Frostburg State University Alumni Association Board of Directors Meeting Saturday, January 20, 2018 USM Hagerstown MINUTES In attendance: Tony Carlisi, Ashley Daniels, Lacy Dickel, Kirk Engle, Ron Forrester, Mark Freeman, Jason Grahe, Jen Haslacker, Sarah Kuhn, Joe Lambert, Al Martin, Keith Price, Jason VanSickle, Suzi West, Ashley Vascik, Shannon Gribble, Brooke Kirchner 1. Call to Order/Welcome of Guests: Ashley Vascik, President 10:53am 2. Treasurer/Secretary s Report (attached): Mark Freeman, Secretary/Treasurer Acct 50546 SECU Sponsorship This account was closed. Not expected to become active any time soon. Money was transferred into another account. Negative Balance Accounts Two accounts are noted in the meeting materials as in the negative, but now in the positive due to account transfers. 3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting of Sunday, October 22, 2017: Ashley Vascik Jason VanSickle motioned to approve. Ron Forrester seconded. Approved. 4. President s Report: Ashley Vascik Jen Haslacker is expecting her second child in May. Alex is now an EMT in Baltimore. Joe Lambert connected with Tom Jones in Germany. Al Martin is now a grandfather and Chair of state library system. Lacey Dickel donated 10 of her hair to Children with Hair Loss. Kirk Engle hired two new employees, both FSU alumni, in the Maryland Department of Health. Ashley V: Committee work has been excellent since the Homecoming meeting, there has been abundant and consistent communications during meetings. Thank you to chairs and committee members for keeping that momentum going. 5. Director's Report: Shannon Gribble, Director of Alumni & Donor Relations In the process of hiring a new Vice President of Administration and Finance, Denise Murphy is the Interim Vice President. Interviewing candidates end of this month Dean s: College of Business has named Dr. Sudhir Singh the Dean (previously Interim). The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is not going to hire at this time for a FT; Dr. DeeDee Campbell, is Interim Dean. College of Education: Position was offered to the top candidate, however, they turned down the position. Dr. Boyce Williams, has agreed to stay on for one more year. Campaign: Currently in the silent phase, our goal this fiscal year is $3.4 million. This past Friday, just over $1.7 million had been raised toward this goal (about halfway). Alumni participation rate is at 3.04%, our goal is 6%, which would be.5% higher than
last year. 1,136 more alumni needed to meet this goal. Currently the FSU AABOD is at 63.4% giving; 8 more people on the board need to give to reach 100% participation. Campus Partners Breakfast: The whole campus was invited in order to educate campus community on university advancement and how they can be helpful to engage with alumni. Will take place on February 15 th. Hoping to forge more and new relationships across campus. Working with faculty from CLAS and COB on a downstate career expo, next November. Hosting near Metro areas. Reaching out to alumni, would like to host the event in an alumni owned/space; career-readiness skills, networking, how to dress, social media etiquette, etc. will be discussed. Beginning phases of planning right now. Reaching out to alumni in larger corporations. November 16 th, a Friday, is tentative date. Will reach out to Board members to speak at or to assist with the event. COE career tracks are different than this event and have unique challenges/opportunities. But looking toward an event in the future in the future. Headshots are needed from a few board members. Shannon reached out to you if it is needed. Will take care of this today at the meeting. Alumni Relations Council: State-wide council is meeting next week. In June, there will be a summit. Professional-development opportunity for those involved in alumni affairs. Having a half-day conversation about Alumni Boards, their purpose, structure, etc. Our purpose in Alumni Relations, due to social media, has truly changed from what it used to be. Talking about how we achieve goals with growing access to technology. There are now over 1 million USM graduates across the state. Al: this happened a few years ago, very effective, speaker from California. Network with other alumni board members. Ron: How does our alumni participation rate compare with other USM institutions? Shannon: 5.25-6% has been FSU s range for quite some time. In Fiscal year 2017, we were fourth in the USM. University of Maryland, Baltimore (a graduate and professional school) was highest, followed by University of Maryland, College Park, Salisbury University, Frostburg State University (5.4%), and then Bowie (4.7%). 6. Old Business Board Survey (Jason VanSickle): A survey was sent out to all board members. As of last night, there were 10 participants. Looking for full board participation. This will be useful for the Governance Committee as it will help us judge how the board if performing year over year. Regarding understanding our goals as a board, if 60% know goals and are clear on them, are we comfortable with that or do we want that to be higher? For the Alumni Office, how they can better assist us in the future? Governance committee also charged with filling seats on board. Currently have 8 open seats. Jason is passing around a list of potentially interested people (both self-interested and nominated by staff) to see if they re still/are interested. Will give them application and provide them additional information to make sure they d be a good fit for the board. Jason Grahe: Are we looking to fill all 8 vacant seats? o Jason: If we find 8 qualified people yes, but not trying to fill seats just to fill seats.
Suzi: If we know people who are interested in a position, who do they contact? Ron Forrester: Our delay in filling seats has been in order to review our process and to ensure those we recruit understand the responsibility involved; to ensure they stay on the board Jason Grahe: Perhaps we could create a job description that outlines the expectations and responsibilities. Ron Forrester: Bylaws and handbook has that information that provides an outline. Joe Lambert: We used to do face-to-face interviews, but we haven t done that in a while. 7. New Business Homecoming: Forming some sort of ad-hoc committee, board members interested in being more directly involved in homecoming and also any new ideas, suggestions for homecoming Tailgating: New rules and regulations that asked individuals to vacant the parking lot when the game begins. New rules also bring tailgating to all home games. Parking lot and stands were full at homecoming. Raffle off corn hole boards: The boards were popular at homecoming and many asked about purchasing, perhaps next year do $5 tickets and a buy-it now price? Evening event: Looking at doing Late at Lane type of event, but a donor reception specific for alumni. At homecoming, it would be good to have a spot for alumni to go to near the stadium entrance. Suzi: Walking around to meet people where they were was also nice. Kid s activities? An inflatable for kids. Ad-hoc committee? What s the goal, how will it work? o Jason: what does the alumni office need? o Shannon: we already ask people to volunteer, which is the biggest need o Interested: Lacy, Ashley Daniels, Kirk are interested Frostburg Alumni Service Project Day: Want to have 3-4 flagship projects across Maryland. May 5 th is Beautify the Burg even (previously known as Day of Caring and Sharing). Need to find other major projects on May 5 th. Will be creating a hashtag. Signs will be sent to each project. This will allow Frostburg to get out in communities. People can register a project or volunteer. The event is always the first Saturday of May. If you re interested in rallying the project can do by yourself or work with group, provide ideas and finding alumni. Alumni Office will organize lunch, would just need someone to coordinate pick-up. Baltimore, Frederick, Annapolis, Hagerstown are all possible locations. VIII. Public Comments No comments.
IX. Committee and Group Reports Governance Jason VanSickle o If you re interested in an elected position or heading a committee, please let Jason VS know. Alumni Outreach Lacy Dickel o Looking to target the date of July 1 Aug 31 for a mixer for alumni; perhaps a crab feast around Annapolis area or Gaithersburg. Will be an opportunity for alumni come out and hang out. Tickets to be sold for the event. o Baseball events; looking at Nationals and the Orioles dates. Student Outreach Ashley Daniels o Continuing to target small groups who are interested in hearing from alumni about topics that are important to them. o We are also starting a mentorship program for students, SAA s will be our first group of students, and perhaps individuals they know that are interested in speaking and working with alumni. Both groups (students and alumni) will do a short survey to get information from them. Will work over 8 weeks during the spring semester to discuss topics of interest. Our goal is 10-15 students for pilot, focusing on Junior/Senior but won t turn anyway away. If alumni are interested send us names and we will keep them posted. Awards & Recognition Ron Forrester o Awards banquet in April. Thank you to folks who have provided Ron with names for nominations. Reaching out to those nominated to provide us with how their professional career meets these criteria. Young alumni award is broad, but focusses on young alumni. Right now, we have 10 names. If you know anyone who you feel meets the criteria, submit their name to Ron to be reviewed and we can reach out to them. We will get an official cut-off date for April 2018 out soon. We do not have a quota/limit each year. We want to make it a special award. Making sure we reach out to see if they re interested and that they can provide us the necessary information. All the criteria is outlined in the handbook, they are broad but specific enough. Affinity Group(s) Baseball is only true active affinity group at the moment. Sending enews to their alumni. Just emailed other affinity groups last week. Have not heard from them, will look at terminating relationship with them if there is no update from them. Upcoming dates: Next board meeting is April 7 in the Hall of Fame room; the Alumni Awards banquet will be in CCIT. Homecoming date for 2017: October 25-28 June/July meeting: June 16 th this year. Need to vote on emeeting for June meeting in April. Motion to Adjourn: Ron Forrester, seconded by Al Martin.