Fall 2002 GEMS Board Meeting Minutes
September
20 , 2002
The spring conference call minutes were approved.
Directors Present: Barb Arnold, Ray Ban, Jim Beckman, Jose Cowen, Johnny DeCooman, Colleen Demark, Fred Franklin, Bob Helkowski, Tony Hutchinson, Tom Kleeb, Chuck Koval, Cynthia Kramer, Amy Lamke, Bob Landis, Dave Michel; Staff: Colleen Swetland
Directors Absent: Mike Starsinic
Alumni Council Report (Barb Arnold)
Campus Committee Report (Colleen Demark)The cost of using the Alumni Center is being re-evaluated after one year of operation. They are also looking into the feasibility of keeping the center open at least some evenings.
The Alumni Association has made considerable money from the affiliation credit cards and is using this money to support campus projects and scholarships.
GEMS received $6,216 from the Association for 2002.
The PSAA is unusual in that it has a close relationship to the university.
An invitation was extended to GEMS to participate in the Homecoming parade. It was decided that this was not possible on short notice, but it will be put on the agenda to be discussed at the Spring meeting.
Career Committee (Dave Michel)Dean Crane meets with EMS campus faculty twice yearly. The Campus Committee will ask Dean Crane for an opportunity to speak with these representatives to try to coordinate the committee's efforts to promote the College at the Commonwealth Campuses.
Alumni who have graduated since 1999 will be solicited to be Campus Associates.
The possibility of working with certain community colleges to promote EMS will be investigated.
In the next year, events at New Kensington, Abington, and Delaware are likely.
Participation in the high school recruiting open houses at McKeesport will continue.
An effort will be made to contact EMS students at all campuses, providing EMS information and offering contacts within GEMS. Other contacts at campuses will be focused toward students taking technical oriented classes.ACTION: 1. Identify Commonwealth campuses with high influx to EMS
2. Present draft plan for optimizing recruitment focus
Resource Committee (Bob Landis)The Career Contact Room at EMEX was well attended and will be continued next Spring.
The committee will look into participating in future Career Fairs.
Fred Franklin presented a plan for building relationships with middle school and high school students and encouraging them to continue their post-high school studies at PSU-EMS. Special emphasis will be placed on reaching minority students. The plan includes academic and mentoring support and establishes early ties with the university and college through alumni contacts and campus visits. A prototype of this program would probably be best established at several eastern Pennsylvania high schools where Fred is already working. Expansion of this program into western Pennsylvania might be affected by coordinating with the Mon Valley Education Consortium, a well-established and funded community organization supporting 20 distressed school districts.ACTION: 1. Explore middle school science /environmental club opportunity (Franklin's plan) in eastern and western PA
Program Committee (Amy Lamke)It was decided to keep representation on the board as is from Mineral Economics.
Colleen Demark and Chuck Koval have agreed to accept appointments for a second term.
The following new committee selections were made: Campus: Bob Helkowski; Career: Bob Helkowski and Tony Hutchinson; Resource: Cynthia Kramer.
It was noted that Dana Bauer has reformatted the website. Members of the board should review the site and provide input to Dana or Colleen.ACTION: 1. Decide whether to solicit for additional Alumni Achievement Award candidates, then act accordingly.
Old BusinessThe committee reviewed an outline for the "Weather Seminar" to be held next Spring. The goal of this seminar is "To educate and communicate the relevancy and value of meteorology and weather-related information as part of the contribution of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences to business and society." The target audience of this seminar is the students, faculty, and staff of EMS. An extended discussion centered on attracting interest among students and scheduling. It was decided to hold the seminar on Thursday afternoon, March 27, 2003, two days prior to EMEX. The program will include three speakers to discuss forecasting infrastructure, weather approaches, and new weather markets. Following a break, three users from sports, transportation, and energy industries will make presentations. Committee activities this Fall will include confirming speakers, arranging facilities, and publicity.
ACTION: 1. Confirm speakers, arrange facilities, etc.
Updating the Strategic Plan was discussed. It would be advantageous to have Dean Barron participate. Colleen Swetland will try to arrange an Executive session around Dean Barron's schedule to address this. This meeting may take place in the Washington, DC area.New Business
The first floor of Deike Building will be renovated to house the EMS Museum, student services, a freshman seminar room, three additional classrooms, and space to meet with prospective students. Dean Barron conducted a tour of this area following the business meeting.
It was decided to post meeting schedules in case other interested alumni, faculty, and students want to attend. It was also decided to post GEMS meeting minutes on the website. Colleen Swetland will circulate the minutes by e-mail for approval.
The GEMS Constitution provides for ex-officio members to include the EMS Dean, the EMS Student Council President, the EMS Coordinator of Alumni Activities, the EMS Development Officer, the Chair of the Faculty Steering Committee, and a representative of the PSU Alumni Association. It was thought that it is not necessary to have all ex-officio members present for meetings, but GEMS should make an effort to keep in touch with them. The exception to this is the President of the EMS Student Council whose attendance might be mutually beneficial.
The Winter Phone Conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 25, 2003.
The Spring Meeting will be March 27-29, 2003, at University Park.Respectively Submitted,
Tom Kleeb
