American Council on Education
Office of Women in Higher Education
ACE Network Executive Board
Conference Call on Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Minutes

I. Report from ACE/OWHE:  Claire Van Ummersen reports:

OWHE has two new staff people on board.  Gloria Thomas will be the new Associate Project Director in charge of the Sloan Grant.  Gloria is formerly with the ACE Fellows Program.  Her graduate work at the University of Michigan fits well with the work we are charged to complete under the Sloan Grant.

Lisa Motley is the new office assistant and can be reached at (202) 939-9386.  Deborah Allen has her involved in an orientation and training program.  Lisa has some familiarity with OWHE as she was formerly with the health insurance program that ACE operates. Welcome to both Gloria and Lisa.

OWHE continues to work on filling the shared position with the Office for Minorities in Higher Education funded by Dr. David Ward as part of a revised 2004 budget.  We anticipate very positive efforts from this collaboration.

Impressed with the content and reach of the event, Education Management Inc. /Witt Kieffer has provided $5000 sponsorship to help with the 2004 State Coordinators’ Leadership Development Conference.  (Because this money cannot be used for travel grants, there was a brief discussion about where a coordinator might obtain funding.  Possibilities included the Network itself, the presidential sponsor, and the president of the coordinator’s home institution.  Each Board member will check with her state coordinators to determine if travel grant support is crucial to an individual’s attending the Annual Conference, and, if so, to discuss possible sources.)

Donna Phillips thanked those Board members who provided feedback on the Budget Module. 

II. Update on State Coordinators Leadership Development Conference –Teresa Gonzalez reported that the conference committee and OWHE staff will continue planning for the 2004 State Coordinators Leadership Development Conference via conference call within the next week.  We are still accepting your suggestions regarding speakers for the program.

III. Board Development- Mary Kitterman facilitated the conversation regarding what we need from each other as Board members to help us strengthen our role as liaisons to the state coordinators. Board members suggested:

• sharing best practices with each other regarding what has worked well in strengthening our states
• staying in touch beyond the monthly conference call – mentoring each other as well as state coordinators
• attending more Network events
• sharing the skill sets of each board member.  We agreed to submit a checklist of skill areas to Donna Phillips.  These will be compiled into a matrix and shared with the Executive Board to utilize as we work with our states to meet their needs.

New Board members expressed appreciation for ideas that would facilitate transition with newly assigned states from Board members that worked with those states in the past. This conversation will continue in the coming months.

IV. Follow-up on Retreat discussion of Diversity Conversations within the Executive Board-Just a reminder that we have not forgotten the planned Board discussion about our perspectives and actions around the topic of diversity.  We plan to focus on this discussion at our February Board retreat rather than to try to engage in the conversation on a conference call.

In addition OWHE will ask 3 states to pilot the diversity module with their planning committees and provide feedback on its usefulness and the planning committee’s comfort with presenting the module at state conferences.  We would ask them to address what changes/revisions need to be made to the module.  The request will be to have the module used in a small group setting, not a statewide conference or meeting, during this pilot phase.  Donna Phillips will follow-up with the Board liaisons from the suggested states.

V.  Update from Network News-Judy Fountain reports that the November issue of Network News will focus on leadership development.  October 21, 2003 is the deadline for submission of articles.  We have also planned to focus the January 2004 newsletter on the survey results.  We are receiving some very helpful feedback from the survey, but because we have had only 39 responses, we are extending the deadline to December 1, 2003.  Board members are asked to contact their state coordinators and encourage them to complete the survey if they have not done so.  We do not want to make significant changes without their input.  Judy shared the list of state coordinators who had responded thus far.  Board members complimented Judy Fountain and her assistant Beth Miglin on the survey.

VI. Report from the Chair:            Josephine Reed-Taylor reports:

The Midwest Regional Forum was held on October 2-4 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  We had 24 people in attendance for this first Regional Forum. Congratulations to Carol Hollenshead, Claire van Ummersen, Deborah Allen, and Donna Phillips for a job well done.  We have received excellent feedback from participants and will share some lessons learned with the Board as we plan for the South Carolina regional forum hosted by Judith Prince in spring 2004.  Remember that nominations for the December forum are still open and should be forwarded to Deborah Allen. 

ACE Network Awards:          Josephine asked Board members to remind your state coordinators and others to submit nominations for both the Donna Shavlik Award and The ACE Network Award for the Advancement of Women in Higher Education.  Donna Phillips forwarded the website information to access the nomination forms to all state coordinators last week.  The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2003.

Josephine asked Board members to let her know if their state coordinators are not receiving notices, the newsletter, or updates.  We are trying to making sure that the listserv is kept up to-date with changes of e-mail and changes in coordinators.

VII. Report from the States

• Hawaii will have its Fall conference on November 29 on the Chaminade campus.  Although her office has not yet confirmed, they have invited the first woman governor of Hawaii to be a speaker.  Dr. Rose Tseng from UH Hilo, Hawaii’s presidential sponsor, was the speaker for the first monthly luncheon meeting in September.  The planning committee decided on the theme of "Leadership Within" for this year’s program.  Both the Fall and Spring conferences will be providing workshops on the skills needed to succeed in leadership positions. Poranee sends warm sunshine from Hawaii.  Aloha!

• Edith Booker reported that Maryland’s annual conference, scheduled for April 30, 2004, will be held at the University of Maryland University College.   Their annual Women of Color luncheon, which will feature Dr. Gladys Brown as the keynote speaker, will be held at the University of Maryland Baltimore County on December 5. 2003.  They are also planning an annual legislative event in Annapolis in January or February 2004.

• Debbie Sydow reports that New York is working on revising its by-laws to closely align with the mission and goals of the Network.  She will forward a copy to Donna Phillips upon completion.

• Judy Prince reports that Alabama is somewhat concerned about the number of registrations for its upcoming IDEALS for Women Administrators in Higher Education Conference.  The Board encouraged Judith to encourage Cheree Causey not to cancel the conference but look for ways to accommodate the proposed agenda with a smaller group.  The agenda and marketing materials they have created are wonderful.  As this is their initial effort at organizing a statewide conference, the Board extended commendations to the Alabama planning group for having 29 registrants two weeks away from the October 28 conference date.

• Elaine Maimon reports that the Arizona Network held its first drive–in conference in Phoenix.  It was sponsored by Northern Arizona University.  Ann Die has been secured for the second of these workshops on April 2.  The topic will focus on how to interview for presidential positions. The Arizona Network has planned three drive-in conferences.

• Cynthia Smith Forrest informed us that Massachusetts is hosting a dinner to kick-off programming for this academic year. 

• The New Hampshire group’s efforts are focused on Networking Across Borders.

• The Rhode Island network released a report at the end of September focused on the status of women in their state.

• Madlyn Hanes reports that the Pennsylvania state planning committee is focusing on preparing for its statewide conference for November 2004.  Madlyn has also arranged an upcoming conference call with the coordinator in North Carolina.

• Karen Haynes reports that the Texas Women in Higher Education have completed planning for their February 24-25, 2004, conference in Dallas at the Texas Women's Museum with keynote speaker, Dr. Judith S. Prince, focusing on Women and Leadership: The Move Toward Collaborative Organizations.  This is the first conference for the Texas network (they are expecting 100 participants) and will include guided table discussions during lunch focused on a balanced life, personnel issues, consensus building, media management, and professional development.

• Dene Thomas has had a very productive conversation with Lois Muir regarding the progress of Montana’s planning committee.

• Judy Fountain informed us that Ohio’s network will host a day and a half workshop for Institutional Representatives on November 21 entitled Pathways to Leadership.
   

The next conference call for the Network Executive Board is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, at 2:00 P.M.
 

Submitted by
Josephine Reed-Taylor, Chair
ACE/OWHE Network Executive Board
Phone (612) 659-6302
Josephine.Reed-Taylor@minneapolis.edu