OSU EMERITI ASSOCIATION COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Monday, May 21, 2018

Executive Committee Members Present: Sharon Nivens, Tana Rutan, Ron Elliott, Dennis Bertholf, and Charles Leider

Committee Chairs/Representatives Present: Jack Dillwith, Zane Quible, Clem Ward, Dolores Willett, Kent Olson, Judy Lewis, Bob Wettemann, and Barbara Miller

Agenda: Approved Approval of April 30th 2018

Minutes: Minutes stand as presented.

Treasurer’s Report: Approved by: Ron Elliott, Treasurer

Total Spendable Assets are $35,966.19. Ron noted the $100.00 donated to Stillwater Public Library in honor of Carolyn Headrick. He mentioned the computer purchase for the Emeriti office. Kent made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report and Dennis seconded. Report approved.

Reports and Updates

Vice-President Activities

Dennis Bertholf

Catering & Reservations

Clem Ward

We had a great turn out for the Emeriti/OLLI dinner at Meditations. Clem mentioned about 135 people attended and he collected good feedback from all. Mexico Joes will provide the meal for the June 4th dinner meeting at the Alumni Center. The guest speaker will be Mark Blakeman, Director of the new McKnight Center.

Monthly Programs

Russ Wright

Coach Boynton is slated to speak at our November Dinner meeting.

Making the Most of Retirement:

Zane Quible

Dennis Bertholf is the moderator of a discussion session at the January 16 meeting of Making the Most of Retirement.

6/20 Tonya Ingram: "Starting and Maintaining a Support Group"--3rd Floor Reception Area, Stillwater Public Library

7/18 Timothy Walker: "GriefShare Program"--3rd Floor Reception Area, Stillwater Public Library

Technology Group

Glade Presnal

No report

President Elect

Charles Leider

Benefits

Anne Matoy

Seretean/Colvin Center

Anne wasn’t available but Sharon reported: Retired Faculty may not be allowed to continue the free membership in the Colvin Center past December 2018 due to lack of funds. Sharon will ask Anne to bring this up with Joe Weaver this Fall, Perhaps he can find other funding. Lee Bird’s department has been funding it for the past few years.

Ron asked about the use of the Library Data Bases for non OSU Emeriti. Barbara Miller suggested he inquire with Whitney at the circulation desk. She explained it is complicated depending on what people might be researching and it may be handled on an individual basis and not a blanket usage rule.

Membership

Dolores Willett

Membership; recruiting & maintaining membership; membership records:

Dolores shared a complete report of Emeriti membership as it stands at this time. The report shows New Members in 2017 and 2018 to date. 2018 new member letters sent out based on the report from HR. 2018 Membership with email/telephone contacts past March 1. Thoughts and recommendations for considerations were included in this report. How to recruit new members and retain members was discussed at length. In her report she listed Policies and Procedures to be changed and added for managing the membership database and directory. For the August 27th Emeriti Council meeting she will submit the current policies/procedures and give the new wording for each to be changed.

President

Sharon Nivens

Sharon passed around a copy of changes on item 4 Inclement Weather Policies and Procedures. “Meetings of the Association or its affiliated group which meet in University facilities will follow the University polices on closure. If the University is closed due to inclement weather, Association meetings are cancelled. The chair/facilitator of those affiliated groups which meet in facilities not on campus will notify participants of any closing/cancellation by a method appropriate for that group.” Clem made a motion to approve the changes and Kent seconded and motion passed.

Faculty Council

Barbara Miller

President Hargis reported that there would be a flat budget next year same as this year, but that represented a 26 per cent cut, so it will be a lean year. He did say that the regents had approved a fee increase and they were considering a tuition increase, which would help a great deal. He also noted that Dr. Coburn is trying to get a referendum on the fall ballot to reverse the taxation which the state house approved for the oil and gas industry. So far there are not enough votes to put this on the ballot. Any extra money after the new taxation would go to state employees, but not to OSU state employees.

Chris Ormsbee reported for ITLE that they have chosen a new Learning Management System, to replace D2L, called Canvas. She said it is easier and more intuitive to use, has better layout and design, and better navigation, and works well with integrated devices, since over 50 per cent of students now have a computer, cell phone, and tablet and need to have them integrated.

Ambassadors

Russ Wright

No report

McCollom Gift

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE OSU EMERITI ASSOCIATION COUNCIL

From COMMITTEE ON McC0LLOM DONATION

MAY 18, 2018

Our committee met informally in February and formally on March 5 and April 10. Dolores and Carolyn each communicated with Katherine McCollom. Other discussions within the committee were held via email, telephone and in person. Our committee recommendations to the Council follow and Katherine said any combination of these ideas would be acceptable to her. However, she is not available to come to Stillwater to commemorate any celebration.

Hold an annual emeriti dinner and publicize it as The McCollom Dinner with a speaker (honorarium). Various thought in relation to this idea were: it could recognize our founders or be combined with recognizing new members, have an upscale menu and include appetizers and a longer social time before the meal, perhaps music could be provided (by OSU or Stillwater schools), and location could be different (e.g. Meditations). In summary, this would be a “jazzed up” monthly meeting. The cost would be subsized from the McCollom Donation
A separate event focusing on recruiting new members.
A modest donation to our scholarship fund.
A plaque in our alcove noting the annual speakers and explaining the donation and/or the mission statement of the association. The idea was to publicize the donation and encourage others to make such a contribution in their financial planning.

Respectfully submitted

Ken Bartels

Ron Elliott

Sharon Nivens

Bob Terry

Dolores Willett

Carolyn Bauer Baird, Chair

These suggestions were discussed at great length and the Council made a recommendation to form a committee of 6 people to make a decision and a plan creating a special event and the amount of money to spend. This event would focus on recruiting new members.

Adjournment

At 4:40 Sharon asked for a motion to adjourn, Kent made a motion to do so and Bob seconded.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tana Rutan