UMACRAO Planning Mtg

Present: Char Hulsebus (Iowa State University); Carolyn Nading (Iowa State University); Karla Mae Elling (Iowa State University); Ingrid Nuttall (University of Minnesota—TC); Kristie Vortherms (University of Sioux Falls); Dave Gjerde (Minnesota State—Mankato) Heidi Kippenhan (University of North Dakota); Tina Falkner (University of Minnesota—TC); Julie Fell (University of Iowa); Sarah Harris (University of Iowa); Sue Dickens (Century College); Elizabeth Erredge (Minneapolis Community and Tech); Kasi Williamson (University of Minnesota—TC); Michelle Overtoom (University of Minnesota—TC); Phyllis Thompson (University of Sioux Falls); Lori Beseler (Winona State University); Carl Stange (Winona State University)

Introductions; announcements: Gjerde noted that he had expense forms. He can collect them today; Tina asked the group if there were any community college staff who work with veterans/veterans initiatives who would be interested in being part of a panel for AACRAO. Elizabeth E. and Sue D. volunteered themselves.

No other announcements or additions to the agenda were submitted.

Program chair: Carolyn handed out a tentative schedule. She asked for ideas about what meetings we want to have on Wednesday morning. A suggestion was made that the meetings start at 10 a.m. to allow for same day travel. Consensus was to change registration to be from noon to 5 p.m. Bill Withers from Wartburg will be the opening speaker.

There will be 5 sessions per breakout. The committee was going to explore adding more sessions geared toward admissions staff or more sessions of general interest. Some topics mentioned at the meeting are: joint admissions programs (2+2 programs); sharing positions in enrollment services (admissions and registrar, registrar and financial aid, etc.); recruiting and working with students in junior high or earlier; a perspective student portal; using Instant Messaging – or other electronic media - to communicate with students; academic advising and retention; crisis management (a panel); how to move up and over within admissions and registrar; dealing with conflict in the office. General discussion occurred regarding Round Table Discussions. Representation will include small schools, large schools, small admissions, large admissions, and 2-year/community college.

Fireside chat: Do we need it? The group consensus was to keep it to allow feedback from the membership, but keep it informal. We will offer 5 roundtables this year: 2-year/cc (Sue Dickens will facilitate); small registrar (Kristie V. will facilitate); large registrar (Larry Lockwood was volunteered by his staff); small admissions (Rich S. – I missed the spelling of his last name); large admissions (Heidi said she would help find someone to facilitate this one).

The group discussed the schedule for the meeting.

Wednesday
            Noon-3            Auditing, exec, program, new chairs, etc
            Noon-5            Registration
            4-5                   New Member
            5-6:30             Welcome/Announcements/Opening speaker
            6:30-8:30        Opening reception
            8:30                 Dinner on your own

Thursday
            7:30-8:15        Breakfast
            8:00-noon       Registration
            8:30-9:30        Breakout session I
            9:45-10:45      Breakout session II
            10:45-11:15    Vendor sponsored break
            11:15-12:15    Breakout session III
            12:15-1:30      Lunch/Business meeting
            1:30-2:45        Roundtables
            2:45-3:15        Vendor sponsored break
            3:15-4:15        Breakout session IV
            4:15-5:15        Fireside chat
            5:30-6:30        Social
            6:30-8:30        Banquet and awards

Friday
            7:30-8:15        Breakfast
            8:00-10:00      Registration
            8:15-10:00      Town Meeting, WACRAO update, AACRAO update
            10:00-10:15    Break (no food)
            10:15-11:15    Breakout session V
            11:30-1:00      Closing luncheon and Speaker

The theme will be woven throughout the conference – like a freshmen mixer, all student assembly, spring dance, etc. Exec, committee chairs and others who have no shame are encouraged to wear silly evening wear to the banquet (spring dance) – attendees will be encouraged to do so too.

New member/first time attendee meeting will take place before the opening session and the group will be encouraged to sit together. Opening speaker will be Bill Withers and one of the brothers from the ficticious University of Okoboji. Closing speaker will be Bob Parsons. Glenn Munson from AACRAO; legislative update will be provided by Tina and Heidi. Amy Gleason will come from WACRAO. Town mayors: Phil Patton and Marc Harding. Laura Doering will be asked to be parliamentarian for the business meeting.

Susan Dickens has agreed to be the program chair for the 2008 meeting in Rochester. She will represent UMACRAO at the WACRAO meeting this fall.

The U of MN will layout and print the evaluation form. It was agreed to again stay with a one-page evaluation. The Technology Committee will create a web-based overall conference evaluation that will be sent to all attendees after the meeting.

The U of MN will layout and print the program. Ingrid will get pricing for doing a 4-color program. If it is $300 or less she has the A-Ok to print it.

Program information will be on the web September 1 or earlier. Carolyn will get the program to Sue (the program EEO) by August 27 and to Ingrid by August 31.

Local Arrangements Committee

Ingrid has worked with the hotel to amend the contract based on the meeting in January.

Registration will be on the web this year. Jody Ragan and the Technology committee are creating a web-based registration form. Jody will collect the registration money and create the registrant list. Registrants will need to print the invoice and write a check or use a money order to pay for the conference. UMACRAO will not be accepting credit cards.

An email and mailer will be sent to UMACRO members in the first week or two of September. Julie and Sarah will send Dave an email to get the most current list of members.

Packets will be stuffed the Tuesday prior to the meeting at Okoboji. The packets will include: program, evaluation, vendor information, attendee list, committee thank you, vendor bingo, information from the visitors bureau, pens. Anyone who will be in Okoboji on Tuesday is welcome to join the stuffing. The U of MN will bring a box or two of Pearson’s Salted Nut Rolls to be distributed at the meeting. Sarah and Julie and the other LAC members will create a quiz and scavenger hunt for the “Student Mixer” (the opening reception).

Tina will send an invitation to Honorary Life Members to join us in Okoboji. Phyllis has been working on gathering updated addresses for these folks. The letter will be sent in mid-September.

Site Selection for 2008 and Beyond: Ingrid shared with the group that the 2008 meeting will be held at the Kahler Hotel in Rochester <http://www.kahler.com/grand/index.html>. The hotel is beautiful and can accommodate our group well. Dates for the 2008 meeting are October 22, 23, and 24 (Wed – Fri). Ingrid shared the Kahler charges $25/day/vendor – it was discussed to add this cost into the vendor fee for 2008. The 2009 conference is scheduled to be held in North Dakota – Ingrid was asked to collect information from Fargo and Grand Forks.

The group briefly discussed another joint conference with WACRAO. Heidi said she would bring it up with Amy Gleason and get the discussion started. The earliest the next joint conference would take place is 2010.

Vendor update: Kasi shared that she already has three paid vendors, AACRAO has requested a table and she is following up with nine other vendors.

Coordination between Program and LAC: The two groups are sharing duties and responsibilities. Each group knows what they are responsible for during the upcoming meeting. Ingrid confirmed that Margo is still willing to be the tech support for the meeting. Tina confirmed the following groups are bringing projectors: U of MN – 2; IA State – 2; UND – 1; U of IA – 1; and Tina will confirm with Laurie Tralle that MnSCU can bring one.

Special Recognition: Heidi is on track for producing the certificates and plaques. The group brainstormed members who have retired – Dave Wicklund (Gustavus) and Karl Johnson (UMD) were the only ones noted. Kristie showed the group the pin design. It was decided that all members will receive an UMACRAO pin; 10 and 20 years members will receive a different pin and 30+ members will receive a plaque/paperweight like item. Everyone gave Kristie a rousing round of applause for undertaking this initiative.

Business meeting agenda: There were no items to add to the business meeting agenda.

Script for the annual meeting: There were no specific comments on the script for the annual meeting.

Submitted by Char Hulsebus