1996 Board Meeting, 9/21/96

Present: Bob Davie, Tom Dutro, Jennifer Rumford (formerly Hall), Hal James, Mindy James, John Keith, Kate Lessing, Russ Merrill, Bill Rose, Fred Spilhaus, Winfield Swanson, and Elsa Kapitan-White.

Highlights:

Secretary’s Report: Russ Merrill moved, Mindy James seconded, and the Board approved the minutes of the 1995 Board Meeting as printed in the Fall 1995 issue of Blueline.

Treasurer’s Report: Kate Lessing presented the Treasurer’s report, and noted that everyone present at the Business Lunch would receive a copy. An abbreviated report is included elsewhere in this issue of Blueline.

Committee Reports: Nominating Committee: Kate reported election results. Hal James will welcome Carol Hjellming as our incoming Vice President, and Faith Rogers as our new Director (1997-1999) at the Business Lunch.

Investment Committee: Kate Lessing noted that the ad hoc Investment Committee formed at her request several years ago has helped to make management of the AESE investment funds easier, but she also suggested that the Schwab investment funds be separated from the Treasurer’s job, noting that the management of the funds could make the Treasurer’s job unpalatable for members with little or no investment experience. Hal James suggested, and the Board agreed, that the Treasurer should retain management of the investment monies.

Russ Merrill pointed out that the purpose of an Investment Committee, formed about 10 years ago, was to expand the AESE investment funds. This has been accomplished; AESE now has an investment of over $30,000. Russ suggested that it was time to re-examine the investment strategy, that another such committee should be formed, and that perhaps AESE should hire a financial advisor (on a percentage of monies, or fixed-fee, basis). Volunteers for such a committee will be solicited at the Business Lunch.
Archives Committee: Tom Dutro noted that the Smithsonian was reorganizing the AESE archives, sending duplicate information back to him, and continuing to sort and file new information. Tom also said that any archival information could be sent directly to him.
Awards Committee: Elsa Kapitan-White noted that no nominations were received for either individual award this year (Lifetime Honor Member, and Award for Outstanding Editorial or Publishing Contributions). The Committee unanimously recommends that the Outstanding Publications Award for 1996 be given to Minnesota’s Natural Heritage, by John R. Tester (University of Minnesota Press, 1995). The book is scientifically accurate and current and accessible to high school and college students and the general public. The book is well planned and executed, from funding and format to sales and promotion. The Press even solicited a financial subsidy to bring the book into a competitive price range, and at $29.95, Elsa notes that “it’s a real bargain.” John Keith moved, Kate seconded, and the Board unanimously endorsed the committee’s recommendation, and Hal James will note the award at the Business Lunch. The book will be on display during the meeting. Elsa is willing to continue as chair and will solicit award nominations for 1997 at the Business Lunch. She will also prepare a description of this year’s award for publication on our Web site, including, if appropriate, a scanned version of the cover.

Elsa then noted that the Committee has requested that the “Broken Blue Pencil Award” be deleted from their purview, that is, that the Committee need not solicit or accept nominations for this award, especially since it is not of the same caliber as the other awards (that is, awarding excellence). The Board discussed the reasons for the award (to poke gentle fun at our mistakes), noted that the Award was made either by self-nomination or by a close friend, and agreed to manage the award.

Membership Committee: Bill Thomas notified Hal James that other commitments prevent him from remaining the chair of this Committee. Members will be solicited, and, in the meantime, Kate Lessing will continue many of the Committee’s activities. (1) Copies of the revised membership brochure are printed as needed. (2) The Committee’s successful efforts at persuading ex-members to rejoin will be continued. Following the general consensus at the 1995 Annual Meeting that membership mugs should be continued as an inducement to find new members, Kate ordered mugs with a new design. The membership report is included elsewhere in this issue of Blueline.

Affiliates: Tom Dutro will continue as our affiliate for AAAS and AGI. EASE affiliate, Diane Schnabel, will present a brief report at the Business Lunch.

Projects: AESE Style Manual: Bill Rose reported on his committee’s charge to review Winfield Swanson’s development of an earth sciences style manual at each stage of development. Development has been slower than she had hoped, and Bill notes that she asked for and needs lots of suggestions and guidance. Russ Merrill moved, Hal James seconded, and the Board approved a renegotiation of the AESE contract with Winfield, to be redrafted with a new schedule that meets her needs. Winfield also noted that she plans to ask for suggestions and input at her presentation on Wednesday. The Board emphasized that we want Winfield to succeed since (1) no costs are being incurred by AESE and (2) Winfield is the only person who has ever volunteered to tackle the task.

Contract Services: Kate Lessing presented Mary Ann Schmidt’s bid to continue contract services for another two years, at a reduced cost of $1,600 per year. After discussion, the Board approved the contract renewal.

1996 Directory: Kate noted several errors in the 1996 Directory, including omission of two members, incorrect geographic and freelance listings (not updated), and omission of the 1995 individual award winners. Some of these errors were corrected in the Summer 1996 issue of Blueline. She also discussed redesign of the Directory—perhaps beginning with the membership list and putting the By-Laws and Constitution at the back.

Russ suggested adding more historical information on an as-collected basis. Various members will be solicited for short notes.
AESE Homepage: Jennifer Rumford and Mindy James gave the Board an impressive demonstration of the new AESE Homepage, URL: http:\\www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/AESE/. They acknowledge the Ocean Drilling Program, which provides the home server. The Homepage includes a membership form (and two new members have used the form), and almost all the information included in the Directory, except the membership list (which interested parties must purchase for one-time use). Freelancers are listed if the members request this service. Mindy and Jennifer welcome other additions and suggestions. The Board discussed including Blueline issues on the Web page. (See the minutes of the 1997 Board Breakfast Meeting.)

Blueline: Jennifer Rumford said that Ann Klaus and her staff are willing to continue production of Blueline for another year. In 1995, the Board agreed to run the Blueline on a budget of $3,200 for the year ($100 per page for 32 pages total), with any money saved to be considered an honorarium to the editorial staff. Accordingly, the Blueline staff will be paid the balance for the 1996 issues, slightly under $300. Kate moved, Mindy seconded, and the Board agreed to continue the same agreement at the same rate for the next year.

Annual Meeting Reports: 1996: Bob Davie reported that there were 92 paid registrants at the meeting: 77 members, 8 one-day registrants, and 7 guests. Bob expects that the meeting will earn AESE close to $7,000! Over $4,000 was received in sponsorships. He also thanked his large committee and noted that without their help the meeting could not have been so successful. He suggested sorting out hardware/software/Web problems early, because that has now been a problem for the last several meetings, including this one.

1997: The Board adopted a formal resolution to thank Kathleen Salzberg and Faith Rogers for agreeing on short notice to host the 1997 meeting in Boulder, Colorado. Marla Adkins-Heljeson will be Program Chair. The meeting will be held September 20–23 at the Broker Inn, the Board Meeting will be held in the afternoon, and a field trip to Rocky Mountain National Park is planned. Marla will solicit program suggestions either at the Business Lunch or during meeting sessions.

1998: Fred Spilhaus reported that plans are well under way for the joint AESE/EASE/CBE meeting in Washington, D.C. The dates are Friday, September 11, to Monday, September 14, and the Marriott on 22nd Street will be the meeting site. Arly Allen has agreed to be the Program Chair, and Tom Dutro will be in charge of field trips. Fred plans not to have a Business Lunch, but rather to hold a separate, one-hour session (from about 5 to 6 p.m.), and not to include lunches in the registration fee (except for the field trips, which will be separately costed anyway). Fred plans to have the meeting advertised on a Web site, including registration and program information. Detailed planning will begin at the breakfast meeting.

1999: Because AESE likes to plan for at least 3 years in advance, Board members will be asking for ideas—where, who, what, etc.

1997 Board Meeting, 9/25/96

Present: Tom Dutro, Carol Hjellming, Hal James, Mindy James, Kate Lessing, Russell Merrill, Faith Rogers, Bill Rose, and Elsa Kapitan-White.

Standing Business: Should Blueline issues be placed on the Web? Concerns raised at the 1996 Board Meeting were discussed. The new Board agreed that publishing Blueline on the Web will ensure at least quarterly updates to AESE Web information. However, since Blueline is one of AESE’s most valuable services, each issue will be placed on the Web, but at least 2 months after publication. This will ensure that paid members receive each issue first.

New Business: Formation of Financial Advisory Committee. Russ suggested that Judy Holoviak and her committee needed to research three questions: (1) How should the AESE investment monies be managed? (2) Should AESE continue to grow the investment fund as in the past? (3) What should AESE do with the accumulated funds?

On stratigraphic nomenclature. Michael Easton (Commission chair) gave a presentation on the work of the Commission on North American Code for Stratigraphic Nomenclature. He suggested that AESE should have an “at-large” member on this commission. Board members agreed that this was a good idea, but no AESE member has volunteered. However, Bill Rose will suggest a revision to the Commission’s Article 4, which is a description of what a publication is.

AESE Style Guide Review Committee: Bill reviewed the discussion at the 1996 Board Meeting. Russ suggested that Bill should discuss and resolve with Winfield: drafting of a final proper proposal, targeting the correct audience, and a revised schedule for production of the Style Guide. Bill will provide a written letter of understanding for review by the 1997 Board.

1997 Annual Meeting: Faith Rogers will let Kate know how much is needed in start-up funds. Faith will also discuss with Kathleen finding corporate sponsorships for the meeting. Mindy reminded Faith that any meeting information should be sent to her or Jennifer for inclusion on the AESE Homepage.

Miscellaneous Notes: (1) Since two members joined AESE through the new AESE Web site, the Board agreed that Jennifer Rumford and Mindy James have each earned a membership mug. Kate Lessing will send one to each. (2) The Board approved paying Hal James’ expenses as AESE President (about $116). (3) All Board members need to help find a 1999 AESE Annual Meeting Sponsor. Any volunteers? (4) Kate Lessing will check with the following people about placing AESE meeting notices in the respective journals: Tom Dutro (Episodes), Judy Holoviak (EOS), Victor van Beuren (Geotimes), Carol Christopher (AAPG Explorer), and Faith Rogers (GSA Today).