Cabinet members in attendance: Ande Croll, Matthew Knisley, Ryan Armour, Anthony Nuval, Kevin Colby, Mark Czynski, Neal Groothuis

From IMSA: Carolyn Johnson

Excused: Mindy Brown, Annelise Li, Timothy Meyer, Joanna Messer, Scott Swanson

Absent: Tarun Nagpal

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM CDT.

Introductions

Those present introduced themselves, their respective IMSA classes, and their current location. Ande gave short introductions for absent members.

Budget

Ryan presented the current budget proposal for the 2007-2008 year. Most of the line items are carried over from previous years' budgets. As future plans for the IMSAlum newsletter are being worked out, the IMSAlum budget may change. Allocation for regional club funding has been increased based on last year's experience with club activities. It was noted that club events are generally funded by attendees, with the IAA contribution used to partially offset or round out expenses. The current budget proposal can be modified to include new programs or initiatives that are begun during the year.

Cabinet Activities

In consultation with Ande, Matt proposed providing cabinet members with binders with materials relevant to their work. These binders would be used to retain information and can be transferred as ownership of projects changes hands and would potentially include copies of the IAA constitution and bylaws, the IMSA organizational chart, reimbursement procedures, and the IMSA event calendar.

Neal suggested keeping these materials on the IAA website to faciliate collaboration, as physical items are harder to share and transfer. Consequently, the allocation for these supplies could be moved to the "miscellaneous" line item.

Technology Overview

Neal presented a brief overview of the IT infrastructure available to the IAA. At present, the server providing IT services is housed in a personal residence, but we are transitioning to a new server housed on the IMSA campus. While the domain being used is iaa.org, issues with domain ownership have led to the creation of a new domain, imsaalumni.org, to which services are being transferred. The old domain will redirect to the new domain. Services provided include e-mail distribution lists (listservs) and the IAA website.

Email distribution lists: a list of all available lists can be found at lists.imsaalumni.org and include:

• Cabinet mailing list: unmoderated, limits size (small attachments OK)
• Announcement mailing list: moderated, distributes to all alumni with email addresses on file
• Class mailing lists: moderated, distributes to all alumni belonging to a given graduation class with email addresses on file

Email information primarily comes from the myIMSA database but can also be passed via word of mouth or direct contact with the list maintainer(s). People may choose to remove themselves from a mailing list, in which case they will be marked as inactive and not receive messages from the list.

Moderators include Neal and Scott.

Website: located at www.iaa.org but is transitioning to www.imsaalumni.org. The site uses the Plone content management system. Cabinet members have administrative rights. The ability to create content may be delegated to other users. Questions regarding usage may be emailed to Neal.

Matt noted that items created must be explicitly placed in the "publish" state in order for it to be publicly viewable. Items may also be placed in "public draft" state, where the item is not linked to in site navigation but the URL is accessible, or "private" state, where the item is viewable only by the creator and site administrators.

Cabinet Roles

Ande summarized the roles cabinet members are interested in filling (for executive members, in addition to their regular roles). Roles without assignment prior to the meeting were filled or tentatively assigned.

• Fundraising: Ryan, Annelise, Joanna
• Intersession: Joanna, Tim
• Technology: Neal, Scott, Kevin
• Alumni Weekend: Mark, Matt, Ande (can help but not coordinate)
• Class Reunions:
  • 5-Year ('03): open
  • 10-Year ('98): Tony
  • 15-Year ('93): open
• IMSAlum: Ande, Kevin
• Admissions: Mark (if no one else)
• University hosting program: Mindy
• Regional club activities: Kevin, Tarun
• Professional networking: Tony

Kevin can transition to other roles should someone wish to take over regional club activities.

The responsibilities of the admissions coordinator were explained by Ande to include helping out with IMSA regional information sessions for prospective students and two informational days held at IMSA, one in November and one in February. The coordinator should preferably reside in-state.

It was observed that there should be more activities during Alumni Weekend to increase participation.

Matt posed a question regarding the future of Lumen.

Tony brought up the possibility of increasing IAA involvement on-campus and interaction with current students. Ande listed the activities either managed by the IAA or have significant alumni participation: mentorship / presentation day, intersession; the IAA previously also participated in IMSA college fairs, held a "welcome" event for graduating seniors, and had alumni volunteers for sophomore move-in. Kevin agreed with having events geared toward graduating seniors and incoming sophomores and proposed using student help, possibly via work service, to help with IAA logistics (e.g. preparing mailings) with the benefit of increasing student-alumni interaction.

A list of IAA initiatives will be posted on the website along with contact information for coordinators. Help can be sought from alumni via the website.

Cabinet Goals and Planning

By the end of July, Ande would like cabinet members to send a note (short or long) describing what they want out of the IAA cabinet for this year. Responses will be anonymized and compiled for distribution to the cabinet. It is hoped that members will come to a common understanding of IAA goals and common themes may be found regarding the direction the cabinet should take. In light of the new IMSA President, Max McGee, and Vice President for Advancement, Suzyn Price, the cabinet should set out early to find common interests and directions. Ande noted that the cabinet should determine a small number of initiatives with the highest chance of success rather than attempting to do too much.

Event Timeline

• Sophomore Move-in / Orientation: August, needs to happen quickly
• Intersession: proposals due October 1st (Ande unsure of specific date). Notification needs to be sent to alumni early to ensure proposals are sent in on time. Ande will follow up with Tim and Joanna regarding action items.
• IMSAlum: content deadline mid-October. The newsletter must be ready to go out at the beginning of November to guarantee delivery by Thanksgiving. While discussions regarding future plans for the newsletter are ongoing, the current format (physical mailing) will remain in effect. Any changes will be targeted for implementation for the spring issue.
• IMSA Informational Sessions: begin late October
• University Hosting Program: ready by November. The IMSA student council is not in session at the moment, so not much can be done. Many students go to visit colleges during the November time frame, so it is desired to have arrangements in place by this time.
• Intersession: event planning complete by December. The IAA typically holds a luncheon for participating alumni as well as a social event held during the evening. The schedule needs to be laid out by this time in order to inform alumni.
• Alumni Weekend: plans finalized by end of year. However, work needs to begin as soon as possible, with coordinators identified. Enough time must be allowed for marketing of events.
• Regional Events: as needed.

Alumni Weekend Wrap-up

Ande summarized Alumni Weekend events:

• Class Reunions: all three class reunions ended up $300-$400 under budget. The five- and ten-year reunions did not meet their projected attendance figures but adequate cushions were built into their respective budgets.
• Alumni Weekend: attendance was down compared to last year, but voting turnout was one of the highest due to Paul Strasma's efforts to allow online voting. It was a great opportunity to meet Max McGee and Suzyn Price. Ande noted that Suzyn is holding open phone conferences to get to know members of the alumni community.

Other Items

Carolyn pointed out that a line item should be added to the proposed budget to cover any interactions or activities with current students. Ande will begin constructing an estimate based on previous years' budgets.

Questions regarding the budget can be directed to Ande and Ryan.

Carolyn also suggested providing cabinet members with the IMSA not-for-profit statement for use in conducting financial transactions, as IMSA cannot reimburse for tax.

Ande moved to close the meeting at 9:05 pm CDT. The motion was seconded by Neal and was passed unanimously.