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Greater Chicago Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association

Board of Directors Meeting

Saturday, February 19, 2000

ITW – HiCone

Present: Jerry Utt, Marty Egna, Emmett Moore, John DeWolf, Cindy Elliott, Phil Gresh, Gina Razum, Robyn Young, Heather Gaw, Andrew Roth

Absent: Maria Andriola, Peter Schallmoser, John Wenaas, Dave Hart

Jerry called the meeting to order at 9:00. The most recent Board roster was distributed for review. Minutes from the previous meeting were approved.

1. Standing Committee Reports

A. AAAO – reported by Emmett

• Local group is trying to decide how to best help the local students who are or will be attending the University – how can they best be served?
• Soliciting possible internships for students for next summer.
• Emmett will be attending council meetings at the University in March and April.
• University in considering providing lifetime e-mail addresses to its life members.

B. AAC – reported by Gina

• The offer reception is Sunday, March 5 from 2-4 PM. Volunteers are welcome to attend and join Holly Robertson and Gina.
• The Spring College Fairs will be held over the next several months.
• Working with the Social Committee on a Bowling Night possibly April 1.

C. Communications – reported by Jerry and Marty

• The newsletter was sent to 358 members and 145 parents of students.
• There were 289 hits on the website in December and 314 hits in January. Added free mailing list service to website so that members can be notified by e-mail regarding upcoming events. At the previous meeting, the Board had approved eliminating the popup ad in exchange for a nominal fee. That offer is no longer available, so the popup ad will continue to appear on the site.

D. Community Service – reported by Andrew

• WTTW drive will be March 4 from 9 until 1:15. There are only 15 slots available.

E. Membership – reported by Cindy

• The 2-year rolling membership totals 478 and the members for the current year total 330. There are 147 brand new members.
• Cindy has been comparing Windows based version to DOS based version for membership data. University wants the data to be sent to them every 6 months. The Windows based version will cost $250 to upgrade to the most recent version, but that expense is not covered by the University.

F. Parent/Student Interaction – no report

G. Scholarship – reported by John

• The Committee met last week to review the 20 scholarship applications that were received. Decided that one person had by far the most votes and there were six more that were very close. Suggested a $1,000 scholarship for the top individual and $500 for the remaining four students. The Board approved the request. The checks are payable to the University.

H. Social Programming – reported by Robyn

• The Wine/Cheese Party will be held on April 15 at the Rzasa’s. Bill recently won a wine tasting party that he may use for the Chapter event. Need to clarify if there would be any purchase obligation from the wine shop.
• The Big 10 event this year will be March 10 and support Chances for Children. The University alumni association donated a Nittany Lion statue for the auction and the Chapter is trying to get a volleyball signed by the team. Chapter also mailed letters to the bookstores and University coaches requesting additional donations. Board decided that a football ticket donation is also a good idea. Selected three games – Penn State at Ohio State, Purdue at Penn State, and Penn State at Michigan – that the winner can choose from. The winner will receive two tickets to the game of his/her choice.
• Robyn has a block of 50 Cubs tickets available for the May 6 game. The Board approved that 10 of those tickets will be donated to the auction. The total cost of tickets was $404 with a face value of $15 per ticket. Decided to charge $12 per ticket for the remaining 40 tickets.
• The Big 10 Conference will be March 11.
• The Air and Water show is on August 19. The cost of a boat similar to last year is $6,070 (for 100 people). The maximum is 147 people on the boat. Last year charged $55 for members and $65 for non-members. This year will charge $65 for members and $75 for non-members. Additionally, door prizes will be added this year and possibly DJ and/or music.

I. Sports Programming – reported by Jerry (per Dave)

• Discussing possible bus trips for the football season.

2. Members-at Large

A. Phil Gresh – discussed dinners that had been conducted in the past (i.e. Rene Portland). Given the significant amount of time needed to plan a dinner with speaker, it was decided that possibly the spring 2001 would make sense. Volleyball coach Russ Rose was suggested as a possible speaker. May be a good event for the Vice-President to conduct.

3. Officer Reports

A. Treasurer

• The University acknowledged the $500 that was sent to the Grand Destiny Campaign. The $3,715 that was sent to the Scholarship Fund from the raffle proceeds was also confirmed.

B. Vice President

• Charlie discussed the preliminary annual budget for the Chapter. The budget should be prepared based on the Chapter’s fiscal year that begins August 1 and ends July 31.

C. President

• Jerry discussed the progress of the Nominating Committee. The Committee will meet next week to review the past elections and will discuss how to proceed. Phil recommended that written directions be provided to the Nominating Committee. The Committee should identify candidates for specific positions, as opposed to a general slate.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM. Next meeting will be May 13. Location TBD.

Submitted by: Karen Watson 

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