program would cover this year. We have $1000 and we decided to cover the registration fee and membership fee for 6 students this year. Due to the confusion with the grant and what expenses it would cover, we decided to rename the award to “Student Conference grant.

•  Awards program: Wade made sure the awards deadline was announced and the website was ready for this year’s awards. He’ll be asking last year awards winners if they want to help select this year’s winners. Right now he has one submission.

•  Site Selection: Richard reported about their visit to Atlantic City and that two sites were submitted to the National Office for consideration for the 2010 conference. Richard wrote up a job description for the site selection position. He is considering Roanoke or Charlottesville for the western VA conference.

•  State reports: Linda (NJ), Tammy (W. PA), Kristen (E. PA), Karen (MD), and JoAne (VA) all gave brief state reports.

•  Rotation of conference chairs: We discussed the rotation of conference chairs on and off the steering committee. It was decided that the ideal scenario would be that the conference chair join the steering committee in Dec, over a year prior to the conference and come off the steering committee at the June meeting after the conference. This would be their two year term (and 4 meetings).

•  Discussion of the by-laws and adding new people to the committee: While it is clear that new members are added to the steering committee by election now, it was confusing that another line in the by-laws allows the committee to appoint a member in case of an unexpected vacancy. That person could then continue for the remainder of the term and another term – without being elected. After some discussion, we thought it might be better in the case of an unexpected vacancy to hold an election as soon as possible for the position and that person start their own two year term – starting either in Dec. or at the time of the regional conference (usually April). In addition, Kathie brought up that at the national level the Region Chairs thought it was best to add any new Region Chair to the steering committee as soon as elected if that person was not currently a member of the steering committee. Bruce agreed to review the entire wording of our by-laws and compare them to other regions. The goal is to modify them appropriately at the time of the region conference. (Any changes have to be voted on at the regional conference anyway).

•  Strategic goals: At this time, the region is not going to focus on setting or obtaining strategic goals. Right now, it is more important to become financially sound and establish an easy record keeping system.

•  Website: Kathie brought this topic to the committee because she would like our region website to become a place to keep the history and current happenings of the region and provide resources for current members of the steering committee. In addition, the homepage should provide region members information about how to become involved at the regional level. Lots of suggestions were made, including creating a primer for new state reps as to how to be a state rep (and organize a drive-in). Kristen and Linda agreed to work on this project. A smaller committee was formed to work on examining our website and coming up with a plan. This committee consists of Kristen, Steve, Wade, and Kathie.