The meeting was called to order at 10:22 AM CDT.

At-Large Cabinet Member Elections

Elections were conducted by cabinet member Mindy Brown. The candidates on the ballot included:

• Samuel Berger, '07
• Amy (Timm) Kinney, '95
• Jonathan Koch, '08
• Kevin McHugh, '05
• Soochon Radee, '93
• Ravinder Sahota, '00
• Scott Swanson, '90
• Jeff Truitt, '89

Honorary IAA Membership

The IAA constitution allows for staff alumni to be inducted as honorary members of the Association. Being considered as honorary members were Dr. Richard Dods, chemistry faculty, and Nancy Todnem, wellness faculty.

There was no discussion or comments from the floor. The motion to approve Dr. Dods and Mrs. Todnem as honorary members carried unanimously with no abstentions.

Treasurer's Report

The report was tabled for later discussion owing to the absence of the Association treasurer.

President's Report

Ande gave a brief report on accomplishments of the Association during the 2007-2008 term.

• Introduction of the IMSA 360 publication, retirement of IMSAlum
  • The new publication for distribution to the entire Academy community replaces the alumni-targeted IMSAlum newsletter.
  • There will be alumni-specific information in IMSA 360. The Association will work with the Office of Advancement to ensure alumni-relevant news is included in addition to working to create content that fits with the theme of the magazine.
  • The Association will work in the coming year to use the imsaalumni.org website more for disseminating alumni-specific information.
• Regional events
  • Six events were held this year, three of them in new locations (Seattle, Champaign-Urbana, Washington, DC), Chicago, San Francisco, New York City
  • Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Boston were excluded this year as IMSA anniversary events were held there in the previous year.
• Intersession
  • 34 alumni (many from the class of 2007) participated in Intersession.
• Admissions Review Committee
  • Alumni participated in the selection process for the class of 2011.
  • The Academy is looking for volunteers to participate in the selection process for the next class.
• University Host Program
  • Alumni in college volunteer to be "ambassadors" to current IMSA students who are looking at colleges.
  • Students are hungry for this kind of interaction--they are looking for answers to questions about programs and what life is like on campus.
  • Student Council at-large members from the class of '07 and '08 will be able to help with recruiting volunteers for the program.

Items for Discussion

The following topics were discussed with the alumni in attendance.

• Regional Clubs
  • Can we do more than one event per year in each region?
  • The Association has an idea of in which regions we have a critical mass of alumni and where we need to get more people to attend events.
  • Events promote career and social networking between alumni.
  • Events can be geared toward specific interests and populations.
  • The Association will probably use Chicago as the "jumping point" for events since there are approximately 1,000 alumni in the area. Events are not limited to Chicago.
  • Proposals for events include attending sports events and theater productions. Ideas for events are welcome.
  • While alumni can and do reconnect on Facebook or LinkedIn, it is good to provide opportunities to talk face-to-face.
• Career Panels
  • The Association is trying to find ways to reconnect with current students and also to get more "average" alumni involved. One way being explored is to hold career panels/round tables at IMSA.
  • Alumni would come back and talk about their experiences in college, what they are doing now, and what they have done with their degree.
  • The panels' goal is to help students figure out what careers they want to pursue.
  • Tentatively, the plan is to have four to six alumni participate in a panel and hold the panels once a month.
  • The Association will work with Student Council and representatives from the Academy to schedule the events.
  • Is this a good idea? Students should get a lot out of it (example: Melanie Chua '03 came back to talk about her experience working for the OLPC project) and there is support from people on campus, but it will require alumni to step up.
• Big Sibling Program
  • Lauraleigh Heffner, '10, proposed a program to match up alumni with students to offer some perspective on the IMSA experience and answer the question "What happened to the average IMSA graduates?".
  • Logistics and matching of alumni with students would be tricky, but this could be beneficial to current students.
  • Could use Myers-Briggs as a guide for pairing. Also match by career and education.
  • Is there an intergenerational problem? Specific experiences change from year to year, though the spirit of the place remains the same.
  • Could allow distant alumni who otherwise cannot help in alum-student events could participate in this program (email, phone, IM, video chat)
  • 20-40% of current students are estimated to be willing to participate in such a program.
  • Scott Swanson and Bob Hernandez echoed the sentiment that students want to hear from alumni.
  • The new cabinet will undertake the effort to see how such a program could be started. Such a program requires a huge investment from the Association. It could be rolled out in phases, beginning with a small pilot program to see if the idea is feasible and beneficial.
• Constitution and Bylaws
  • Could not get proposals for changes to the constitution and bylaws read in time for the meeting, but they will be ready for next year's meeting.
  • Changes are needed to the constitution: need to impose a limit on the number of at-large members, change elections bylaws (process of voting), and regional club bylaws (current bylaws would invalidate all current clubs)

Comments from Max McGee, IMSA President

Max McGee, IMSA President, offered some news on current IMSA activities and remarks on his first year.

• "Students amaze me. They are so bright."
• What a difference living on campus makes (Max stayed overnight in the residence halls)
• IMSA is important to the outside world: many students do not get the opportunities they need at their home schools
• The Academy is working to increase the diversity of staff and student populations (ethnic, geographic, economic)
• Help is needed recruiting students from downstate
• The Illinois General Assembly increased the Academy's budget by $400,000 and also awarded a $20,000 grant for the IMSA Energy Center
• Need to get more corporate money and private donations; has met with Baxter and other corporations
• Strive to create "collective community" through dialogue, remove the perception of alumni as an "external" group and students as an "internal" group
• Interesting things going on:
  • IMSA Energy Center ("Why aren't we on the forefront of alternative energy?")
  • Mission/Vision Statement
  • University of Illinois partnership--met with faculty in Champaign; took students to see the nanotechnology lab
  • Personalized learning plan--eight seniors will work on an integrated project that matters to htem
  • Contributions to the field--Bill 2428 was passed that allows IMSA to open additional campus centers (potential "IMSA South", campus in Chicago)
• Enjoyed getting to know everyone this year

Comments from Carolyn Johnson, Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

Carolyn also offered some comments for the alumni:

• "Thank you" to all cabinet members, and staff members in attendance. Suzyn Price, VP for Advancement, sent her regrets for not being able to attend.
• If anyone has ideas for getting alumni involved, please pass them on!
• Ideas for Intersession topics and regional events are welcome.
• Homecoming '08, to be held September 27, will see some alumni events on campus -- residence hall 1503 is being named Alumni Hall in recognition of all-time alumni donations reaching $1 million; there will also be alumni-student activities and the Board of Trustees Alumni Award and dinner
• Please donate!

Election Results

Mindy announced that all candidates for at-large positions on the cabinet were elected.

Open Floor

• Treasurer's Report
  • In lieu of Ryan, Ande reported as best she could on the budget.
  • Most expenditures went toward regional events; food at events will be paid for or subsidized by the Association moving forward.
  • The Academy has asked the Association to do a better job of spending its entire budget.
  • The Association is also looking at contracting someone (an alumnus or alumni, perhaps) to help with the ongoing website overhaul activities.
  • The Association is considering relocating electronic services to a paid hosting provider.
  • The final budget report will be posted on the imsaalumni.org website.
• Constitution
  • IMSA is putting together an "emeritus" policy and the phrase "alumni faculty" has shown up -- former faculty being granted "alumni" status -- what does that mean and how does that work?
• The Association will be electing officers for two-year positions next year, please consider running!

The meeting was adjourned at 12:06 PM CDT.