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Fourth Annual Meeting Minutes
2005 Business Meeting
June 2, 2005
As Chair of the Board, Dr. Kathleen Sideli, Associate Dean, International Programs, and Director of Overseas Study at Indiana University, called the meeting to order promptly at 6:00pm, welcomed the members and guests in attendance to the 4th annual meeting of the Forum and delivered the welcome remarks.
She recognized the efforts of Geoffrey Bannister and The Forum staff, the Board and Advisory Council members who were present, as well as Mark Shay and his staff at EDU for their Web support; Brian Whalen, editor of Frontiers and Smith College, home of the Forum, for their strategic partnerships; and the Foundation of IFSA at Butler University for their generous grant support. Sideli emphasized the fact that The Forum was indeed filling a niche and illustrated some examples of The Forum’s activities during the membership year of 04/05, including the new website, the successful conference in Santa Fe and the “Standards of Good Practice” document currently being revised.
ACTION ITEM: Sideli asked for a motion to accept the minutes from the 2004 annual meeting. David Larsen moved acceptance and the motion was seconded by Adrian Beaulieu. The 2004 minutes were accepted by the membership.
II. Annual Report
Dr. Geoffrey Bannister, President and CEO of The Forum, Bannister directed the membership to the annual reports in the Welcome Packets. He gave a brief presentation about the state of The Forum, thanked the membership for their support, briefly outlined future events, and asked the membership for patience and continual support through this period of transition with the new fee structure.
III. State of the Membership
Peter Kerrigan, Vice President of Membership Development of The Forum, talked about the status of the membership. At the time of the meeting, The Forum had 183 Full members, including 177 institutional members and 6 affiliate members. He broke down the membership further: 37 U.S. public colleges and universities, 91 U.S. private colleges and universities, 31 U.S. providers, 18 non-U.S. providers and universities, and 3 non-U.S. and 3 U.S affiliates. Kerrigan talked about the steady institutional growth of members, the new membership categories and the current membership benefits package. Kerrigan discussed the Forum Discussion Boards and the new website, thanking The Forum’s strategic partner, EDU. He thanked the work of Brian Whalen and the Conference Committee and invited the audience to join him in New Orleans. He concluded his presentation with a discussion of how members could maximize their membership benefits package.
IV. Report from the Treasurer
Dr. Michael VandeBerg, Treasurer of The Forum, directed the members to the balance sheet in the Welcome Packets. The assets of The Forum for AY04 totaled $254,952.
V. Report from the Chair of the Conference Committee
Dr. Brian Whalen, Chair of the Forum Conference Committee, talked about the activities of the Conference Committee, the goals for New Orleans and how the members could get involved with the conference.
VI. Election of Advisory Council Members
Dr. Joan Raducha, Chair of the Forum Nominations Committee, led the election process. Elections were held at the meeting for six slots on the Advisory Council. The Nominations Committee put together an excellent group of candidates, whose personal statements and AC Committee preferences were provided to the membership in a ForumBuzz and in the Welcome Packets at the meeting. The AC Nominations Committee members included Mell Bolen (Brown University), Mary Dwyer (IES - Institute for the International Education of Students), Vija Mendelson (API-Academic Programs International), Joan Raducha (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Peter Wollitzer (Education Abroad Program, University of California), and Michael Woolf (Foundation for International Education).
Voting delegates to The Forum registered at the voting desk at the beginning of the business meeting, in order to pick up a ballot. After reviewing the nomination ballots Raducha also took nominations from the floor. (These nominations were in addition to the candidates recommended by the Nominations Committee.) The only nomination from the floor was by Jon Booth for Michael Steinberg and seconded by Margery Ganz. Voting members were then asked to fill out their ballots, which were then collected and tabulated by The Forum staff. Winners were announced the following week: Sheila Bayne, Carol Dickerman, Kim Kreutzer, Patricia Martin, Michael Steinberg, and Brian Whalen.
VII. Expression of Gratitude to Retiring Board Members
Sideli thanked outgoing Board members David Larsen and Michael Stohl (in absentia) for their hard work on the Board and their dedication to The Forum. Each was presented with a gift.
She also took a moment to ask that the membership recognize and congratulate two Forum Board members, Bill Cressey and Bill Hoffa, for receiving significant national awards during the conference for their noteworthy contributions to the field.
VIII. Update on the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program
The Lincoln Commission, originally envisioned by the late Senator Paul Simon (D-Ill), was established to discuss and recommend a scholarship program to expand study-abroad opportunities for U.S. college and university students. M. Peter McPherson, former President of Michigan State University, chairs the Commission. At the close of the business meeting, Forum members, Mary Dwyer, President of IES: Institute for the International Education of Students, and Stevan Trooboff, President and CEO of the Council on International Educational Exchange, gave a presentation on the Lincoln Fellowships Commission and requested input and comments from the membership. This was a unique opportunity for Forum members to discuss the Commission with other Forum members. A number of members expressed concern about qualitative aspects of programming, particularly in countries whose institutions have minimum infrastructure to absorb increased student participation.
Submitted by Peter Kerrigan. Reviewed and approved by Al Balkcum, Secretary.
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