SECTION STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING ASAE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL MEETING 2001   SACRAMENTO CONVENTION CENTER   July 30, 2001   12:00 - 2:00 p.m.   Minutes   Present:           Dave Beasley, Robert Burns, Mark Crossley, Del Fangmeier, Kevin Flikkema, Loren Gautz, Kelley Green, Narinder Gupta, John Hoehne, Brian Holmes, Dennis Larson, Ken Lomax, Wendall Meaux, John Miles, Dave Smith, Trent Strahm, Steve Workman, Mark Zielke & Joe Zulovich   Presiding:         Gene Giacomelli   The meeting was called to order at 12:15 p.m.   After introductions of those in attendance, the minutes of the 2000 meeting were reviewed and the following motion was presented:   Motion: To approve the minutes from the SSC meeting at the 2000 Annual Meeting in Milwaukee. Seconded and passed   Section Officer Guides Gene Giacomelli reported that a draft of the Section Officer Guide is currently on the ASAE Web site. He encouraged the district representatives to take some time to review this document and give feedback to Mark Crossley. It was agreed that this is an important resource for incoming section officers to have as a guide for their new positions and that it must be as complete as possible.   Section Grass Roots Funding Mark Crossley overviewed the status of the program to date. The program, in its current form, would enable sections to obtain a grant from the ASAE Foundation to assist with local section activities such as bringing in a section speaking or supporting administrative costs associated with a fundraiser. If the section makes a profit on the event, they would be expected to pay the money back to the Foundation. If not, the monies would be forgiven. It was pointed out that, as it currently exists, this is not a very effective program because a grant should not be expected to be repaid. The Membership Development Council (MDC) concurred with these thoughts and approved the concept of the program as long as the wording was changed to reflect that the grant would not be expected to be repaid by the section. The revised program proposal was sent to the Foundation in December 2000. The Foundation rejected the MDC's revisions and the program proposal currently remains with the Foundation.   Section Awards & Recognition Currently, headquarters generates anniversary certificates for 25, 40, 50 and 60+ years of membership each April. These are in turn offered to each active section chair for their presentation during a section meeting. If a section chair does not request these certificates or the section is inactive, they are sent directly to the members. It was pointed out that ASAE also has anniversary pins for sale and section chairs were encouraged to purchase these for presentation with the certificates as well.   Section Rebates The section rebate program was overviewed. Each spring, every active section is provided with a rebate according the number of members each section had at the end of the previous calendar year. The following calculation is used: $3 for each new member; $2 for each member with one year of membership; $1 for each member with two years of membership; and $.50 for each member with more than two years of membership. A question was raised concerning the likelihood of the section rebates being increased if the dues are increased for 2002. Mark Crossley will check into this and report back to the SSC.   Section Standards of Achievement A number of years ago there was a Section Standards of Achievement program which was apparently not very well received. There was a general feeling expressed that the program was forced on the sections from the top down and that not too many sections participated. It was further expressed that until there is a driving force to reactivate such a program which comes from the section level, it will probably not happen.   ASAE Member E-Mail Alias It was reported that ASAE is soon to unveil a new member benefit called the ASAE Member E-Mail Alias. This is not an e-mail account only an alias. All email sent to yourname@asae.org is automatically forwarded to the primary e-mail address a member provides ASAE, such as a home or work e-mail. No set up or programming is required on the member's PC. As long as a member maintains their membership, they may take advantage of this program.   Section Mailings - Electronic Delivery Due to the fact that the Society has been operating under a deficit budget for the last couple of years, the SSC was asked to consider electronic-only delivery of section newsletters instead of the current process of hard-copy mailing. There was concern expressed that only those section members with valid e-mail addresses would receive newsletters. One option discussed was that only members with valid e-mail addresses receive newsletters electronically and all others would receive their newsletter via the mail. Another option suggested was that section newsletters be posted on the ASAE Web site with links and that members could access information this way. All options need further exploration by the Committee before any final decision is made.   Section Officer Searches of the ASAE Member Database Presently, only ASAE staff members may conduct in-depth searches on section members, but ASAE would like to make this option available to section officers as well. This would enable section officers to search the ASAE member database on the members-only section of the Web site. They would be able to bring up all of their section members and send e-mail blasts or create section rosters. After discussion it was decided that this option should only be available to section chairs and that they be allowed access to their section members only.   Section/Headquarters Communication It was noted that communication between headquarters and sections has improved greatly over the last year. Section officers are getting more timely information via electronic newsletters and correspondence. Section Reports Arizona:           Efforts to get preprofessionals/students more involved in section activities seems to be working. Ohio:               They have been focusing their attention on developing industry outreach to attract more engineers from industry. CA/NV:          Preprofessional/student involvement has increased dramatically. Preprofessional/student numbers have now surpassed corporate member attendance. Texas:              They have also been focusing their attention on drawing more preprofessionals/students to section meetings. The section has been using their yearly section rebates for scholarships. Louisiana:        The section also has a $500 scholarship they provide. Work is underway on a section Web page as well. NABEC:          NABEC reported that they held their annual meeting in July with CSAE/SCGR and AIC. The conference was well attended.   The Tennessee, Mississippi, Quad City, Chicago & Central Illinois sections all reported that they have been having joint section meetings with neighboring sections and in one case (Quad City), with SAE. These joint meetings have been working well and interest has been increasing.   SSC Vice Chair Election The chair then opened the floor for nominations for vice chair for 2001-2002. There were no suggestions made or volunteers who came forward. It was decided that the election of the SSC vice chair needed more research and would be handled at a later date via e-mail ballot.   With no further business before the SSC, the meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.