Alumni Council Meeting Minutes August 5, 2006
Minutes
Alumni Council Meeting
August 5, 2006
Bill Roseen, Alumni Association President, called the meeting to order at 10:00 am on Saturday, August 5, 2006. The meeting was opened with a prayer led by Bill.
Faye Fron presented:
- Changes to her department to the council
- Described activities of the alumni relations department and alumni association
- Announced that Mountain Day would take place on Saturday, October 7 this year
- Announced that
there would be two alumni events with Dr. Briggs to allow alumni to
meet the new president, the events will take place on August 29 in Atlanta and on September 12 in Rome
- The Guest Cottages have been renamed The Cottages at Berry
- Gave a brief overview of the notebooks that were provided to the council from Alumni Relations
Bill presented MAP to the entire council
Each committee Vice President presented the goals of their committee for the year as they related to the MAP
Alumni Awards
· Nomination form is now available online
· 4 awards will be given
· Purpose of the awards is to recognize achievement and service of Berry alumni
· Each candidate nominated will remain in the candidacy pool for 3 years; no one can receive the award more than once
· Goal: to increase number of nominations
Events
· Suggested filming some of Dr. Briggs’ speeches for distribution to interested groups
· Intergenerational volunteers will be recruited and utilized wherever possible
· Alumni sponsorship of current students so they are able to participate in work week will be considered
· The idea to include other class years in reunions will be pursued
Heritage
· How to bring the Berry heritage to the 21st century and help the younger alumni and current students appreciate its rich history
· Video pictorial of Berry’s history on DVD
Financial
· New focus: moving donors to different levels of giving and unrestricted giving by Alumni
· Challenge
to the council: Finance committee and executive committee to have 100%
participation by November meeting, entire council to have 100%
participation by February meeting
Young Alumni & Student Relations
· New committee
· Get involved with students, let them know the council is available to support them
· First event of the year: Freshman move in day, August 16, alumni volunteers will be passing out water
Bettyann O’Neill,
Vice President of Advancement, presented the century campaign closing
report, the campaign ended at $107.5 million dollars on June 30, 2006,
The Campaign for the Cage was started to raise the funds needed to
finish the new athletic center, ground breaking for the center will be
September 14, 2006 – all are encouraged to attend. Currently the
campaign is at $12.3 million and the goal is $32.5 million
11:17 am – Break
11:30 am – Reconvene for Session with Dr. Briggs
Dr. Briggs introduced himself to the council, shared his vision for the college, and fielded questions from the council
12:00 pm – Lunch - Ford Dining Hall
1:00 pm – Committee Meetings
2:45 pm – Break
3:00 pm – entire council reconvened for final business
- The executive committee requested that council members take care of their own lodging when attending meetings. If it is a hardship please let Bill or Faye know
- A vacancy was
created when Valerie Loner moved to chair the Young Alumni and Student
Relations committee. It was recommended that Tracy Batchelor serve the
remainder of Valerie’s term, Motion: Martha Bowen, Second: Cecily Crow. The motion passed.
- Committee Meeting Results
- Young Alumni and Student Relations – young alumni has been defined as 10 years or less. The committee further recommend to hold young alumni reunions during Mountain Day
- Heritage – committee is in favor of a pictorial history DVD
- Events –
sponsor students in work week, raise work week fee in order to sponsor
students, cut back on heavy meals during work week, senior/adult study
week with students and make it part of work week
- Awards – deadline for nominations for awards is October 15, 2006, worked on revising nomination form, nomination form is now available online
- Finance – Gary
Waters from Advancement met with the committee and discussed different
strategies of giving, changed the emphasis of giving to getting donors
to different giving levels
Other Business
- Tom Bowen – Ford Festival will be held in September, a list of available volunteer jobs is with Stacey Jones
- Valerie Loner– Freshman Move In Day, August 16, volunteers needed to help pass out water
- Betty Whitten – called for members of the Mountain Day Committee – those members are:
- Alyson Chambers – Heritage
- Martha Bowen – Financial Support
- Amanda Dike – Young Alumni and Student Relations
- Betty Whitten – Events
- Lewis Copeland - Awards
3:20 pm Motion to Adjourn
Submitted by: Kim Terrell
Berry Alumni Association
Awards Committee Minutes
August 5, 2006
Members Present: Lewis Copeland, Patty Etchison, Tommy Jarrett, Clara McRae, Lisa Nichols, Joyce Shelton
Vice President Lewis Copeland opened the meeting at 1:00 P. M.
Old Business
1. Minutes for the February 11, 2006 meeting were approved.
2. Lewis Copeland
read a letter of appreciation from Dr. Ouida Dickey expressing her
gratitude for being honored with a Lifetime Service Award.
3. Lisa Nichols reported on the progress of getting the nomination forms and the forms that nominees fill our on line. The nomination form is on line and a link was created on the Alumni Accent. Clara McRae reported that she had used the link and the form successfully. Forms
for each of the four awards are in the process of being put on line.
Additionally, a hard copy will be sent to each nominee.
New Business:
1. The timeline for all steps in the award process was review and adjusted for the current year.
2. Procedures for selecting recipients for the awards were reviewed and explained to new members.
3. Objectives set
forth in the MAP were discussed. Members made suggestions regarding
method for securing a larger pool of nominees. It
was decided the vice president will get material to each of the deans
of the various schools and encourage faculty to nominate outstanding
alumni in their fields. It was also decided to contact affiliate organizations and chapters and encourage them to make nominations.
4. A suggestion that a Service to Berry Award be established was postponed until the November meeting.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:30 P. M.
Submitted by: Clara McRae
Minutes
Events Committee of the Alumni Council
August 5, 2006
Members present:
Betty Jones Whitten, Chairperson; Madison Alexander, Tom Bowen,
Geraldine Bridges, Johnnie Smith Curry, Ouida Dickey, Stewart Fuqua,
Peter Henriksen, Mark Moraitakis, Brad Roberts, LeAnn Yoda Blackburn
Members not present: Robert Aiken, Luci Bell, Vicky Glass, Brandon Johnson, Grace Stinson
Betty opened the meeting at 1 PM. She welcomed the members and thanked everyone for serving on the Events Committee.
Old Business
Betty reported that Brad Roberts, a CPA and a resident of Rome, has been given the responsibility to manage the Alumni Work Week bank account. Betty
asked him to discuss the new policy regarding the Alumni Work Week
monies and the need to have a central location (account) for them. He
distributed a balance sheet for the account and reported that the money
is for Alumni Work Week expenses and projects. He explained that the
new procedure is sound business practice that allows authorized
individuals ready access to the monies for purchases for Work Week
projects. Dr. Dickey commended Brad on the work he had done for the account.
Madison Alexander informed the committee that the Alumni Association has equipment that was donated for Work Week projects. He
was unsure if there is an inventory of the items. Tom Bowen suggested
that Betty ask Jim Hamrick if there is a list of all equipment donated
for Work Week projects. Betty agreed to talk with the Alumni Office and Jim Hamrick.
New Business
Betty asked members
to read the Mission Activity Plan (MAP) of the Alumni Council before
the next meeting if they have not already done so. She
asked them pay close attention to the Events Committee section on pages
17 and 18. She noted that Committee’s “mission is to assist the Alumni
Office in engaging alumni in the affairs and events of the Alumni
Association and Berry College.” She reported that the Committee would focus on its mission and support the Big Three Initiatives of the Council.
For 2006 and 2007 the Committee will be actively involved with the Ford Festival, Mountain Day, Alumni Weekend and Work Week. Through these events the Committee can actively support the Big Three Initiatives of the Council. Betty asked members to consider volunteering to help with at least one of these events. The dates, volunteer responsibilities, and other pertinent information for each event were discussed.
A handout listing the tasks, number of volunteers needed, and times (hours) was distributed. Because
some committee members were unfamiliar with the festival, Betty asked
Tom Bowen, who has been very involved with this event, to talk about
the goals of this event. He reported that there
are 3 goals: (1) to continue the relationship with the Ford Company,
(2) to continue the relationship with their foundation, and (3) to
celebrate the heritage between Berry and the Ford Company.
Tom Bowen asked if Berry could email or mail requests for volunteers to alumni in the Rome area. Betty said she would ask the Alumni Office if this could be done.
The following members volunteered to work on this event: Johnnie Smith Curry and Betty Whitten.
For both days, several volunteers are needed for the tours of the House O’ Dreams. The tasks are: take apples and water to the House O’ Dreams each morning, and serve as hosts/hostesses/historians for visitors to the house.
On Oct. 7 from 10 am until noon, volunteers are needed to register alumni and friends. (The Finance Committee will do their “Count me in” fundraising.)
In the discussion of Mountain Day, Stewart Fuqua suggested that we advertise Alumni Work Week at this event. Also, Madison asked clarification of who was welcome on tours of the House O’ Dreams. Betty agreed to discuss these items with the Alumni Office.
The following committee members volunteered to work on Mountain Day: Dr.
Dickey (hostess/ historian on Friday), Betty Whitten (hostess/historian
on Saturday), Madison Alexander (deliver apples and water on Saturday),
and Johnny Smith Curry (registrar).
- Move in Day on August 16th.
Betty stated that volunteers are needed to give out water and greet parents for this event.
Johnnie Curry reported that student workers were extremely helpful to the kitchen and dining crews at the 2006 Work Week. The Committee recommended that hiring students to help these crews be continued. They
also recommended that, if necessary, fees be increased to ensure that
money is available to hire student workers to help in 2007. Brad suggested that we work with the Student Work Office on this issue. As
a cost cutting measure, Stewart also suggested cutting back on the food
prepared for the week, thereby cutting the cost of food. (Every meal is a feast!)
One of our goals is to encourage families to bring their teenage children to attend Alumni Work Week. It
was noted that to be successful in attracting teenagers, age
appropriate work projects and recreation should be made available.
The Committee discussed what Alumni Work Week should be called and what it should encompass. Peter Henriksen suggested calling it “Alumni Week” and combining work week with a kind of “continuing education” week. He also suggested that we consider expanding Alumni Work Week to two weeks. The Committee briefly discussed the idea of a “Work/Study/Play” week. Peter suggested proposing a pilot week for a “Work/Study” week. Dr. Dickey suggested that we be clear about what we propose as a name change for Alumni Work Week and that the study part not overshadow work projects. Betty asked Peter to elaborate on his proposal at the next meeting.
Stewart suggested that we should not print “Berry College” on any future events brochures or direct mailings because some of our alumni attended the Berry High School or Berry Academy. Betty said that she would pass this suggestion to the Alumni Office and report to the Committee at the November meeting.
Betty asked the
Committee to consider whether or not we should send pictures of Alumni
Work Week volunteers to hometown newspapers around the state. She expressed the hope that the publicity would be good for Berry and would help encourage more alumni to participate. Brad suggested getting the help of the Public Relations Office. Betty
assured the Committee that she would talk with Faye Fron, Alumni
Director, before she asks for help from the Public Relations Office. She will report to Committee at the November meeting.
In closing
Betty thanked
everyone for attending and encouraged all to read the Mission
Activities Plan in preparation for the next meeting. She gave special
thanks to those who volunteered for both the Ford Festival and Mountain
Day.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Submitted by: LeAnn Blackburn and Betty Whitten
Berry Alumni Association
Financial Support Committee Minutes
August 5, 2006
Members Present: Martha
Bowen, Ed England, Will Gaines, Franceen Hett, Andrew Landis, David
Lewis, Doyle Mathis, Robin Muretisch, Roger Sundy, Ron Thornton and
Whit Whitaker. Berry College staff members, Fred Mercer and Gary Waters, were also in attendance.
Meeting opened by Barbara McCollum at 1:05 pm.
Business
1 An Inspiration was provided by Barbara McCollum. Each person present was asked to introduce themselves and provide some personal and professional background information.
2 Dr. Gary Waters, Associate Vice President of Advancement, was introduced by Barbara and the meeting was turned over to Gary.
Gary distributed an agenda for his overview of the Advancement Office and financial goals of the college. To provide an overview of Development, Gary discussed the annual fund, restricted versus unrestricted gifts, and provided totals for fiscal year-end 2005-2006. Gary explained that a major gift is considered $10,000 or more and last year there were 105 major gifts. Six years ago, there were 82 major gifts.
The
Berry Heritage Society was discussed with an explanation on the common
types of planned gifts such as bequests, life insurance designations,
charitable remainder trusts, and annuities. Several handouts related to planned giving were provided and Gary reviewed the data.
Common
forms of stewardship used by the college were also discussed including
acknowledgement letters, scholarship reports, donor events, honor roll,
and magazine listings.
The Key Indictors report for June 30, 2006 was distributed and reviewed by Gary. Total gifts were $10,982,623 with an average alumni gift of $493. The Alumni participation rate for was 29.56 percent. There are 252 Heritage Society members.
An Organization Chart of the Development Office was distributed and Gary briefly discussed the recent reorganization and consolidation in the department. These
changes were made in part due to the recent end of the Century Campaign
and also to focus on a different approach to fundraising which is to
“maximize revenue”. The importance of unrestricted giving was also discussed and how the Financial Support Committee can help. In 2005-2006, the classes represented by the committee gave a total of $424,557 with $112,611 as unrestricted.
To conclude his presentation, Gary sought assistance from the committee in several ways: achieve
100 percent annual fund participation from the Financial Support
Committee, encourage 100 percent annual fund participation from the
Alumni Council, encourage support from class members in unrestricted
gifts, and meet reunion giving goals. The Advancement Office will compile class lists for 2005-2006 annual fund gifts for each committee member. Any
gifts of $1,000 or more (Martha Berry Society members) will not be
included in this list and handled by the Advancement Office. Committee members will be asked to review this list and determine who they are willing to personally contact. This information will be e-mailed to committee members by Rose Nix and Fred Mercer right away.
3 Before
adjourning the meeting, Barbara distributed pledge envelopes to the
committee and encouraged members to make their gift by the November
Alumni Council meeting.
Actions Requiring Council Approval
None
Meeting Adjourned at 2:45 pm.
Submitted by: Franceen Hett and Barbara McCollum
Berry Alumni Association
Heritage Committee Minutes
August 5, 2006
Members Present: Harlan
Chapman, Rebecca Roberts, Mary Patrick, Carolyn Smith, Jean Curran,
Virginia Webb, Daniel Greear, Earl DeVane, John Bridges, Buford
Jennings, Allyson Chambers, Bob Aiken
Meeting opened by: Harlan Chapman at (time) 1pm
Old Business:
- Harlan stated the mission of the Heritage Committee is to promote the understanding, preservation and appreciation of Berry’s unique history.
- Introductions- each member introduced himself/herself explaining their connections with Berry.
- Rebecca Roberts reported on last year’s activities.
New Business:
- Harlan led discussion of three initiatives, hearing suggestions such as attending meetings where Dr. Briggs will be present, ‚
College Bowl competitions, a video of the most recent ten years (in
house production), with emphasis on the most recent class-Reunion Zero,
Student Alumni Association, ƒ pictorial video of Berry (professionally done), past and recent past
- Members filled out cards giving input on what should be included in video.
- Assigned tasks for members as well as subcommittees.
- Mountain Day volunteers (Mary Patrick representing Harlan Chapman who will be absent, Carolyn Smith and Virginia Webb)
- Allyson Chambers representative to Council’s subcommittee on Mountain Day
- Johnny Bridges representative to Council’s subcommittee for events
- Jean Curran and Mary Patrick volunteered to help with registration at the Ford Festival on September 16, 2006.
Actions Requiring Council Approval
No
actions required Council approval (however, committee members requested
that Harlan announce to the council that all members of the Heritage
Committee are in favor of the production of a pictorial history of Berry College, which is to be professionally developed).
Meeting Adjourned at 2:45pm
Submitted by: Jean Curran
Minutes
Meeting of the Young Alumni
and Student Relations Committee
Berry Alumni Council
August, 5, 2006
Berry Alumni Council Vice President for Young Alumni and Student Relations Valerie Loner called the meeting to order, and presided. Ms. Loner introduced herself, as did all members of the committee. Ms. Loner also addressed the committee's main objectives.
As this is the first year of this committee, discussion
followed to define the term "young alumnus." The committee ultimately
agreed that a young alumnus is someone who is within ten years of
graduating from Berry.
Discussion followed
pertaining to the committee's objectives. The committee agreed to
station volunteers at the various dorms on freshman move- in day. The
volunteers will distribute water and greet parents and students.
Similarly, the committee approved the idea to set up a table to
distribute water at the Mountain Day Olympics. It was agreed that
these activities would both increase the profile of the Alumni
Association to students, and increase engagement among alumni in the
affairs of the association and college.
Amanda Dike volunteered to serve on the Mountain Day subcommittee.
Among the items also discussed, but requiring further action:
1. A young alumni
work project. The committee agreed that the service project should be
something of lasting value to the college and be followed by a social
outing, perhaps at the Schroeder's in downtown Rome.
2. Better use of
electronic communication to young alumni from the college and Alumni
Association. One idea is to create a quarterly e-mail newsletter just
for young alumni. This newsletter would discuss key campus events but
also focus on changes in Rome (new restaurants, stores, key events). There was a lot of interest in this since Rome has changed dramatically since many alums visited.
3. The committee also wants to encourage all chapter to have a young alumnus among its officers.
The meeting closed
with a brainstorming" session in which many possible activities and
plans were discussed. These will be addressed at future meetings.
Valerie adjourned the meeting at 2:45 PM.
Submitted by: Bart Cox