American Association of University Women
North Carolina

Summer Board Minutes

High Point University
July 19, 2002

President Laura Rumbley called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm. Lou Howard welcomed the board members to High Point.

Secretary Pat Abell called the roll. Sixteen officers and eight branch representatives were present constituting a quorum. The printed minutes were accepted. A reading committee, Mary Jo Pribble, Grace Knechtel, and Nancy Shoemaker, was appointed.

Parliamentarian Lou Howard read the rules of order. Clara Allen moved the adoption of the rules; Doris Bernlohr seconded and the rules were adopted.

President’s Report – President Rumbley attended the Leadership Conference and the SAR conference. She asked members to keep reports short. Her goal is to have each chair write a brief report to be posted on the website prior to the Board meeting for members to review, hoping to increase Branch participation.

Finance Report – Treasurer Bobbie Edmisten pointed out that Public Information was changed to Technology. Actual spending was compared to Budget amounts. Edmisten moved that the treasurer’s report be accepted. Grace Knechtel seconded and the motion carried.

Program - Vice President Grace Knechtel was congratulated for putting on the convention using only $400 of her allotted budget. Grace announced that the Clean Elections Coalition Coordinator Erin Bird and Nina Moseley, associate director of Democracy South would do a co-presentation on Clean Elections at the Leadership Conference. They plan to discuss a number of problems such as women are 53% of the voting bloc but only make up 18% of the state legislators. Sue Metz and Nancy Shoemaker would present the workshops on membership. Knechtel is planning workshops on Educational Foundation and education in general, and needed education to care for the aging and disabled for the Convention in the spring of 2003. John Dorman, president of the N.C. Public School Forum, will be contacted and asked to present a workshop on education in the public schools. Knechtel announced that there would be a meeting of the convention program committee during lunch on Saturday.

Membership – Vice President Sue Metz was concerned that the Pembroke Branch wanted to be separate from the State. Mary Jo Pribble stated that an Association Membership staff person had told her that Pembroke was a branch of North Carolina, and Pribble had informed Beth Carmical of the Pembroke Branch. The Mooresville Branch and the Rocky Mount Branch are disbanding. Sue asked members to read the material about the Membership Workshop for the next day.

Committee Reports

Finance – No report

Bylaws – Alice Lanier, outgoing chair, reported that she had mailed the Bylaws Report on Branch Bylaws in May.

Strategic Plan – No chair

Diversity – Not present

Educational Foundation – Chair Mary Jo Pribble read a report on the number of EF awards of scholarships and grants. There has been loss of income due to decreased giving. The Research and Project Grants will not be funded for the 2003-2004 year. The Scholars in Residence Program was not funded for 2002-2003. The Eleanor Roosevelt Fund and Research and Projects Grants have not been self-sufficient. There is an urgent need for unrestricted giving. She asked that branches share information on successful fund raising projects with other branches. In closing Pribble reported that a young girl had won the top award in the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Legal Advocacy Fund – Chair Doris Bernlohr announced that members nationwide raised $130,249.00 for LAF in May. Each branch’s goal, based on the Feb. 1 membership report, is $5 per member. The state goal is $10,000.Members have contributed $4,759.50 so far this year. Two LAF cases were recently settled favorably.

College/University Representative – Chair Lola Jackson had no report. Jackson asked if there was money budgeted for the committee. There was not, but President Rumbley gave her a free phone card. Pat Abell announced that Mitchell Community College had applied for membership.

Public Policy – Not present

Barbara Ann Hughes, co-chair, has received two honors recently for volunteer service.

Cluster Coordinator – No chair

21^st Recognition Program – Not present

NC/AAUW received a platinum award. Branch awards were Brevard, platinum; Chapel Hill, gold; Greensboro, platinum; Jacksonville Regional, gold; Raleigh/Wake County, platinum; and Statesville, platinum.

Historian – Chair Clara Allen stated that the history book is a good reference and urged each member to purchase one. Bobbie Edmisten suggested that each branch purchase one for their archives and one for each library in their county.

Corresponding Secretary/Housing – Chair Joanne Hill thanked Gelene Lineberger for doing an excellent job with Housing. Since Mooresville has disbanded Statesville has agreed to host the Fall Board meeting in October.

Hill asked if her title could be changed to Administrative Assistant. Laura Rumbley said that the Bylaws Committee would recommend the change. Hill said that Lineberger’s schedule listed Asheville as the State Convention site in 2004 and Charlotte as the site in 2005. She will confirm these.

Nominating – No chair or members present

Resolutions – Chair Elizabeth Laney asked that resolutions be channeled through her. She also wanted resolutions proposed on the spot to come to her for presentation by her.

Technology – Chair Nancy Shoemaker asked if anyone on the board would like to work on the general policy on electronic communication to let her know. The Web Site has a new look. Now she needs committee chairs to write articles for the site. President Rumbley received many compliments on our Web Site at the Leadership Conference and praised Shoemeker for her work.

Winston-Salem has agreed to sponsor the Online Satellite Branch. Members can join the Online Branch and be dual members. The cost is $13 to join. There are three online branches in the US. The one in California is not a satellite, which has presented difficulty with bylaws, collecting dues, etc.

Newsletter – Editor Marty Folson reported that the deadline for the next Tar Heel News is August 9. Mailing date is September 3. We have a new mailing service, Mailed, Inc., out of Concord, NC.

NC Coalition on Aging – Representative Helen Martikainen expressed thanks for her appointment to represent AAUW on the coalition board. The group has worked on the survey of priorities and produced a flyer. Each member received a copy listing the legislative agenda. The board has many young members. She is learning the impact of aging on all ages. Improving the communication of this information to the members of the 38 different organizations is a major consideration for the Board of Delegates of the Coalition. She is interested in having a Workshop on Aging at the next convention. She has found that as an AAUW member of the Coalition she is applying our mission statements to her work. She has been invited to serve on the advisory board of the Dept. of Health and Human Services to develop a four-year plan for the Division of Aging.

Unfinished Business

The Nominating Committee was not elected at the last convention. Former Parliamentarian Nelda Howell advised Past President Pribble that the elected committee that had just served could be asked to serve a second year. Nominating chair Lill Van Order has not been available. Parliamentarian Howard said that according to the Bylaws the Board acts for the members in between conventions. After much discussion Elizabeth Laney moved that the board elect the 2001 – 2002 members of the Nominating Committee to serve in 2002 – 2003. The motion was seconded. Grace Knechtel offered an amendment to the motion that stated that the board elects two members of this board to serve as alternates on the Nominating Committee. The amendment passed. The amended motion passed. Bobbie Edmisten nominated Elizabeth Laney and Clara Allen volunteered. They were elected to serve as alternates on the Nominating Committee.

The previous Bylaws Chair, Alice Lanier, asked the Board to clarify the policy statement concerning review of the Policy Statement. She moved that the last sentence under Duties of the Committees, 1. committee on Bylaws, "The bylaws committee shall also review the policy statement before each annual convention and make suggested revisions subject to the approval of voting delegates." be deleted. By adding the words "and make suggested revisions to", the first sentence at the end of the Policy Statement under Review and Revision would read "The Bylaws committee shall review and make suggested revisions to the Policy Statement prior to each annual convention." After discussion the motion was passed.

Laura has been trying to fill the vacant chairs using phone cards donated by her husband’s company. She asked for names of interested members. She reminded the members to begin to look for their replacement now and to appoint members to their committees. Laura wants committee members from each branch to increase interest and learning.

Grace suggested that due to the late date of the next convention, the spring newsletter would be soon enough to publish the registration and housing information. Marty concurred.

New Business

A special task force, Nancy Shoemaker, Doris Bernlohr, Karla Atkinson, and Lola Jackson, has been appointed to study the lack of representation of Branches at the State Board level and the lack of communication between the Board and the Branches. As part of the 21^st Recognition Program the task force will be looking at what the branches want from the state organization. This information will be brought to the Fall Board meeting. Nancy Shoemaker added that the Task Force would also ask Board officers what they can do for the Branches. Alice Lanier asked if the Board could send someone to the Foothills Cluster meeting scheduled for October 5 to discuss the Task Force.

The combined NC/SC Math Conference in October in Charlotte offers an opportunity for AAUW/NC to share a booth with AAUW/SC to promote AAUW. The cost would be $75. Bobbie said that the fee for the booth would come from Membership. Sue Metz agreed to head the project if the branches near Charlotte and other members agreed to staff the booth. Nancy Shoemaker moved that AAUW/NC explore ways to support the partnership with AAUW/SC in staffing a booth at the NC/SC Association of Math Teachers in October and allocate $100 for this effort. Doris Bernlohr seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Nancy Shoemaker made a motion to research the possibility of having AAUW/NC members designate some of their contributions to public radio stations to get "the members of AAUW/NC mentioned as public radio underwriters (with the web address or the 800 number)". Sue Metz seconded the motion. After discussion the motion passed.

President Rumbley informed the board members that the regional director now receives decreased support from the Association. SAR members have been asked to contribute to the budget of SAR. Fundraising ideas were solicited.

Doris Bernlohr showed the members the copy of the AAUW History Book Mary Jo Pribble donated to AAUW/NC. The book, Degrees of Equality by Susan Levine, Temple University Press, May 1995, will rotate among the interested AAUW/NC board members.

President Rumbley displayed the award for the most non-host members present at SAR. She said that SAR has the most members on the various Boards at the National level.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45pm.

Approved: 26-Oct-2002
Last updated: 29-Oct-2002
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