Minutes of the MN ACE Network Board
February 12, 2004
St. Thomas University

In attendance: Carole Bland, Cathleen Brannen, Mary Eaton, Michele Ernst, Maria McLemore-Sklar.

Absent: Judith Blyckert, Cheryl Chatman, Marnie Fischer, Sharon Kurtt, Barb Lundberg, Jeanne Markell, Gina Monson, Esther Peralez, Jo Peterson, Josephine Reed-Taylor, Anita Rios, Tina Royer, JoAnn Simser, Jessica Stumpf, Beth Weatherby

 

  1. The meeting opened with a viewing of the new MN ACE Network website.  The following are the comments that were made:
     
    Comments on Membership page:
    • Great look
    • Great logo
    • We like the green
    • Like the use of fonts and size of print
    • We don’t like the building.  We recommend something more academic because the current building on the website resembles a church.
       
    Comments on Current Openings:
    • We would suggest a like to the Chronicle of Higher Education job listings.
       
    Comments on Newsletter:
    • Make the logo on the newsletter match the new logo on the previous pages.
       
    Comments on Events:
    • Looks a little plain.  Would suggest a graphic or add institutional web links. 
    • Board meeting not April 8, rather April 16.
       
    Comments on Resource:
    • Put in bold the title as already done in second one.
       
    Comments on Board Members:
    • Would like to see coordinators picture added.
    • List all board members with links to their institutions.
    • Put pictures of all board members on this page.
    • Include board minutes
       
    Comments on Home Page
    • Put title of  “Home” on page similar to other pages.
    • Needs catchy header—for example “Greetings from Woman in Higher Education or Welcome to…”
    • Take date of 2003-2004 off and replace with “current strategic directions…”
       
    Overall
    • Link to other women’s things like International Women’s Day in March and any other academic women’s events.
    • Maybe color difference to note what an ACE event versus other events.
    • Bold words “2004 Calendar”
    • On menu, please highlight which one is selected.
    • Would it be possible to include full color pictures/graphics as opposed to the blue color?
       
  2. Mintues of January 8, 2004 approved with minor spelling correction gii effect to affect.
  3. Emerging professional awards to be part of the fall conference.  Possible theme of fall conference:  “Opportunity Changes Everything:  Discover, Act and Be Supported in new opportunities” or an election theme such as:  “Power” or “Making a Difference”  Because of the small amount of board members in attendance, we opted to defer any further discussion regarding the fall conference. 
  4. Discussion occurred on replacing Board members rotating off and current empty slots.  We would recommend increasing the student position to two years and invite the current student to remain another year.  Cathleen Brannen announced that she would be stepping down at the end of her term this year.  We discussed absences and decided to ask women with many absences to let us know if they are still going to participate in the board.  Discussion was had regarding the difficulties of out of metro members to attend monthly.  It was decided that women who are making a good faith effort to participate in the activities of the board should not be penalized.  A discussion was also had regarding the need to have a board meeting every month.  If the committees were meeting once a month, could the general board meet every other month?
  5. March Board meeting:  Ann Wynea will be joining us to talk about working with the legislation on March 11 at Concordia.
  6. AAWW invitation to co-host professional development committee:  the board was supportive of the concept, but would like more information show as who sends the invitations and what the fee pays for (facilities and refreshments?)
  7. Program for Women Presidents:  We discussed an informal gathering this summer to be held in Duluth with break out sessions led by presidents.  Kathy Nelson from offered to help.  Dr. Nelson had commented that we must ask presidents at least 6 months in advance so they can put it on their calendars.  We also discussed the idea of combining the board retreat June 2 and 3 with the presidents program June 4.  Another option was to use the presidents program as the day before the conference activity.