2003 Meeting
Association of Women Soil
Scientists
13th Annual Meeting
Colorado Convention Center
Denver, CO
Sunday, November 2, 2003 from 6-7 p.m.
AWSS Annual Meeting
Minutes
November 2, 2003
Kari Sever, Chair, opened the
meeting at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2003. Those
in attendance were Laura Craven, Pat Farrell, Jamie Patton,
Heather Dion, Jane Anklam, Dena Marshall, Tiffany Roberson,
Carol Wettstein, Margie Faber, GayLynn Kinter, Susan Liebig,
Jim Culver, and Kari Sever. Everyone signed in and introduced
themselves. Laura Craven read the 2002 meeting minutes.
Kari Sever read through the committees
and chairs, noting which committees need a chairperson.
We need nominations by November 15th for the chair elect.
The voting will be in the December newsletter. Call Susan
Liebig with nominations. Laura Craven read the secretary/treasurer
report. Kari Sever read the web site report, which was
submitted by Donna Hulka.
Secretary/Treasurer
Report by Laura Craven for the AWSS Meeting:
As of November 1, 2003 we had 105 paid members. Financial
status as of November 1, 2003: checking account = $499.94,
money market account = $8317.31, CD = $5314.78, total
= 14,132.03. Expenses: postage, shipping, shipping supplies,
newsletter printing, web site development bills, T-shirt
orders, copies for annual meeting, ASA meeting display
board. Income: dues, T-shirt sales.
AWSS Webmaster
Report by Donna Hulka for the AWSS Meeting:
2003 has been an eventful and busy year for the web site.
We moved to a new web host, I-Net Innovations. I redesigned
the site and added more content, including selected newsletter
articles, minutes from past meetings, and a photo gallery.
Margie Faber, our historian, has greatly helped with this
effort by sending me photocopies of her collection of
newsletters and loaning me her photo album. Also, it would
not have been possible to implement my idea for the new
web site design without several photos submitted by Kari
Sever.
My wish list of things I would like to receive from AWSS
members includes photos, short quotations about soils,
job announcements, and feedback.
The online member directory is near completion. It will
be SSL* secure and password-protected. Each member will
have a unique user name and password. Members will be
able to search for other members and update their own
information online.
Each member will receive a packet with a printout of their
most current information and a letter explaining the online
directory. This will give everyone the opportunity to
make corrections and to opt out of the online directory
if they choose. Our goal is to get the information packets
out by the end of the year and to make the online directory
available for member use in the first quarter of 2004.
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*SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a protocol
that protects information transmitted over the Internet
by using encryption, authentication, and data integrity.
New Business at the AWSS
Meeting:
- Nominations
for Chair-Elect and elections.
- Combination of the directory
and membership committees is too much work
for one person. The secretary/treasurer is automatically
membership committee chair per AWSS bylaws, so that
means one person essentially has three distinct responsibilities.
It was decided that the sec/treas will not be in charge
of the directory.
- Online directory;
option to be listed or not.
- Should we print and distribute a hard
copy directory, as well as the online directory?
Discussion: We talked a while about which way we should
go and decided that each member could use and print
the online directory instead of printing and mailing
one to each member. We can print out the directory to
share with other groups that might be interested. The
paper directory was not protected in any way in the
past.
- E-mail newsletter:
option to receive the newsletter by snail mail instead
of e-mail; AWSS may alienate some members because spam
blockers keep some members from receiving the newsletter.
- Membership: Why are we losing
members? What can we do to recruit and retain
members? Discussion: We've had 200 plus members in the
past. It was suggested that we send an e-mail newsletter
to former members with a link to the new web site, so
they can see what we are doing now and all the changes
that have taken place. Jim Culver suggested that we
list former members that we don't have contacts for
on the web site asking for contact information, letting
them know that we miss them. Jamie Patton offered to
share what AWSS is to the Sigma Alpha Sorority.
- Scholarship committee
(lack of direction, instruction, and progress) - need
to get this committee off the ground. Discussion:
How do we get this committee functioning? What should
the application look like? We need a set of guidelines
on how to organize the process and on how much should
be awarded. Jim Culver suggested that we rotate the
scholarship to different parts of the country in different
years. It was suggested that the scholarship be between
$500 and $1000. Carol Wettstein volunteered to chair
this committee. Jane Anklam and Jamie Patton volunteered
to assist. Jamie will serve as a contact with the student
division of the Tri-Societies.
- Should the mentoring and mentoring
award committees remain combined? The responsibilities
of each committee are actually quite different, so,
again, it seems that we are asking too much of one person
to chair both committees. If anyone is interested in
being a member of both or chairing both committees at
the same time, it should be an option, not a requirement.
Discussion: The chair position is empty at this time.
The position will be explained in the next newsletter.
It was suggested that we have personal perspectives
on the web site in the mentoring section, explaining
what our jobs are so people can see what soil scientists
do.
- AWSS roundtable event
- need volunteers to host the event: Tuesday, November
4, 2003 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Colorado Convention
Center, Room A209.
- The 2003 AWSS Mentoring Award
was awarded to Dr. Elissa Levine. She
is a scientist with the NASA Goddard Space Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland.
The meeting was adjourned at 7
pm.
