In attendance from the cabinet: Ande, Matthew, Soochon, Tony, Kevin Colby, Amy Kinney

In attendance from IMSA: Carolyn Johnson, Suzyn Price

The meeting was called to order at 2:09 PM CDT.

Elections

Ande Croll presented the slate of candidates running for election for the IAA.

• President:
  • Melvin Bacani '90
  • Matthew Knisley '01
• Vice President:
  • Winn Wasson '01
• Secretary:
  • Ande Croll '97
  • Soochon Radee '93
• Treasurer:
  • Art Wojtowicz '02
• At-Large Representatives:
  • Samuel Berger '07
  • Kevin Colby '94/'95
  • Heena Desai '95
  • Rakesh Gadde '06
  • Eric Hultgren '08
  • Amy (Timm) Kinney '95
  • Jonathan Koch '08

Approval of Retiring Faculty as Honorary IAA Members

Ande Croll put forward the names of four retiring faculty members for admission as honorary members of the IAA:

• Michael Casey (English Faculty)
• Socorro Cintron (World Languages Faculty)
• John Martin (Wellness Faculty)
• John Stark (World Languages Faculty)

A motion was made to approve the names put forward and was seconded. The motion was unanimously approved by all members in attendance at the meeting with no abstentions.

Following approval of the motion, Julia (Sibley) Colby '96 recommended that the cabinet consider faculty and staff members who left the Academy before the IAA began inducting former faculty and staff members. Ande agreed that she would work with the incoming IAA President to implement at the next IAA general meeting.

Proposed Amendments to the IAA Constitution and Elections Bylaws

Ande Croll requested that a motion be put forward to amend the IAA Constitution and Bylaws as had been presented on the IAA website prior to the annual meeting. It was so moved and seconded. The proposed amendments were opened for general discussion.

The proposed changes to the Constitution were to:

• Article Five, Section Two: Purpose of Annual Meeting
• Article Eight: Amendment

These changes were put forward to reflect the online voting that is being used for elections and to also permit the same format to approve future changes and amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws.

The proposed changes to the Elections Bylaws were to:

• Article Two, Section 2.01
• Article Two, Section 2.02
• Article Four, Section 4.02
• Article Four, Section 4.04
• Article Four, Section 4.05

These changes were put forward to reflect the online voting that is being used for elections and modify the elections committee timeline to better represent the process which has been followed in previous years.

A friendly amendment was put forward to ensure that elections could occur both online and via paper ballot at the IAA general meeting. Ande accepted the proposed friendly amendment.

Following discussion and explanation of the proposed amendments, the motion with the friendly amendment was unanimously approved by all members in attendance at the meeting. Two abstentions were noted.

Comments from Suzyn Price, IMSA VP of Advancement

Suzyn began by thanking Ande for her service as Alumni Association president.

Regarding alumni, Suzyn noted that participation in IMSA activities and in giving has been increasing every year. 240 people, including alumni and their families, registered for this year's Alumni Day. Record numbers of alumni donated to IMSAFund this past fiscal year: 567 alumni gave gifts, or 14% of the population; the previous high was 8%. Suzyn passed along the concerns of the Illinois state legislature with respect to the alumni, noting that questions had been raised as to whether IMSA alumni are returning in kind the contributions that the Academy has given to them. Enabling online donations has had a great impact on increasing the number of individual contributions; Suzyn observed that alumni are very comfortable with online transactions and also that email has proven to be a better method of communicating with alumni than through traditional methods (telephone and postal mail), but maintaining communications requires alumni to keep their contact methods up to date in the myIMSA portal. Also of note was that retired Academy personnel will soon also have their contact information published in myIMSA, enabling alumni to reconnect with faculty and staff.

Suzyn briefly described some of the ongoing improvements at the Academy, most notably the alternative energy project (including the installation of solar panels and the construction of an "alternative energy house") and various capital improvements, including the renovation of the residence halls and the construction of two new science labs on the second floor of the main building.

A question was asked about the status of the endowment in recognition of Stephanie Pace Marshall. Suzyn replied that approximately $500,000 was raised and invested in the market; its value has been fluctuating due to the current volatility of the economy. Suzyn encouraged those who wished to do so to earmark donations specifically for the endowment.

Report of the IAA Treasurer (Soochon Radee ’93)

Soochon presented the final expenditures for the 2008-09 fiscal year: a total of $12,800 was allocated and $9,600 was spent, with the difference largely attributed to the scheduling of Alumni Weekend to be after the close of the 08-09 fiscal year.

Soochon next presented the approved budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Allocations for the various line items were largely unchanged from the previous year. Differences include: increased allocation for reunion marketing, reunion support, and Intersession. The allocation for cabinet transition documentation development was eliminated, and the allocation for the College, Career, Choices forum was decreased based on the actual expenditure of the previous fiscal year. For the 2009-10 fiscal year, a total of $15,560 has been budgeted.

Finally, the current balance of the Association was announced. The Association began the fiscal year with a balance of $2,230, and concluded the year with a balance of $4,285.

Report of the IAA President (Ande Croll ’97)

Ande highlighted some of the accomplishments of the Association over the past year. Regional events for alumni were held in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, and Bloomington-Normal as a part of alumni outreach efforts. The total attendance of alumni at these events was estimated at 252 alumni.

Ande also highlighted the Association's expanding outreach to current IMSA students, through the College, Career, Choices forum and the Alumni Sibling program. The Association, in conjunction with the IMSA Student Council and other student leaders, intends to continue the College, Career, choices forums over the next year, polling the students to determine the careers they would like to hear about; the Alumni Sibling program, intended to provide students with a bigger picture of life beyond IMSA, will also expand beyond its previous scope as a pilot program. Also included in the student outreach is alumni participation in Intersession: for Intersession '09, 49 alumni led a total of 1/3 of all sessions offered, up from 34 alumni in 2008.

Other initiatives of the Association begun during the past year include a push to update the Association logo and also to move the IAA's technological infrastructure to a reliable third-party host (previously, services such as email distribution lists and the imsaalumni.org website were informally hosted by various alumni, then by the Academy). Kevin Colby, the Cabinet member lead for technology concerns, noted that an Academy-hosted solution involved subjecting accounts to Illinois state requirements regarding account security and maintenance (such as requiring password updates every 90 days), which hamper efforts to maintain active lines of communication with the alumni community. The Association also intends to follow through with plans to update the imsaalumni.org website with current technologies and improved functionality/usability.

Comments from Carolyn Johnson, Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

As part of the drive to keep myIMSA up to date, alumni updating their information in the portal were entered for a chance to win a Garmin GPS unit. Using a random number generator, Carolyn selected the winner of the raffle--Xuxuan Lui.

Carolyn highlighted the efforts of Lauraleigh Heffner ('10) as part of the Student Committee for IMSA Advancement (SCIA) to both reconnect with alumni and assist in promoting the Academy within the state legislature.

Carolyn also welcomed suggestions from alumni for future regional events or other ideas for alumni outreach.

Finally, Carolyn thanked the outgoing cabinet members for volunteering their time and effort over the past year and offered special words and a small gift to thank Ande for her four years of service as IAA president.

Elections Results

Kevin Colby '94/'95 announced the newly elected cabinet. He stated at there were over 400 votes cast.

• President:
  • Matthew Knisley '01
• Vice President:
  • Winn Wasson '01
• Secretary:
  • Ande Croll '97
• Treasurer:
  • Art Wojtowicz '02
• At-Large Representatives:
  • Samuel Berger '07
  • Kevin Colby '94/'95
  • Heena Desai '95
  • Rakesh Gadde '06
  • Eric Hultgren '08
  • Amy (Timm) Kinney '95
  • Jonathan Koch '08
  • Jeremy Schulze '97

Jeremy Schulze was added to the At-Large Representatives via write-in votes. Jeremy accepted the nomination

Comments from the new IAA President Matthew Knisley

Matthew thanked the alumni for their support and also thanked Ande for her service as president; he looks forward to working with the cabinet over the coming years.

Matthew moved to close the meeting at 3:35 pm CDT. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.