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

From IMSA: Carolyn Johnson

Excused: Joanna Messer, Timothy Meyer, Scott Swanson

Absent: Tarun Nagpal

The meeting was called to order at 8:04 PM CST.

No items for action on the agenda. Ande expressed the hope that next month the reunions will have proposed budgets requiring approval.

Chicago Regional Event Recap

Carolyn provided a recap of the regional event held on January 12th at Jake Melnick's in Chicago. About 50 people were in attendance (slightly less than the number of confirmed RSVPs). The total cost of the event was $1,069 (there was a $10/person/hour charge for the appetizers; no room charge but a $250 deposit was required) and guests were not charged for attendance. The venue was good and provided a nice atmosphere but some elements were distracting, such as a nearby fireplace and the Packers game being broadcast outside in the main area of the restaurant. However, she speculated that Max might like that kind of challenging environment in which to speak.

Carolyn asked for feedback on the event from those who attended. Ande felt that for a region with a large contingent of alumni events might be successfully by being a bit more targeted rather than reaching out to everyone with a single large event. Neal said that for this type of event (meet the new president of the Academy) a single event makes sense. Carolyn shared some feedback from other alumni in attendance who had mixed feelings about having so many administrative staff present; some alumni who had confirmed attendance later backed out because they felt there were too many administrators (in attendance were Max, Stephanie, Suzyn, Eric (and Kim), Carolyn, Jennifer, and Jim (Gerry)).

San Francisco Regional Event

Matthew relayed details of the ongoing planning for the regional event to be held in San Francisco. A restaurant was found that should be close to public transportation; there will be food and a cash bar with an anticipated cost of $25 per person, to be offset by charging attendees. About 75 people are expected, to which Ande commented that that was approximately the number that were in attendance last year and that the San Francisco event was the largest.

Discussion was held over food details--it was suggested that food be laid out, allowing "grazing" and encouraging more interaction, as opposed to a more constraining sit-down meal. It was also emphasized that the invitations should make clear what food and beverage is available, as there was some confusion last year.

Carolyn asked cabinet members if there were any concerns over how guests would be charged: monies could be routed through IMSA Fund or event coordinators could handle it themselves and submit any funds received back to the IAA after the event. (For the San Francisco event, the coordinator is planning to handle charges via PayPal.) Ande suggested that there be a way to let people pay ahead of time in addition to at the door. Kevin commented that the biggest cost is incurred when overestimating head count and requiring payment in advance would be a better guarantee against coming up short. No objections were raised over letting the coordinator handle payments personally as long as she was comfortable with it.

Future Regional Event Planning

Ande asked if there was a need to discuss plans for the upcoming New York or Washington, D.C. events. Carolyn said that they are working on a venue for New York; D.C. has a venue but they are still in the process of finalizing the menu and determining the final cost. She also brought up other regional events: in Seattle, Kelly Baluta is planning to hold an event at her house, such as a wine and cheese event; some extra insurance will need to be secured because of this but no cost information or other details are available yet. Regarding the Boston event, she and Tarun are still trying to find someone to coordinate it and finalize a date. With Max's schedule filling up fast, it is unlikely at this point that he will be able to attend an event before the end of the school year; however, a regional event would still be held. A date for the next school year would be worked out in order to schedule Max in attendance.

Technology Update

Neal was happy to report that the migration of services to the new server is complete (mailing lists and website).

Regarding mailing lists, he communicated that Marti Guarin, former IMSA archivist, asked to be included on any Chicago-area alumni mailing lists. Since former staff are not included in myIMSA, Neal added Marti as an honorary IAA member in order to include her in the IAA lists. He advised cabinet members planning future events to see if there are former IMSA staff that may wish to be included in any communications.

Carolyn provided some information regarding myIMSA upgrades: Jill is presently working with ITS to get recent upgrades to the service up and running, after which her next priority is to expand myIMSA to include other constituents, such as former staff. This activity is tentatively planned to take place before the end of the current fiscal year.

Neal brought the cabinet up to date on discussions he is having with Scott and Kevin regarding plans to move forward in the event that IMSA chooses to discontinue support for alumni services, exploring the impact such responsibilities would have on the cabinet if the IAA were to take up the the burden of providing them. He said they hope to have more details in the coming months.

Kevin asked about the possibility of the IAA beginning discussions with Suzyn and Max regarding options. Ande suggested setting up a teleconference with at least Suzyn to discuss the issues, including Max if he is available or a sufficient representative and make sure we are in agreement on possible courses of action. Carolyn asked which services in particular were being provided; Kevin indicated that myIMSA, email, discussion forums (notesfiles) and web space were currently provided by the Academy. Carolyn reiterated the alumni relations aspect of the strategic plan and felt this was a step in the right direction. Carolyn said she will set up a teleconference; Ande listed Tony, Neal, Scott, Kevin, Tarun, Matthew, and herself as attendees.

Tony provided a brief update on website updates. Implementation of the redesign is going slowly due to reduced availability of Tarun and increased workload on Tony's end. Ande said she, Matthew, and Tarun will begin cleaning up regional club information pages. Tony will be cleaning up reunion pages as a part of his reunion coordination activities.

University Host Program

Mindy mentioned an email being sent out to recent alumni to encourage participation. Student Council is asking outgoing seniors to sign up for the program through myIMSA, as well as advertising the program to current juniors for next year. Ande asked if everything is being handled through myIMSA. Mindy said most of the responsibilities will be handled by Student Council--it will become part of their constitution-mandated responsibilities, most likely for the junior and senior at-large representatives. Carolyn said she can provide Student Council with lists of people willing to host students.

IAA Constitution Revisions: tabled for the present since Scott was not present.

Alumni Weekend

Ande provided updates on planning activities for the reunions. Coordinators have been determined for all three reunions: five for the '03 reunion, 3 for the '93 reunion, and 2 for the '98 reunion. The '03 coordinators are already having reunion coordination meetings. Tentative events have been laid out for the '98 reunion. Details should be cemented soon to start drafting budgets.

Ande then discussed planning for the other Alumni Weekend events. Currently only the annual meeting and the faculty/staff luncheon are scheduled; the question of how to encourage alumni participation was posed. Neal asked if there was a discussion of moving Alumni Weekend to Homecoming. Ande said that the upcoming Homecoming would feature the renaming of Alumni Hall and the Board of Trustees awards. Neal suggested that those events would be a big draw for alumni.

Kevin asked about previous discussions regarding having Alumni Weekend and the reunions on separate dates. Ande said that the '93 reunion coordinators asked about this. Kevin suggested that having Alumni Weekend during Homecoming would give alumni a chance to meet with faculty when school is in session. Ande said that discussions should be held soon to finalize dates for next year (this year's June 21 date is already set) before at-large cabinet members' terms end in June. Kevin suggested discussing this at the annual meeting and soliciting input through a survey on the website. Ande also thought this could be made a ballot initiative.

Cabinet Member Goals

Ande revisited the long-term goals discussed during November's retreat and asked at-large members to consider what they can reasonably work on during the next six months. Ande will send out an email by the end of the week with a list of the goals; members should reply back with their prioritized list.

Regional Club Infrastructure

Matthew followed up on discussion at the retreat of improving regional club structures and processes. Instead of having a club chair, information regarding the availability of funds would be publicized and people would be able to propose events for funding. Events funded by the IAA would have to be open to all alumni. However, Matthew mentioned it would still be good to have a contact person for managing technical details such as mailing lists and web pages and suggested using the Chicago regional club as a pilot club. Carolyn recommended asking people to provide recaps of events as part of the conditions for funding.

Other Items

Ande mentioned that Sunday, January 27 is the next Preview Day at IMSA. It should be the larger of the two days. Anyone willing to volunteer time (the commitment would be ~11am-1pm) should contact her.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:02 PM CST.