MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
ASABE Annual International Meeting
Ottawa, ON Canada – August 1 & 5, 2004
Minutes
Gary Anderson, presiding
August 1, 2004
Gary Anderson, Chair Present
Nolan Clark, Past Chair Present
Paul Heinemann, District 1 Rep. Present
Otto Loewer, District 2 Rep Absent
Qin Zhang, District 3 Rep. Absent
Ken Giles, District 4 Rep. Absent
Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan, District 5 Rep. Absent
Larry Jacobson, Awards Committee Rep. Absent
Peter Ling, IET Rep. Present
Czarena Crofcheck, BE Rep. Present
Alan Thompson, SW Rep Present
Paul Walker, FPEI Rep. Present
Joey Norikane, SE Rep. Absent
Bill Koenig, PEI Rep. Absent
Don Erbach, PM Rep. Absent
Vince Stout, Preprofessional Rep. Absent
Billy Lawson, Student Organizations Present
John Worley, Section Steering Committee Rep. Present
Neil McLaughlin, CSAE/SCGR Rep. Absent
Michael Ngadi, NABEC Rep. Absent
Lal Kushwaha, International Commission Rep. Absent
David Jones, P-204 Rep. Present
John Hummel, BOT Liaison Present
Sonia Jacobsen, BOT Liaison Present
Mark Crossley, Secretary Present
Proxies: Audrey Alexander, Victor Duraj, Wayne Bogovich and Brian Holmes
Guests: Fred Payne, Bob Gustafson, Ron Yoder and Jerry Wille
The meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m. and introductions of the attendees were made.
Confirmation of Quorum Present
MDC bylaws state that there must be a quorum of no less that 40% of Council members present in order to conduct MDC business. There was a quorum present.
Review of Agenda
The agendas for both MDC meetings were then reviewed and additions to the agenda were requested. There were no additions.
Approval of Minutes
After review of the minutes from the 7/27/03 and 7/31/03 Las Vegas meetings and the 11/18/03 and 5/25/04 conference call meetings (Attachment A), the following motion was made:
Motion: To approve the minutes from the four meetings as written. Seconded and passed.
The BOT has been working on the strategic goals process and has requested that all councils review the existing goals and develop additional strategies and metrics for 2005. Attachment B was distributed, which is a combination of strategies and metrics from 2004 along with added items for 2005. It was pointed out that the completed recruitment poster has already fulfilled a few of the proposed strategies. Gary suggested that the goals be prioritized by the MDC and that more measurable definition be put into the metrics. The MDC was then asked for input towards developing additional strategies and metrics for 2005. They will be further discussed on the November conference call. As a reminder, the final list of strategies and metrics from all of the councils is due by the December BOT meeting.
As background, Bob Gustafson asked the MDC to develop a diversity policy statement to give to the BOT at this meeting. The draft of the statement was distributed for discussion. Upon initial review, the following motion was made:
Motion: To approve the draft diversity policy statement and forward to the BOT.
After discussion, the following motion was made:
Motion: To table the current motion until the subcommittee appointed to develop the draft statement could further review it. Seconded and passed.
They will report back to the MDC at Thursday’s meeting.
At the May conference call meeting, a student recruitment proposal from CSAE/SCGR was distributed and discussed (Attachment C). The proposal outlines a recruitment plan that would offer students free membership for their first year if enrolled in an ag/bio-related program. After their first year, students would then pay their own dues and would be placed on a CSAE/SCGR honor roll if they qualify for their respective university’s honor roll. At that time, a number of questions were raised by the MDC, which needed clarification from CSAE/SCGR. Gary wrote a letter to CSAE president Digvir Jayas and received the attached response in return (Attachment D).
While CSAE/SCGR was commended for their initiative in developing a retention program, the MDC had some concerns with it as it is currently stands. Concerns centered on ASABE’s existing cooperative agreement with CSAE/SCGR and the affect the proposal would have on ASABE student membership, and the cost of membership not being a deterrent to joining either society. The bigger question is how we can better recruit student members and make them realize they need membership for their professional development. A subcommittee was appointed to review these issues more closely. Billy Lawson will chair it with Paul Heinemann, Peter Ling and the new preprofessional representative as members. They will report back to the MDC at the November conference call meeting. Gary will send a follow-up letter to Digvir with this updated information.
Reports from ASABE Leadership
Fred Payne, Finance Committee
-Reported that the 2004 budget will most likely show a deficit of about $80,000 (mostly attributed to the annual international meeting) due to the last minute cancellation of the Government Center in Ottawa and having to pay for additional meeting space; not meeting our block of rooms at the Chateau Laurier; and a lower than expected number of meeting attendees.
-The current balance sheet is good and strong.
-The restricted reserve is back up to the recommended level of 50% of previous year’s expenses. This is primarily due to a recovering stock market and the 2003 budget surplus.
-There will be a dues increase and change in the dues structure for 2005.
-The HVAC system was replaced at headquarters to the tune of approximately $98,000, which was under budget of the projected $120,000 estimate.
-The Finance Committee and BOT are anticipating a balance budget for 2005 and are encouraging the councils to look for income generating ideas and programs.
-Income generation in 1993 was primarily due to publications, while in 2003 it was mostly centered on meetings and conferences.
Current president Bob Gustafson and president-elect Jerry Wille thanked the MDC for their hard work over the last year.
There was no report from the ASABE Foundation at this time. Bob promised to have a liaison appointed for the meeting next year.
The Young Professionals Community (YPC) brought forth a budget request for 2005. They are asking for a total of $2,000 for the following:
-$500 for printing of recruitment materials;
-$500 to help offset costs of a social event at the Tampa Bay meeting; and
-$1,000 to help supplement costs associated with a YPC continuing professional development (CPD) seminar in Tampa Bay.
The MDC felt that the $1,000 for the CPD was better suited for possible funding through the ASABE Foundation, but they’d consider adding the other two budget items in the MDC portion of the 2005 budget. This request from the YPC will be considered with other possible budget requests at Thursday’s meeting.
District 1 & NABEC
Paul Heinemann gave an overview of activity from District 1 and NABEC. Please see Attachment E for further details.
District 2 – No report.
Membership Development Council Meeting
August 5, 2004
Gary Anderson, Chair Present
Nolan Clark, Past Chair Present
Paul Heinemann, District 1 Rep. Present
Otto Loewer, District 2 Rep Absent
Qin Zhang, District 3 Rep. Present
Ken Giles, District 4 Rep. Absent
Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan, District 5 Rep. Present
Larry Jacobson, Awards Committee Rep. Absent
Peter Ling, IET Rep. Present
Czarena Crofcheck, BE Rep. Absent
Alan Thompson, SW Rep Present
Paul Walker, FPEI Rep. Present
Joey Norikane, SE Rep. Absent
Bill Koenig, PEI Rep. Absent
Don Erbach, PM Rep. Present
Vince Stout, Preprofessional Rep. Absent
Billy Lawson, Student Organizations Present
John Worley, Section Steering Committee Rep. Absent
Neil McLaughlin, CSAE/SCGR Rep. Absent
Michael Ngadi, NABEC Rep. Absent
Lal Kushwaha, International Commission Rep. Present
David Jones, P-204 Rep. Present
John Hummel, BOT Liaison Present
Sonia Jacobsen, BOT Liaison Present
Mark Crossley, Secretary Present
Proxies: Victor Duraj, Wayne Bogovich, Brian Holmes & Chris Butts
Guests: Fred Payne, Marvin Paulsen & Mac Legault
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. and introductions of the attendees were made. It was noted that Peter Ling, IET representative and Lal Kushwaha, International Commission representative have been appointed to serve for another two-year term to the MDC. Marvin Paulsen will also be serving as Finance Committee liaison over the next two years.
Confirmation of Quorum Present
MDC bylaws state that there must be a quorum of no less that 40% of Council members present in order to conduct MDC business. There was a quorum present.
There was one item of business deferred from Sunday’s meeting, which was the report from the Diversity Statement subcommittee. The subcommittee met and edited the existing draft statement. Only a few minor grammatical changes were made (Attachment F). It was reviewed by the MDC and the following motion was made:
Motion: To accept the changes to the draft diversity policy statement and send it along to the BOT. Seconded and passed.
It was reported that the following name, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers was endorsed by the BOT and put to a vote of those members in attendance at the ASABE business meeting. The name was overwhelmingly accepted and will be put on the ballot to go to the entire membership in January. The results of the vote will be know by March 15, 2005.
Gary then asked for additional items to be added to the MDC budget. There were none aside from the request for $1,000 in budget items for YPC activities deferred from the Sunday meeting. The following motions were offered:
Motion: To add the financial requests totaling $1,000 from the YPC to the 2005 MDC budget. Seconded and passed.
Motion: To endorse the YPC’s $1,000 request to the ASABE Foundation for help fund a CPD for the 2005 Tampa Bay meeting. Seconded and passed.
Mark will be sure to get the necessary guidelines for funding paperwork to Audrey Alexander so that the YPC may request the funding from the Foundation.
Nolan reported that the movement to possibly create an education Division is being led by Bob Gustafson. The thought is that this new division would focus on teaching methods. It would primarily involve industry education, curriculum development, extension education and life-long education. A special task force has been formed to create a statement of purpose of the division and the statement should be coming back to the MDC within six to eight months for feedback. It is chaired by Bob Gustafson and consists of Ann Christy, Steve Mickelson, Adel Shirmohammadi, Chad Yagow and Fredo Zazueta. Currently, the education committees fall under the umbrella of the MDC, but it is undetermined at this time whether or not this division would fall under the MDC or if it would stand on its own.
Student Organizations
John Worley reported that the committee had a productive, well-attended meeting. The focus of the meeting was on public relations at the section level. There was also a good deal of time spent on outlining how headquarters can assist sections and developing and improving the section officer/district representative relationship.
Preprofessionals – No report
It was reported that the BE division is very excited about the potential addition of ‘biological’ to the name. They will also be targeting industry to become more involved in ASABE membership
FPE reported that they too support more industry involvement in ASABE and will work toward making this happen. They are also concerned about the number of no-shows in presentations and will work on this as well.
Ergonomics, Safety & Health (ESH)
Due to the relatively new status of this division, they are reporting some growing pains with being recognized throughout the ASABE structure. They are going to work with the Meetings Council to see that ESH has its own track for the Tampa Bay meeting and beyond. They also feel that there are many opportunities for them to work directly with an education division should it get off the ground.
Information & Electrical Technologies (IET)
IET is also supportive of the creation of an education division, but they are not in support of the development of a technical council. It was reported that industry members want to leave the annual international meeting with practical information they can take with them. They want more hands-on information, not just paper presentations. They have also expressed the need for more new member orientation at the meeting, as it can be overwhelming to a first-time attendee.
Power & Machinery (PM)
The PM division expressed concern that members who identify as working for the government are automatically being classified as working in industry by ASABE. At least they feel this is the perception. This will be looked into further. They also proposed that ASABE create a technical council, but they are unsure as to how to classify it. They will be seeking input from all technical committees.
Structures & Environment (SE) – No report
Soil & Water (SW)
Please see Attachment H for further details.
It should be noted that the following divisions expressed opposition to the creation of Technical Council: Structures & Environment, Soil & Water, Information & Electrical Technologies and Food & Process Engineering.
The liaisons from the BOT
suggested a number of strategies to consider adding for the 2005 goals. Please
see Attachment H1 for further details. They revolve around recognition and
publicity for work well done by ag/bio engineers; nominating member engineers
for significant awards; encouraging nominations for ASABE awards and leadership
roles from industry and government as well as academia; and actively targeting
members over aged 60 who have left the Society over the last few years
encouraging them to reinstate their membership via life membership options.
They also reported that the Fellows Committee wants to work with Fellows on fundraising and membership development.
Finally, it was suggested that the BOT booth could possibly be used to help new members get the most out of their meeting. This idea will be pursued by the BOT liaisons – most likely through a brainstorming session with other BOT members.
It was reported that significant plans are underway for a fundraising capital campaign for the Foundation. They were also pleased to report that the golf tournament and dinner dance held the Saturday before the meeting were a great success and there will be similar plans for next year’s meeting.
Please refer to Attachment I for further details.
The Commission is concerned with the slow growth of the cooperative agreement with the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers and are taking measures to see that these number increase. They also wished in indicate they are pleased with the new membership recruitment poster and want to make sure it gets into the hands of those members traveling overseas.
Gary expressed his gratitude to those members whose terms concluded at this meeting and thanked them for their service.
Organization of the MDC for 2003-2004 and Schedule for Council Meetings
The MDC meeting schedule for the next year is as follows:
2004
-November Conference Call - time yet to be determined.
2005
-May Conference Call - time yet to be determined.
-July 17, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. and July 21, 8:00 - 10:00 a.m., Annual International Meeting, Tampa Bay, FL.
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 10:00 a.m. Seconded and passed.