Region 3 Regional Notes/Report

Notes/Report: DATE: September 10, 2007 - Exec Council Report to Region NYSFAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL REPORT TO REGION 3 September 10-11, 2007 Rochester, NY This will be my last posting as your Executive Council Representative. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you in this capacity. I leave the position in the very capable hands Gina Soliz. Please show her the support and involvement that I was privileged to receive. We are a collective and we are at our best when we collectively work together as one voice. This was an extremely productive Council meeting. I am forever in debt to Nancy Teodecki for providing Council with unofficial minutes so I could get this report out to you prior to our regional meeting and not forget something we worked on. 1. Changes to Council 2. SLATE Summit 3. Training 4. President’s Committees: Governance Committee Diversity Committee Government Relations Webletter 5. Treasurer’s Report 6. Ethics Report 7. Development 8. Membership 9. Awards 10. College Coal Sunday 11. School Outreach 12. Communications/Website-WEBSITE WILL GO DOWN AROUND 11/15 13. Professional Development 14. Novice 15. State Fair 16. HESC 1. What a year Council has had. Heather McDonell is completing the term for Dave Canaski who resigned this summer. Tom Dalton is completing the term for Marilyn Faller who also resigned this summer. Angela Van Dekker is completing the term for Brenda Wright who resigned and moved to Florida. Curt Guame is our incoming President Elect. Lyn Chilson is the new Region one Council Person and Maria DeInnocentiis in the new Region six Council person. Gina Soliz, Cindy Kohlman, and Nancy Brewer are all incoming Council people. The seats are full and this group has their work cut out for them. From watching the results of this last council meeting we have a strong intelligent hard working group of people currently serving on council. It is a council to be proud of. 2. A SLATE SUMMIT group has been created to address any issues raised during the regulatory process and be a resource for our membership on matters related to Slate. The committee consists of Bill Cheetham, John View, Jim Murphy, Tom Dalton and Pierre Alric. The committee met with Associate Commissioner Frey and Mr. Frey asked for several categories of information. The committee is researching and they will create a draft of their findings that will be shared with Council. 3. Training will be emphasized in this coming year. The events of the last 8 months bring to the forefront the need for regional and state level meetings and events of substance. The memberships have spoken and they want training on all professional topics and to be offered in multi-media venues. Heather has asked the Communication Committee to work closely with the Professional Development Committee to introduce webinars and podcast by the end of this fiscal year. 4. President’s Committees started with the Governance Committee. The full draft of the Long Range Plan will presented at the conference. Council passed a motion to present to the membership the recommended constitutional amendments as presented for a vote. More details will come to the list serve prior to the conference. There was a review of the revisions needed for the Policy and Procedure manual. Angela noted that the new Diversity Committee was not included. It is a standing committee that had no language in the manual. The floor was then given to me (Sharon Karwowski) as I am a member of the steering committee for the Diversity Committee. Tanya Patterson-Stanley, Oscar Vasquez, and I have been asked to form a steering committee for the development of the Diversity Committee. The purpose of the Diversity Committee is to encourage and support the active involvement and professional development of member from under-represented groups in the Association, to assist these members in growth toward leadership positions within the Association. To collaborate with other standing committees to assist the Association In reaching out to facilitate diversity and representation from under served communities. To ensure that the Association makes every effort to reflect the diverse membership, geographic regions, institutions, and students we serve in all aspects of the governance and activities of NYSFAAA. Duties would include: Work with Region Chairs & Regional Membership Chairs to identify under-represented groups within the region. Develop outreach strategies to inform target groups about NYSFAAA activities and membership benefits. Provide assistance and make recommendations to the President/Committee Chairs for potential committee appointees that will enhance diversity. Collaborate with Government Relations Committee on diversity related issues. Assist the Early Awareness and School Outreach Committees in identifying and reaching out to diverse and under-served communities. Finally, work with Conference Committee on developing diversity-related session. This language was approved by 11 members with one abstaining. C. Sears from Government Relations advised us that Co-chairs are available to attend regional meetings to inform members on ‘how to get involved and advocate as members and as constituents’. Session was given in some regions this past year and was well received. L. Worley from the Webletter asked that regions send any updates within the regions. Personal news would be welcomed. Promotions, school changes, job changes this is a chance for folks to keep up. 5. Treasurer’s Report by Tom Dalton. Reported in Audit that letterhead does not have ‘Incorporated’ wording on it. Since all of our stock currently has the “Inc” included it was recommended that everyone check their stock and discard any old letterhead. As a note to Region 3 members, if you need letterhead please contact Gina or myself as we both have a supply. Tom will contact Regional Treasurer’s for either a meeting or a conference call to give guidance on what is expected at a regional audit. Tom had only been Treasurer for about 2 weeks at the time of the Council meeting. 6. S. Mihopolus reported for Howard Leslie on the Ethics Committee. There will be a Safe Harbor session at the conference, it will be an open forum/interactive. There was a discussion on the Statement of Principles. Heather is sending the current document back to the Ethics Committee for their review and appropriate action. To review behavior that has taken place to-date and provide guidance and ‘recommended framework’. Ethics committee will forward to council first before going out to regions. 7. K.Delgrosso reported on the Development Committee. Lenders were still working out their levels of support. Donations are usually received by the conference time so committees have an idea of funds available for their activities. Katrina will send out another e- mail to solicit support. 8. Angela Van Dekker in her 1st Vice President’s report encouraged members to renew their membership and to update their membership section on volunteer efforts. I concur with this as I am using the list to contact members that are interested in Diversity issues. Angela has a separate e-mail set-up at her school so members can use that specifically for their membership questions/issues. (NYSFAAAmem@fordham.edu) 9. The Awards committee report was given by A. Van Dekker for K. Flaherty. They were looking for the names of the regional Service Awards. We already submitted ours for Region 3. After some council discussion it was decided to have a more flexible time frame for the ‘Rising Star’ Award. Heather will notify the Awards Committee. 10. K. Storms reported for College Goal Sunday. Ken gave an excellent update on the history of this project and the partnership with NYSFAAA. Wayne and Ken are looking for volunteers now for the College Goal Sunday event scheduled for February 10, 2008. There will be a table present at the conference with information and your ability to sign up to volunteer. 11. School Outreach was reported by Kathy Michalski. In this tight budget year it has been decided to not offer lunches at the workshops. After discussion with Council it was decided that there should be no lender tables since that promotes ‘loan activity’. All corporate sponsors to date will be acknowledged at each workshop. It was requested that no clothing be worn that designates a lender’s employer. 12. Communications/Website was reported by N. Teodecki for Ideta Daniel. The plan is bring the website off-line for redesign and update. This will happen around 11/15. The site may be down several days to one week depending on the extent of the redesign. Targeting upgrades to membership sections and outreach, and some redesign of navigation. Motion was passed to archive documents and minutes older than July 1, 2006 and annually archive prior-prior fiscal year. A motion also passed that all training material are restricted for members only. 13. 2nd Vice President M. Barlaam reported on the Professional Development Committee. This year will focus on joint efforts with EASFAA/SUNYFAP to assist in reduction of costs. Need feedback from the region on topics. There will be EASFAA training in Nov/Dec time frame, topic: Counseling Students and Families-Tackling the Financial Issues. Spring training target date early March and Jim Briggs Tax Workshops. How many in Region 3 want a Jim Briggs Tax Workshop and how far would you travel? 14. B. Mack reported that Novice so far had site bids from Cobleskill, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Potsdam for the 2008 training. There was not enough time to hear the regional reports so they were submitted to the Secretary. We had an action item for the region so a motion was passed for Region 3 to receive $1500 for its Support Staff Workshop. 15. I gave the report for this year’s State Fair Event. Our income exceeded expenses so scholarships were increased. Attendance that day was in excess of $100,000. Early Awareness raffled 3 Ipods off for 7-12 grades students. They had to be present to win. It was a great addition as it brought students and families back to our table. Additionally, we did two scholarships for student in College this Fall. We increased these scholarships to $1,000 each. One went to a student at LeMoyne and one to a student at OCC. We were contacted by the NY AGO about joining us this year. We were already full and I have invited them to join us at our planning meeting in November. They requested a copy of the schools/organizations that were attended and I emailed the list to them. 16. J. Dwire from HESC reported that for Conference 2007 currently 35 tables for vendors had been rented. 38 tables are needed to break even. Breaks will be held in the vendor room and members are encouraged to visit the exhibit room. Respectfully submitted: Sharon Karwowski Region 3 NYSFAAA Executive Council Representative POSTED BY: Sharon Karwowski