Region 4 of the National Association for Interpretation
Board Meeting Minutes
Nature Center Auditorium, Pokagon State Park, Angola, Indiana
12 January 2007
Call to order: 8:10am
In attendance:
Officers: Ginger Murphy (Director), Julie Champion (Deputy Director) & Leslie Witkowski (Secretary)
Committee Chairs: Sarah Reding ( Nominations), Wil Reding (Student Involvement), Haley Samuelson-Couchman (Archives), Dorothy McLeer (Awards), Rich Niccum (Interpretive Project Grants), Tanya Brock (Membership), Marquita Manley (Past Membership Chair), Marvin McNew (Partnerships and Advertising), Susan Williams (Scholarships & Grants), Andrea Haslage (Scholarships & Grants), Robin Dungan (Training and Membership Services), Frances Boyens (Website)
Welcome & Introductions: Ginger Murphy
All in attendance introduced themselves, where they worked and what office or committee they were chairing/ed.
Murphy thanked the following outgoing committee chairs: Lise Schools (Interpretive Project Grants), Susan Williams (Scholarship & Grants), Susan Boggs (Training & Membership Services), Marquita Manley (Membership), Sarah Reding (Nominations), Paul Steury (Student Involvement)
Murphy reviewed NAI’s mission, vision and NAI 4’s leadership values. They are as follows:
· Voices for interpretation
· Great & useful services
· Building leadership
· Involve members into the group as soon as possible
· Be responsive to members concerns & questions
· Be on time with reports & info. requests
· Fiscally responsible-service oriented
· Fellowship
· Things we do represent interpretation as a profession
· Appreciate one another
· Mentors to each other & other members
· Idea exchanges & networking
· Support one another
· Information & resource sharing
Murphy reviewed the structure of the Region and a brief description of the responsibilities of the officers and committee chairs.
ACTION ITEM: Julie Champion will get this overview posted on the website.
Update on National News: Ginger Murphy
· NIW’s
o 2006 Albuquerque, New Mexico
o Approximately 1,200-1,300 were in attendance.
o 2007 Wichita, KS
o 2008 Hartford, CN
o 2009 Portland, OR
o 2010 Las Vegas, NV
· Interpreting World Heritage Workshop
o 2006 workshop was in the black financially, one of the criteria for continuing the workshops.
o 2007 Workshop is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
§ March 25-29
§ Ginger Murphy & Evie Kirkwood, Region 4 member & President of the Board of Directors for NAI, will attend this workshop. They are also attending Region 10’s Regional workshop and presenting a session on building regional leadership.
o South Korea would like to host the conference in 2008.
§ NAI has developed cooperative agreements with South Korea and China. They will be called NAI Korea and NAI China.
§ There is no up front cost to NAI to bring these countries on board as a part of the organization. They will receive all publications and forms as pdf’s and NAI will receive money for their membership dues.
§ Right now NAI staff is spending minimal time in working with these two countries.
§ The Board of Directors has to approve agreements any new countries who wish to become a part of NAI.
· Canadian members now pay the same rates as US members instead of a higher rate.
· National’s Strategic Planning meeting will be in February in Colorado. Corky McReynolds will facilitate this meeting. Murphy is attending.
ACTION ITEM: Ginger Murphy will send to all of us the question they are to answer to prepare for the Strategic Planning Meeting, “What is your vision for the interpretive profession in 2015?”
· Definitions Project
o Funding is from grants from the EPA. The purpose of this is to get professionals together from all walks of interpretation and environmental education to talk about and define what exactly interpretation & what environmental education are and to create a language that is common within the profession. NAI”s website has an area that focuses on this project.
ACTION ITEM: Ginger Murphy will e-mail all of us the website regarding the Definitions Project.
· Products & Service Policy
o NAI”s Board of Directors approved this in 2006.
o Form was created to determine whether or not Regional fundraising efforts would involve any legal risks and if there would be any insurance liabilities as well.
o It will also serve the purpose to make sure Regions, Sections and the National organization are not competing against one another for fundraising purposes.
o Before a Region or Section goes forward with a new fundraising project, the form needs to be filled out and, if designated indicators are marked “yes,” the form must be sent in to National for approval. This is especially true for any contracts over $1,000.
o This policy is on the website.
· Ethics & Conflict of Interest
o This revised policy now allows NAI to contract with board members for services, which was not the case in the past. The prior policy limited the use of a wide variety of expertise in many areas. The new policy requires disclosure of potential conflicts in voting, and provides controls and disclosure of dollar amounts to prevent abuse of the freedom to contract with board members.
· National Business Plan
o The budget this year is very conservative, but there are several items in the business plan that will move the organization forward. The plan is available for review on the website in the area “NAI for Leaders”.
o The business plan is tied into the current Strategic Plan.
o This is a good tool to use as a model if you’ve never had to develop a business plan before.
· Membership
o ACTIION ITEM: Ginger will contact National about whether they are still sending out membership renewal letters.
· Certification
o National is improving how certification packets are reviewed. Incentives for reviewers are being provided to have them get packets back on time.
Secretary’s Report: Leslie Witkowski
· All 2006 minutes have been posted on the website
· Committee Chair contact information list was passed around for all committee chairs to provide contact information.
· Committee list was passed around for committee chairs to update.
ACTION ITEM: Leslie Witkowski will update the Committee Chairs/Members list so there are columns for phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
ACTION ITEM: All committee chairs need to have committee updates to Leslie Witkowski by January 19, 2007.
ACTION ITEM: All committee chairs should send any new actions that developed in the strategic plan to Leslie Witkowski so the 2007 Action Plan can be updated.
Treasurer Report: Julie Champion/Ginger Murphy Reporting for Amy Roell
· The region is financially stable.
· Amy receives quarterly reports from National. Right now the region has about $45,000.
· Reimbursement
o Officers and committee chairs can be reimbursed by NAI for mileage, postage, etc… Fill out a reimbursement form and send it to Amy. She will approve it and send it on to National who will then cut a check for you.
o The reimbursement form is on the website. DO NOT use the form that has the code numbers on it.
o The region will reimburse at the same rate as National, which is the standard federal mileage rate.
o Please submit a receipt with any reimbursement requests, except for mileage.
· Investing Money in Mutual Funds
o Amy spoke with Vicki Basman and Susan Boggs for advice about investing in mutual funds.
o Their advice was to choose a mixed mutual fund where the company is paying large dividends to their holders (this is for long-term investment).
o Amy suggested to experiment with $5,000 when our next CD comes up. Half of the $5,000 can be put into a mutual fund and the other half can be put back into the CD. We’ll see how the mutual fund is doing and if it is doing well, we can invest more into it.
o When it is time to invest in the mutual fund, Tim Merriman can assist with the selection of the proper fund.
Two of the voting board were absent. Three were present, constituting a quorum.
A motion (Champion/Witkowski) to take one $5,000 CD and invest ½ back in the CD and ½ in the mutual fund with Amy Roell, Vicki Basman and Susan Boggs to choose the mutual fund the Region invests in.
* Ask Amy, Vicki, and Susan to research out companies that are more environmentally friendly.
A friendly amendment (Champion/Witkowski) established that a full $5,000 will be invested into a mutual fund selected by Roell, Basman, and Boggs.
· Executive Budget Reviewed
o Last year non-members who attended a mini-training workshop were asked to pay the full cost of a six-month membership when they paid their registration fee to attend the training. The region is considering absorbing some of those costs this year.
o Our budget is very similar to the 2006 budget. There is a possibility that we will not spend all of the money that was budgeted for.
Deputy Director: Julie Champion
· Regional Interpreters Worskhops (RIW)
o 2007 – Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana
§ There is a new way to register online for the workshop through the National office.
§ Members should have received their registration booklet in the mail by now.
ACTION ITEM: Frances Boyens will keep a list of presenters who weren’t able to present at the 2007 workshop and pass it along to the 2008 workshop committee.
o 2008 – Cleveland, OH April 8-11, 2008
§ Committee is up and running strong, lead by workshop chairs, Foster Brown and Carl Casavecchia
§ Cuyahoga Valley National Park will be the location of the workshop.
§ Theme: Oats, Boats & Dynamite: Sewing the Seeds for an Interpretive Explosion.
o 2009 – Ontario, Canada
§ Rick Stronks is Workshop Chair and has all committee chairs and committees in place.
§ Rick’s work is supporting him in chairing this workshop.
§ The Region will need to start advertising this workshop early so members have time to plan for it; get passports, etc….
§ The workshop will actually be in Algonquin.
§ It will take place in late February or early March to take advantage of winter ecology.
§ Rick’s personal goal is to get more people from Ontario involved in the Region.
o 2010 – Midland, MI
§ Rachel Larimore will be chairing this workshop.
o 2011 – Site yet to be determined in Indiana.
ACTION ITEM: Please get any committee policy changes to Julie Champion by January 19, 2007.
· Volunteers
o Julie passed around a list of members that indicated they were interested in volunteering in some sort of project or committee within the region.
E-Newsletter: Ginger Murphy
· Ginger or an officer will submit a monthly e-newsletter to members of Region 4 to keep them updated on regional activities and to keep NAI on their minds.
ACTION ITEM: Frances Boyens will post the e-newsletter on the website.
Membership Initiative: Ginger Murphy
· There has been a drop in the Region and National membership numbers.
o Why the drop in numbers? Possibilities include, not as many folks in the profession, NAI is not their main resource for professional development anymore, members are choosing a less expensive membership level, which does not allow them to belong to both a region and a section, they can only belong to one or the other.
· What can Region 4 do to increase members?
ACTION ITEM: Ginger Murphy will decide with Tanya Brock and the membership committee on a new plan for boosting membership.
Nominations: Sarah Reding
· Formulated a new committee which consists of Maria Peacock, Foster Brown and Vicki Basman.
· Updated the Policy Manual for the Officer Procedures by developing a set of qualifications the region is looking for in for its officers.
· Fall 2007 election will be done by e-ballot.
o If members do not have e-mail, they will be mailed a paper ballot.
o This will hopefully provide us with a larger percentage of ballots returned.
o It will cost approximately 45¢/ballot to be sent via e-ballot.
o Please get names to Sarah for members to run for office.
§ April - the slate is finalized.
§ July – bio’s submitted by candidates.
§ September - election takes place.
Strategic Planning Update: Sarah Reding
· Sarah is currently the overall champion of the Strategic Plan. She will contact individual champions of each strategy to ensure the strategic plan is moving forward.
ACTION ITEM: Once Ginger Murphy gets the strategic plan back from facilitators, John and Vicki, she will get it to us to put in the proper deadlines.
Student Involvement: Wil Reding
· Paul Steury is rotating off as committee chair.
· Wil received a list of universities with contact names.
ACTION ITEM: Wil will e-mail this list to Ginger Murphy, who in turn will e-mail it out to the rest of the board.
· There was an article in every issue of Four Thought related to students.
· Wil is currently updating and forming this committee.
· Cem Basman from Indiana University requested in 2006 $500 to start up a student chapter. The funds were approved, but the chapter has not yet been formulated.
· $1,000 was requested for this committee budget for potential memberships, start-up chapters, incentives, etc….
· Wil wants to do a survey of current student members finding out “What they want from the region.” He will work with Tanya Brock to get the names of the students.
Archives: Haley Samuelson-Couchman
· The region’s archives are currently housed at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
· If members need to look up any NAI past information, contact Haley or anyone of the committee members. Also, we have the opportunity to utilize one hour of student work time to look up information-up to 20 pages-for free.
· Working on trying to get information more easily accessible to members by getting it put online.
o A $100 donation could assist with accomplishing this.
· Haley is working with Deb Tewell at the National office in getting more National related items to be housed at National.
· Haley would like to standardize all of our archived information to be streamlined more like Nationals items.
· Committee members include:
o Diantha Martin – MI
o Tim Krynak – OH
o IN rep. needed (possibly)
· Haley will be writing an interpretive description for the Pioneer Display that Region 4
sponsored in 2006.
Awards: Dorothy McLeer
· Committee members include:
o Vivian Wagner – OH
o Nora Sindelar – OH
o Staci Radford-Vincent – IN
o Mary Warren – OH (rotating off at the end of 2007)
o Kevin Arnold – MI
o Brianne Warthman – OH
· There is a group photo of all 2006 award winners on the website.
· 2006 National Award Winners:
- Wil Reding – Master Front-Line Interpreter
- Cathy Meyer – Meritorious Service Award
- Peter Stobie – Honorable Mention Feature of “The Interpreter” Awards
“Props ‘til You Drop”
- Chippewa Nature Center – Wayside Sign: “Chippewa Trail: A Pathway
Through a Landscape of Constant Change” submitted by: Rachel Larimore
· Dorothy is looking forward to receiving nominations for 2007. Deadline, must be postmarked by January 13, 2007. January 17 was listed as postmark date on website, so Dorothy will honor that date.
A motion (Witkowski/Champion) moved to name our two $1,000 academic scholarships in honor of Bert Szabo and Howard Weaver, pending their approval, to be implemented by the Scholarships & Grants Committee for 2008.
Interpretive Project Grants: Rich Niccum
· Ten applications were submitted for the 2006 grant cycle.
· $2,500 to give away - $2,479 was given away.
o 2006 IPG Recipients
§ Soc. Of Civil War Surgeons, OH Hospital Tent $329.00
§ Aullwood Audubon Center, OH REACHES program supplies $800.00
§ Metro Parks, Summit Co., OH American Hobo program supplies $1000.00
§ Lakehead University, ON Self-guided media materials $350.00
· Lise Schools, past committee chair, updated the table top display for the RIW. Rich will continue to update the display as well.
· One committee member is rotating off. Rich would like to find someone from IN, OH or ON to take his spot.
· Rich has updated the form the committee uses for evaluating applicants. He will send it to committee members for last critiques and then finalize the form.
· Rich has a goal to standardize the Application Form.
· $2,500 was requested to be awarded again for 2007.
· There will be articles in the upcoming Four Thought about the winners.
· Rich is also going to try to get winning projects posted on the Region’s website.
· There was a suggestion to have the IPG committee put together a power point presentation that shows the winners of the grants. It was thought this could be run during a meal during the RIW. This would depend on whether the committee gets enough photos from the applicants who win.
· A committee member’s agency can submit an application to receive a grant, however, that committee member cannot write the application or review it.
Membership: Marquita Manley/Tanya Brock
· Two complimentary memberships were awarded in 2006. The region needs to look for ways to boost participation in this process.
· 20 welcome letters were sent out to new members in 2006.
· Didn’t receive as much information on lapsed members and new members from National as would have liked.
· Tanya’s Goals for 2007
o Needs to get some new committee members.
o Needs to work closely with the students from Northern Michigan University as they are conducting the member survey.
o Would like to develop a close working relationship with Jamie at the National office to improve Region 4 membership services.
ACTION ITEM: Tanya Brock will contact Katie Adams to see if she would be interested in serving on the Membership committee. She will also solicit someone from IN & OH.
Partnerships and Advertising: Marvin McNew
· Biggest struggle was finding out which committees needed assistance, financially.
· Marvin is looking for someone to replace him as committee chair beginning in 2008.
· Marvin is looking for additional committee members.
ACTION ITEM: Marvin will contact the 2008 RIW committee to see if they are in need of financial assistance for the workshop.
ACTION ITEM: Marvin will work with Deb Tewell, at the National office, to re-structure the ad rates for Four Thought; seeking out ads and payment of ads.
Publications: Ginger Murphy for Deb Nofzinger
· 4 newsletters were produced in 2006.
ACTION ITEM: Board members please pass along any names you might have to Deb Nofzinger for future Regional Reporters.
· E-newsletter
o Are going to start offering Four Thought this way as well as a hard copy.
o The Region would still receive a reimbursement from National for each newsletter sent as a hardcopy and e-copy.
o How the e-newsletter will work: Jamie from National would send our mailing list to Deb. Deb would remove anyone who wanted an e-version from the list and e-mail them a PDF from her server. The rest of the mailing list would be sent to the mailing house and would receive a hard copy.
ACTION ITEM: Deb will put in the spring issue of Four Thought information on letting members choose which way they would prefer to receive Four Thought. When the summer issue comes out, members will receive it whichever way they chose.
Scholarships & Grants: Susan Williams/Andrea Haslage
· Advertised well in Four Thought all scholarships and grants offered.
· Two $1,000 academic scholarships were awarded.
o Sarah Wolf
o Crystal Muzik
· Awarded three (full) RIW grants for spring of 2006.
o Melissa F. Estes
o Linda S. Rose
o Brad Bumgardner
· Region 4 Board elected to give three registration only grants in 2006.
o Brianne Warthman
o Jeanette Henderson
o Amal Farrough
· Awarded two $125.00 certification grants within the calendar year.
o Greg Wright
o Rich Niccum
· Awarded two $600.00 grants to attend NIW in late summer of 2006.
o Pete Stobie
o Leslie Witkowski
· RIW Auction brought in $2,755.00
ACTION ITEM: Please, everyone, bring items for the 2007 auction.
· Looking for more committee members.
o Jules Erwin has committed.
o Carol Ward has been contacted to sit on committee, waiting to hear back.
· Susan thanked all past committee members for serving on the committee.
· February 16 is the post mark deadline for receiving applications for RIW & Academic scholarships.
ACTION ITEM: Frances Boyens and Ginger Murphy will investigate if there is a way we can put the Scholarship, Grants and IPG forms on the website, so they can be filled out online.
Training & Membership Services: Robin Dungan
· Kim Baker, Angie Manuel and Mike George are serving on the committee.
· Offered 6 workshops in 2006.
o 4 were cancelled
o 2 were held
· The committee ended up $4 in the red.
· Upcoming Workshop - Sugaring with Kids in the Woods: March 8, 2007
9am-9pm/ Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College.
· Salamander workshop to be offered in April in Geauga County, OH.
· Robin has a goal of having at least two workshops in each state.
ACTION ITEM: Julie Champion will put into the Procedures Manual that six-month registrations from mini-workshops need to be sent to the Treasurer and Membership Committee Chair.
ACTION ITEM: Robin Dungan will get PDF versions of the Maple Sugar and Salamander mini-workshops to Frances Boyens to be put up on the website.
· In the budget $500 has been put aside to assist with the 6-month membership fee non-members have to pay when registering for a mini-workshop. It will be up to Robin and committee to decide how that $500 is distributed. Will it pay for the entire $22.50 6-month membership or will it subsidized half that cost for the non-member?
· This committee is not asked to make money or break even. It is considered a service to the members.
Ways & Means: Ginger Murphy for Susie Edwards
· The committee made a profit of $2,700 in 2006.
· Booklets:
o Debbie Nofzinger recreated Nature at Night and 250 copies were printed.
o Scat, Tracks & Other Animal Signs was reprinted. 250 copies were ordered.
o Lise Schools recreated the Bugs! Booklet and 250 copies were printed.
o Jules Erwin is working on recreating the Herps! booklet.
o Acorn Naturalist was given samples of the Spiders and Wetland booklets at NIW to see if they were interested in selling them.
· Susie has requested as chair of the committee not to add several new products as she is overwhelmed with sending out DVD’s at the moment.
· The DVD is being reviewed by NPS, which could potentially mean more buyers.
o We receive $2/DVD and it is a limited edition DVD.
o We have sold 98 as of 1/2/2007.
o They sell for $24 each.
· Booth Cost at NIW
o Regions used to pay a discounted price of $150 for booth space at the NIW.
o In 2007 the discounted cost for booth space at the NIW will be $230.
o Will it be worth the paying for a booth at the NIW when we still have to pay to ship the exhibit and sale items there?
o Should the Region share the cost of booth space with another Region or should the Region just hang a banner?
Website: Frances Boyens
· Frances now has the password to access the site and has the new software to start working on the webpage.
ACTION ITEM: Deb Nofzinger will share with Frances Boyens the schedule of what is to go into Four Thought.
· Board members should send their stuff directly to Frances Boyens or Frank Dougman. If they have a question if it should go on the webpage or where it should go, they should contact Julie Champion or Ginger Murphy.
· Frances will try to stick to having items up on the webpage within two weeks of receiving it.
2007 Conference Call Schedule: Ginger Murphy
· They will be 1 hour long and take place:
o Before the RIW
o During the summer
o Before the NIW
ACTION ITEM: In the next 2 weeks, Ginger Murphy will get to the board members the conference call dates.
Regional Business Meeting Structure: Ginger Murphy
· The meeting will be similar to how it was done in 2006.
Leaving a Trace: Julie Champion
· This is another way to get the word out to members that volunteers are needed and to educate them on how the Region operates.
· Julie is working out the details, but the meeting will take place 4:30-5:15 on Tuesday, April 17 at the RIW. She would like as many committee chairs and officers to attend that can to explain what they do, what they need help with and how serving on a committee or as an officer has benefited them.
Next Annual Board Meeting: Ginger Murphy
· Thursday, January 17, 2008 – afternoon Executive Board Meeting
· Friday, January 18, 2008 – Board meeting
Final Budget Changes: Ginger Murphy
· Training & Membership Services requested budget will be $2,825.
· Membership requested budget will be $1,500 to include membership incentives.
· $500 has been allocated for the NMU students to conduct the membership survey if they need it.
· Under Travel: Board, Food and Lodging increased to $1,500 as $1,000 of that was for the Strategic Planning Meeting.
· Paying Registration Fees for RIW Chairs
o Currently the Policy Manual states that 3 RIW committee members will have their registration paid for by the Region. Because our committee structure has grown, that may not be enough.
ACTION ITEM: Julie Champion will change the Policy Manual to read that 6 RIW committee members will have their registration fees paid for by the Region with the RIW committee deciding how that is distributed amongst the committee.
A motion (Champion/Witkowski) moved to accept the 2007 budget as proposed.
Meeting adjourned: 3:04pm
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Witkowski, Region 4 Secretary