NJASFAA Executive Council Meeting Minutes

Raritan Valley Community College

September 18, 2003

 

Attended:  Jim Anderson, Joan Buttafuoco, Derek Gatling, Gloria Green, John Iacovelli, Jacki Jackson, Gisele Joachim, Bill Leach, Audrey Loera, Helen Mikulak, Jim Owens, Carmen Panlilio, Maribeth Quinn, Joe Roberto, David Sheridan, Karen Weber, Jack Williams, Debra Wulff

 

The meeting was called to order at 9:45 a.m.  A quorum was established.

 

Motion to approve the July 24 Executive Council meeting minutes moved by Audrey Loera; Seconded by Helen Mikulak.  Minutes were approved unanimously by a voice vote.

 

Officer Reports:

 

Treasurer:  Debra Wulff

 

·        The bottom line figure on our balance sheet as of September 16, 2003 is correct.  Debra is fixing other items.

·        $10,000 was moved to our checking account from our money market account. 

·        The 501c(3) registration that we submitted to the State of New Jersey is incomplete.    

The accountant needs the Articles of Incorporation and Formation.  The NJASFAA files kept in storage at HESAA will be searched to determine if the documents are there.  We will submit these documents to the accountant once they are located so he may complete our registration.

 

Past President:  Audrey Loera

 

Audrey informed us of a few items that were discussed at the Board of Directors meeting in June.

 

·        The electronic NJASFAA Newsletter and the training workshops offered last year were successful.

·        There was a long discussion on the Long Range Strategic Plan.  Mike has devoted a lot of time to this effort.

·        The next Board of Directors meeting will be held on the morning of November 11 at the fall conference.

·        Arrangements were made for the NASFAA Decentralized Training to be held on October 16 at Raritan Valley Community College.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Conference:  Jack Williams

 

·        Jack will send a memo to NJASFAA members this week to introduce the conference.  Conference registration and the agenda will be available online.

·        There will be three registration tables.  One will be for conference registration; one for the electronic training room sessions; a third one will be a mentoring desk.

·        The pricing scheme will have an incentive fee structure.  The first person from an institution to register will pay full price; the second and third members from the same school will pay half price; additional participants beyond three from the same school will pay full price.  This applies only to three-day conference attendees.

·        An incentive is being offered to encourage people to attend “A View From Washington, D.C.” on Tuesday afternoon.  The first two members from the same institution to attend this session will receive two vouchers for a free spring conference registration.  The vouchers can be transferred to any member of the school’s staff.

·        Wednesday’s program will include three separate roundtable discussions, for the novice, non-traditional schools and directors.  

·        We discussed how to handle the few members who attended last year’s fall conference but are still unpaid.  A suggestion was made to require payment before they are allowed to register for the upcoming fall conference. 

 

Development:  Jim Anderson

 

·        The committee mailed out its annual solicitation letter to 25 vendors on September 5.  Seven vendors have responded and all but one have agreed to maintain the level of sponsorship from last year.  One sponsor has dropped from Platinum to Gold.

·        Sponsorship levels and benefits remain unchanged with two exceptions.  First, Platinum level sponsors will be given an opportunity to offer computer training on their products in the electronic training room.  The second change was to replace paper ads with electronic banner ads in the newsletter.

 

EASFAA Update:  Joe Roberto

 

·        The next EASFAA Executive Council meeting will be held in November in Providence, Rhode Island.  Joe will prepare a report from this meeting.

 

Electronic Initiatives:  Jim Owens

 

·        The NJASFAA Web site received 24,380 hits in July.

·        The electronic Newsletter will cost $200 per issue for fifteen pages and five pictures.

·        We have a complete job posting system available.  The cost for this upgrade is $1500.

·        The set-up cost to add a discussion board is $325.

·        Jim asked us to give him or David suggestions of what links we want added to our Web site.

·        Joe suggested that HESAA add a link on its Web site to the NJASFAA Web site.

 

Government Relations:  Carmen Panlilio

 

Reauthorization will be the major focus of the fall conference.  There will be several initiatives in which members can become involved.

 

·        A postcard campaign.

·        Reauthorization panel.

·        Roundtable discussions will be held.  A transcript of these sessions will be compiled in an easy-to-read format and sent to legislators.

 

This committee had a conference call with the EASFAA Federal Relations Committee on September 11.  EASFAA is trying to determine what states are doing on a state level with Federal Relations or Government Relations Committees.  We would like to make college presidents aware of what’s happening with Reauthorization.

 

Carmen distributed the final draft of the legislative guide, which will be distributed at the fall conference.

 

Long Range Strategic Plan:  David Sheridan

 

·        David distributed a membership survey, which will be completed online.  ATAC will provide statistical results of the survey. 

·        We would like an enticement to encourage members to complete the survey.  Mike will put together a committee, who will decide the prize.

·        Susan Howard at Antioch College will help us on a consulting basis.

 

Membership: 

 

·        The association has 250 members, with 25 applications pending.

·        250 e-mail renewal reminders have been sent, with 200 more to go.

 

Multicultural Concerns:  Derek Gatling and Jacki Jackson

 

·        The Multicultural Student Award application is available online.  Derek and Jacki are contacting corporations for funding.

·        They are putting together a session for the fall conference.  Emmett Bivens and Jesse Jackson have agreed to be presenters.

 

Newsletter: 

 

·        The Newsletter will be published four times during the academic year on the NJASFAA Web site.

·        It will contain sections for the Editor’s Corner; Executive Council Members Profile; President’s Column; Feature Articles; and Committee Information.

 

Non-Traditional Concerns:  Bill Leach

 

·        The first meeting of this committee will be held on September 26.

·        Karen Sokol will attend this meeting to brainstorm ideas to increase its membership.

·        Donna Fojtlin has agreed to serve on the Mentoring Committee.

 

Public Relations:  David Sheridan

 

·        David and Mark are preparing press releases for local newspapers to notify the general public about scholarship scams.

·        Mark submitted biographies of several Executive Council members to local newspapers to advertise NJASFAA.

 

Speakers Bureau:  John Iacovelli

 

The first meeting of this committee will be held on October 3.  This committee would like to:

 

·        Develop a brochure to promote the Speakers Bureau to high school guidance counselors.

·        Recruit a NJASFAA member to do bilingual presentations in Central and North Jersey.  Luis Tavarez has agreed to do bilingual presentations in South Jersey.

·        Link NJACAC and NJSCA Web sites to the Speakers Bureau page of our Web site.

·        David will send a letter to high school principals and guidance counselors to introduce the Speakers Bureau to the high school community.

 

Training and Professional Development:  Gloria Green

 

·        A Verification training workshop will be held on October 3 at Rutgers University, Camden campus. 

·        NASFAA Decentralized Training will be held on October 16 at Raritan Valley Community College.

·        The committee hopes to have a Professional Judgment workshop in January 2004.

·        After the fall conference, a date and site for Novice training will be decided.

·        A customer service video may be presented at the Support Staff workshop.

 

HESAA Update:  Gisele Joachim

 

·        HESAA helped DYFS with writing regulations to decrease the administrative work of institutions whose students receive the DYFS scholarship.

·        The Law Enforcement Memorial Scholarship Program provides funding for children of certain law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, including Port Authority officers and federal law enforcement officials.  Funding comes from the sale of license plates.  HESAA anticipates that students will be notified of the award in spring 2004, effective for fall 2004.

New Business:

 

·        HESAA requested that a second Executive Council representative serve on NJACSA, in addition to Helen.  Jack volunteered for this position. 

·        David asked if it would be helpful to have a NJASFAA American Express card.  A concern was expressed that the card may be abused.

·        Joe suggested that we purchase a camera for NJASFAA conferences.  We would then need a volunteer to take pictures at conferences.

·        We will not have a book drive at the fall conference.

·        David asked for a volunteer to host the May 13 Executive Council meeting.  Debra will see if she can reserve a room at Drew University.

·        Joe is looking into sites for the spring conference.

 

Motion to adjourn moved by Maribeth Quinn; Seconded by Helen Mikulak.

 

Time 12:30 p.m.