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Annual Meeting Minutes
2002 Annual Meeting
May 30, 2002
Kathleen Sideli called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. and announced that Joe Brockington had agreed to serve as parliamentarian.
I. Welcome and Introductions
Sideli, President of The Forum, welcomed those in attendance, commenting on the large turnout of members and others interested in The Forum's progress. She introduced the Board members individually and recognized the time and resources they invested in launching The Forum and developing it to where it is today. She also recognized a few individuals who actively supported the organization's endeavors at some critical points in time. She then recognized the generosity and support of the charter members as well as other members and supporters who had officially joined the organization.
II. Annual Report
Sideli highlighted the activities listed in the Annual Report, distributed both in the packets and to all those in attendance. She reviewed the activities and documents involved in pulling the organization together-planning meetings, incorporation, by-laws, membership services, a Prospectus, a Web site, appointment of officers, public informational meetings, two searches, session on Outcomes Assessment at AIEA, partnership with Frontiers, planning for a co-sponsored conference in 2004 with U Minnesota, and nominations for the Advisory Council.
She urged the membership to read about the activities of the various committees responsible for the aforementioned activities. She also mentioned the activities planned for the coming year, including the hiring of an Executive Director, the selection of a Strategic Partner, elections for the Advisory Council, strategic planning, collection of standards of good practice, etc.
III. Governance Issues
- Report from Incorporation Committee
David Larson reported for the Incorporation Committee, explaining that The Forum is officially incorporated in the State of Delaware. He pointed out the Bylaws in the membership packets that outline the governance structure and the processes that govern the organization. The Forum has applied for 5013-C tax-exempt status which it should be receiving very soon.
- Report from Secretary/Treasurer
Larsen reported that The Forum is in good financial shape, having received money from membership fees, without many expense, although upcoming expenses would be significant. The Forum has $101,702 in the bank to date but the total assets are $135,550, including membership dues receivable. An additional $23,000 has been verbally pledged. He explained that the membership process begins when an application is received. The beginning of the first membership year will be July 1, 2002, so all memberships beginning before that time will be for more than one year. There were no questions.
- Report from Search Committee
Mark Scheid reported for the Search Committee, explaining that two national searches are being conducted simultaneously, for the Executive Director and the Strategic Partner. The director position was advertised to a number of constituencies through a variety of venues, including the Chronicle of Higher Education, execsearch.com, NAFSA's job directory, ACE, GLCA, ACS, CIC, and the listservs of AIEA and SECUSS-L. 80 applications were received and the pool was narrowed to 40. A short list of 11 was determined with a number of phone interviews followed by interviews with the Executive Director Search Committee and then The Forum Board. Interviews between the candidates and The Forum are continuing. By the July board meeting a candidate should be selected. There were no questions.
- Business Committee Report
Geoffrey Bannister reported for the Strategic Partner Search that was conducted by the Business Committee. The Forum is not committed to a location, but will determine the best place in conjunction with hiring the Executive Director. Institutions, universities, and organizations are being sought to house The Forum and provide support services. 9 proposals were received and 8 are being actively considered. The final decision will be finalized simultaneously with the Executive Director search. There were no questions.
- Report from Nominations Committee
Bill Cressey reported for the Nominations Committee, explaining that the Advisory Council will be comprised of no more than 15 individuals. At this time, 50% of the nominees are female, in recognition that there were earlier concerns about gender inequity in the board of directors. The Advisory Council will advise the Executive Director and Board to determine The Forum's activities. To determine the current list, the Committee polled the board and also requested nominations from voting members of The Forum. After narrowing the list to 30 individuals, they asked those nominated if they were willing to serve and the 24 on the list in the packets had responded affirmatively. John Pearson should be included on the list since the omission of his name was due to a communications glitch.
- Call for Additional Nominations
Then Cressey called for nominations from the floor and for the nominator to e-mail him the contact info for the nominee. Although nominations from the floor are usually requested pro forma, he emphasized that he genuinely was inviting nominations.
Raphael Hoyle nominated Mona Miller, John Keller nominated Margo Coffin-Groff, John Perry nominated Sara Dumont, Mary Dwyer nominated Susan Brick. At that point, there was a request to read the list included in the packet of those currently nominated. Bill Cressey read the names and institutions of those previously nominated. Brockington reminded the group that only member institutions could put forth nominations. At that point, Martha Johnson nominated Cynthia Banks and Bill Hoffa nominated Beatrice Szekely.
ACTION ITEM: Bill Cressey moved to close the nominations and Joe Brockington and Marjorie Gantz seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the vote carried by an overwhelming majority.
ACTION ITEM: Bill Cressey moved to accept the slate, if those nominated today agreed to the nomination. Geoffrey Bannister and Mick Vande Berg seconded the motion. A vote was taken and it carried unanimously.
IV. Forum Activities
- Partnership with Frontiers
Sideli pointed out that despite investing a great deal of time and energy on governance issues related to the creation of the organization, the board members had also devoted time and thought to the goals and objectives of The Forum. She announced that The Forum was particularly proud to announce its recent partnership with Frontiers and invited Tom Ricks, from the editorial board of Frontiers, to discuss the partnership arrangement.
Ricks explained that Frontiers is in its 10th year of activity and 8th year of publication. He pointed out that the goals of Frontiers fit closely with the goals of The Forum and the planned relationship will be a reciprocal one. A member of The Forum will be invited to be an ex-officio member of the Frontiers board and vice-versa. Sideli signed the draft of agreement, in anticipation of the Frontiers board meeting that coming weekend, and pointed out that the agreement includes a free subscription to Frontiers to Forum members.
- Results from AIEA Mini-Forum on Outcomes Assessment
Bill Cressey discussed the mini-forum that took place at the AIEA conference and noted that many present at the current meeting had been involved in the outcomes assessment session. Cressey had organized the session with Al Balkcum, Mary Dwyer and Mick Vande Berg as presenters. In the packets was a compilation of what was contributed by the presenters and those in the various breakout groups during the interactive session. Cressey will present concrete proposals to the Board in July about where to go from here, reading to the group the list of 'next steps' included in the list from AIEA. He also sought additional input from those in attendance. Peter Wollitzer asked that they address classification of types of education abroad activities. Ron Pirog suggested that there be an adequate control group of those in the US for comparison purposes. (Note: Both ideas had surfaced at the AIEA session and are included in the compilation). Sideli pointed out that those who contributed to that session had requested that the results be disseminated in the field. The board would discuss putting them on the Web site.
- Plans for a Process for Advocating Standards of Good Practice
Jon Booth discussed the plans for a process to collect and disseminate standards of good practice, an outline of which was available in the packets. He and a subgroup of the board would collect information and present it at the July Board meeting and would carry the project forward to its next phase by the November meeting. Booth then sought comments from the floor. Nancy Stubbs asked if there were long range plans to agree on a set of standards that an institution would agree to. Ultimately, The Forum hopes to work towards that end. Bill Culver from the State University of New York at Plattsburg and the Association of Academic Programs in Latin America said the Association is dealing with similar issues and is interested in speaking with The Forum about this.
- Advocacy
Sideli invited Carl Herrin to come forward and reminded everyone that advocacy for education abroad is in the mission statement of the organization. Herrin spoke of a late breaking area for advocacy involvement for The Forum. The Forum has been invited, and the Board has accepted the invitation, to be represented in the Coalition for International Education that will be working on the reauthorization of Title VI.
The coalition will consist of working groups, among them are five that The Forum will be interested in:
- Undergraduate International Studies
- Foreign Language Research (statutes that need to be reauthorized every year)
- More grant support for Study Abroad
- Department of Education version of a university linkage program to deliver initiatives (new recommendations the coalition will work on creating) and
- Rewriting parts of the Fulbright. The Board will put a call out for particular issues and name an individual to represent The Forum on the coalition. No questions from those present. Sideli commented that The Forum is fortunate to have Carl Herrin's involvement, since he is an experienced leader in the area of advocacy and was recently named to chair NAFSA's Task Force on Study Abroad.
V. Open Discussion
Sideli opened the floor to discussion. Questions were asked regarding:
- Timing of voting for the Advisory Council - Will those who join by June 30 be able to vote? (Answer: Yes).
- Will the Board have term limits? (Answer: Yes, the current board's term limits are already included in the by-laws)
- Can one be on the Advisory Council if the individual and their institution are not members of The Forum? (Answer: Only a percentage of the Advisory Council has to come from the membership-8 of the 15)
VI. Future meetings/conferences/collaborations
Sideli pointed out that it is expected that future meetings will be held in conjunction with other meetings or conferences but that the schedule and details of upcoming meetings have not been finalized yet. She requested that if those in attendance have ideas or strong feelings about meeting times and places she hoped that they would voice their opinions to the Board.
She repeated that The Forum co-sponsor a conference with the University of Minnesota on curriculum integration that has been tentatively set for April 2004.
VI. New Business
There was a question about whether community colleges are welcome in The Forum? Sideli pointed out that they are quite welcome, as are international institutions, a number of whom had already joined.
Cressey asked that those who were nominated at this meeting for the Advisory Council stop by the podium at the conclusion of the meeting.
Kathleen Sideli mentioned that the fears expressed a year ago about The Forum have not come to fruition. The NAFSA presidential stream has been interested in and supportive of the activities of The Forum to date, which she took as an encouraging sign. She reminded the group that their Intensive English colleagues have long had collegial rapport between their consortial organizations (i.e. AAIEP and UCIEP) and NAFSA's ATESL section and she envisioned The Forum having an equally cooperative relationship with NAFSA's SECUSSA.
Peter Wollitzer motioned to adjourn the meeting and Marjorie Ganz seconded the motion
All were in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
The board of directors met briefly upon the official adjournment of the meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Kathleen Sideli, transcribed from notes taken by Paige Weting.
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