SfAA Student Committee Business Meeting 2002 Minutes
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The SfAA Student Committee has officially moved its site! Please visit the NEW SITE http://www.sfaa.net/committees/students.html .

Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA):
Student Committee (SC) Meeting
March 8, 2002 5:30 pm
SfAA Annual Meetings, Atlanta, GA

Committee Members Present:
Anne Ballenger, Chad Morris, Carla Guerron, and Jen Wies.
Also Present:
Aaron Whiteford, Lee Cerveny, and Kristen Lundburg (SfAA Executive Board Student Representative).

  1. Adam Fish and the Treasurer position.
    • Since November, Adam has failed to fully participate on the SC.
    • He e-mailed Anne a budget draft for the SfAA Business Meeting during the AAA meeting. Anne revised it and re-sent it to Adam for him to forward to the SfAA Treasurer.
    • At the SfAA Business meeting Anne was informed by the Treasurer that the revised budget had not been received from Adam; however, Adam claimed he had sent it.
    • Adam never responded to any correspondence regarding this year's SfAA meeting or his participation.
    • Anne has aggressively tried to locate and communicate with Adam about his responsibilities as the SC treasurer, but to no avail.
    • Chad pointed out that according to Article VIII, Section A, which states, "Failure to attend regular meetings without prior notification to the secretary with due cause results in vacancy in that position" the position of treasurer is now vacant.
    • All of those present agreed and the position of Treasurer is now open.
    • The Student Committee web site will be updated and the Society will be notified by Anne.
  2. Carla's contributions as the Chair of the Subcommittee for the SfAA Conference.
    • Carla was acknowledged both at the SC meeting and the general business meetings for her hard work, presence, and participation on the SC.
    • However, Carla will be graduating; therefore, her role as conference committee chair will be coming to an end.
  3. Portland conference (2003) committee chair volunteer is needed!
    • There will be a call in the next student column for participation on the Conference Sub-Committee.
    • SC members will personally solicit volunteers.
    • Ideally, 4-5 people will begin working on conference preparations while Carla is still actively available so she may guide the next committee.
    • Lee Cerveny is from Oregon and interested in participating in fulfilling the role as Chair for the Conference Sub Committee.
    • Carla volunteered to transition Lee into this position. Anne will further discuss the duties and responsibilities with Lee and assist in this transition.
    • Furthermore, it was mentioned we should continue to work with the University of Arizona-Tucson students, who routinely participate at SfAA Conferences, and develop a joint project with the Committee at the 2003 conference.
  4. Plans for the Portland Conference
    • Lee needs more information about the organizing committee, particularly in reference to the roles and duties of the Student Organizer working with the Conference Chair, as well as, Andrew Gardner working with the Business Office and the Conference Chair. Anne and Carla will provide this information through the transition period and Anne will facilitate her introduction to the Business Office and the Conference Chair.
    • Provide a list of cheap lodging to students and information to students about Portland was discussed.
    • Aaron volunteered to assist in creating a list and costs of Portland area accommodations, transportation, restaurants, and things to do, etc.,
    • Begin brainstorming ideas for the Portland student orientation session.
    • We need to seek students already in that area and incorporate them into the planning as a way of increasing student participation at the conference. It was suggested that we sort through our membership list and highlight all the Oregon students to target for participation. A volunteer is needed for this activity.
    • Lee also suggested we create a student roommate matching service; however, Kristen reminded us that we need to be careful of possible liability issues of directly matching people. Rather, we could create a message board or simply forward e-mails around for those needing a room.
    • We need to find out if there is a graduate student association at any of the Portland universities and solicit their involvement.
    • Carla will identify the student groups active at the 2 universities in Portland.
  5. Kristin's report from the SfAA board meeting
    • There was discussion at the Board meeting about permanently placing a SC member of the SfAA membership committee, as 30% of SfAA membership is students. The Board created a permanent position on the Membership Committee for the Student Representative. Kristen will now serve on the Membership Committee.
    • The Peter K. New Award needs more submissions in the future.
    • On of the issues that the Membership Committee has discussed and will be looking into is:
    • Of the students at the conference, how many are members and how many then become members of SfAA?
    • There will be an analysis performed on the student renewal information for the next 3 years.
    • This will also be done for the entire SfAA membership at large.
    • Furthermore, we can look at how these numbers compare with the number of student presenting papers or posters at the conference.
    • A $5.00 due increase for students has taken effect. The dues increase was implemented across the board for all Society Members. The Student registration fee for the Conference remains the same. The Board increased the dues for students in a limited way because the Board felt that it has a continued interest in retaining and increasing student involvement in the Society and at the conferences.
    • The Society is currently experiencing a budget crunch, and specific budget lines have been sequestered until the second half of the fiscal year. No changes to the Student Committee budget were made.
    • A student at the Orientation session suggested setting aside a separate issue of Practicing Anthropology for student work. Kristen was asked to please check if any follow up has been done on this idea and to clarify the review process.
  6. NASA is starting an on-line student (student peer reviewed) journal, and Chad is soliciting reviewers and editors.
    • Chad asked for volunteers and for Committee members to inform students of this.
    • Anne volunteered to be a reviewer.
  7. Student Orientation
    • Carla reported that the orientation has now completed its 2nd year and is well received because students are able to talk about their questions, the atmosphere of the conference, etc.
    • Suggestions included a map, an icebreaker, an evening time orientation in a more relaxed location, and food.
  8. Student Party-Reception
    • Carla received a suggestion that the student reception should begin with an ice-breaker to increase interaction between the students as many students do not know anyone else other than those in their departments.
  9. Committee Member Terms
    • Currently Student Executive Committee positions were set up as two-year terms with complete committee turnover each year.
    • Chad proposed a staggered turnover instead of a complete turnover every 2 years to increase position consistency.
    • Anne then suggested we turn the Vice-Chair position into a President-Elect position. Then the chair position would actually be staggered over election years, the position would entail 1 year as vice chair and 1 year as chair. However, this would then render the Vice-Chair position as a one-year term and necessitate a yearly recruitment for the Vice-Chair position.
    • The other option is to bring in the chair elect in 6 months ahead of term for training. This would involve increased recruitment followed by either earlier recruitment for all positions or another recruitment drive to fill the other positions.
    • Aaron suggested a 3-year stint as chair, with one year being vice chair training. The committee discussed the following issues: an increased a student commitment, as well as, whether the student would remain a student for three years. This may also influence what kind of student could take this position - a PhD. student vs. a M.A. student who may finish the master's program in two years.
    • Chad moved to change Article III, Section D from members being "biannually" installed to "annually" installed to allow the Student Committee to appoint officers in "off years" and enable the student to fill a two-year term.
    • Carla seconded the motion.
    • A vote was called and made. The results were:
      Those in favor: 5
      Those not in favor: 0
    • The Motion passed.
  10. Discussions of the student listserv were tabled and will remain on future agendas.
  11. Aaron inquired about the communication coordinator and the Treasurer position. Anne discussed the duties of the Communication and Treasurer position. Aaron expressed an interest in discussing these open positions with Anne at a later date. Anne agreed to e-mail Aaron regarding his interest.
  12. 2003 Portland Conference Revisited.
    • Perhaps we should send out a bulk e-mailing to student members to solicit participation. This can be done out of the Business Office.
    • Contact applied oriented departments to solicit student participation.
    • The newsletter was discussed as another vehicle to solicit student involvement. However, given the quarterly nature of the newsletter, the immediacy may not be conveyed, as well as, issues surrounding how widely read the newsletter is by the student body were discussed. The newsletter may not achieve the widest possible recruitment and we should utilize several means of soliciting student involvement. However, the student column will continue to include calls for student participation.
    • Continuing in this vein, Aaron suggested that a guest column in the newsletter regarding the nature of the Student Committee and issues regarding increasing student participation would be one way to communicate with students outside of the "student column" and provide a broader context to student participation in the Society.
    • Anne will speak to Mike Whiteford, Newsletter Editor, regarding this idea.
    • She will also draft the guest column and provide it for committee review in two weeks.
  13. Another method to actively campaign is to increase faculty's awareness of the student committee, so they may refer and encourage students to become active participants in the SfAA Student Committee.
    • People we could contact in regards to this effort are: Herb, John, Linda Whiteford, Ruth Bennett Fenderman, John Young, Bob Trotter, Mark, and Bill Roberts
  14. Anne reviewed the Student Committee's current goals and aims
    • Structurally- create and maintain better communication with students and among committee members
    • Create better outreach mechanisms to reach departments
    • Lee suggested that we create a space for campus liaisons to increase participation.
    • We need to identify the benefits of actively participating on the SC and in the SfAA to increase participation.
    • Chad believes that a written appeal to targeted faculty is necessary, and Anne will draft a letter for this endeavor. Please see the above (12 e. i).
    • Anne will also be personally e-mailing the student presenters and the student conference attendees thank you notes and acknowledgements.
  15. Final words for next year's conference
    • Continue the student/president luncheon because the Society continues to sponsor students to attend and students continue to enjoy it.
    • Brainstorm ideas for a committee sponsored symposium.
    • Think of things to include in the career workshop.
  16. At 7:17 pm, Chad moved to close the meeting, it was seconded, and the meeting was adjourned.