MINUTES

MASFAA BOARD MEETING

June 26, 2005

 

ATTENDANCE

A Mississippi Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA) meeting was held at the Hilton Hotel on June 26 and 27, 2005.  Both 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 Board of Directors members and Committee chairs in attendance were:

 

2004-2005:

Laura Diven-Brown, President

Soraya Welden, President-Elect

Levis Hughes, Secretary

Ann Margaret Mullins, Treasurer

Janice Prather, Member-at-Large

Robyn Cilwik, Director

Billye Jean Stroud, Director

Wendy Hutchins, Conference

Jane McNaughton, Audit and Finance

Ron Gambill, Legislative Relations

Robert Givens, State Aid

Anne Grove, Director

LaShanda Chamberlain, Diversity

Donna O’Quinn, High School Relations

Louanne Langston, Archives

Tim Atkinson, Site Selection

 

2005-2006:

Soraya Welden, President

Garry Jones, President-Elect

Laura Diven-Brown, Past President

LaShanda Chamberlain, Vice President

Michael Ruffin, Secretary

Ann Margaret Mullins, Treasurer

Robert Givens, Audit and Finance

Teresa Bost, State Aid

Brenda Paganelli, Conference

Nancy Gault, Member-At-Large

Steve Greenough, Archives

Judith Vidrine, Vendor/Sponsor

Robyn Cilwik, Director

Peggy Shoemake, Director

Billye Jean Stroud, Director

Donna O’Quinn High School Relations

Marilyn James, Diversity

Brenda Carson, Legislative

Jackie Boone, Site Selection

 

Board Members, and Committee Chairs for both 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 not in attendance were:

 

Debbi Braswell

Steve Smith

Patrick James

Lori Ball

Jennifer Medley

 

Soraya called the meeting to order at 10:15 am.  She explained the card designations.  Welcome and introductions occurred.  Laura noted that a quorum was present and the meeting started.

 

ITEMS COVERED:

 

Minutes from the May 17, 2005 Board Meeting were reviewed.  A few grammatical changes were noted.  Other than that, minutes were approved.  Laura passed out the meeting’s agenda.

 

 Board Reports:

Levis Hughes, Secretary

No report provided

 

Past President, Patrick James, no report provided

 

President Elect, Soraya Weldon, she provided an annual report.  Thanking Brenda, Attended SASFAA workshop.  NASFAA leadership was attended in March of this past year.  She highly recommended both the SASFAA and NASFAA meetings.

 

Vice President-Training, Lori, although absent, she provided a report to Laura who passed out her report to the group.  Steve Greenough asked if materials (Fall Training) could be provided to the schools earlier (so that the school can make copies of the materials).  Laura stated that the materials are not available earlier.  The time lag is about a week before the fall training.  Laura asked LaShanda to check to see if we could get the materials early and then airborne or send materials immediately upon receipt so that schools can make copies.  Soraya and LaShanda have made the decision to provide 1 per school (2 for larger schools) and have ordered already for the next training.

 

Treasurer, Ann Margaret Mullins, she passed out two reports; summary and detail.  This past year we did well in that income exceeded expenses.  Previous years we had shortfalls.  There were no questions.

 

Member-At-Large, Janice Prather.  She passed out a Membership Report indicating about a 20% increase in membership.  On the report, she had comparisons between years and a further breakdown by State, Affiliation and Institution Type.  Membership fees are going up.  ATAC will need to be notified to know that.  Soraya will work with Steve Smith on working with ATAC.  Debbi can also help.

 

Directors, Ann, Billye, Robyn.  No report.

 

President, Laura Diven-Brown.  She provided a single page report of highlights.  She also provided both Levis and Michael a very detailed report to put in the records.  It is a compilation of all the annual reports.  She is missing 3 reports; Donna O’Quinn and two others – these will be needed by July 1, 2005. 

 

Chair Reports

Archive, Louanne Langston.  She passed out an annual report as well as an archiving recommendation to be discussed later.  The imaging project of all old records is now complete.  The CD is located at Millsaps in a firesafe cabinet.  The safe also had some selected original records as well.  The official MASFAA address is at Millsaps.  That is why the archive info is at Millsaps.

 

Audit and Finance, Jane McNaughton.  She had 4 goals for the year; one to create an asset list, a definition of ‘true audit’, a financial review occurred, and determine the amount of reserve funds.  She also conducted an ad hoc review of the checkbook at the Annual Conference.

 

Conference, Wendy Hutchins.  She provided a paper report that is very similar to the annual report.  There were 19 sessions at the past conference.  The 3-ring binder went over well.  The 2 scholarships were well received.  It was a very large committee and Wendy felt she needed every member.  Steve suggested that the breakout sessions should still have the 3 part session evaluation form instead of using the website.  Although she did exceed budget by a small amount, the income was greater to cover those expense overages.

 

Diversity, LaShanda Chamberlain.  No paper report provided.  She had three goals; ongoing diversity activities, and annual conference participation issues to be available at the conference, and to provide a diverse slate of candidates.

 

Electronic Services, Debbi Braswell.  She was not at the meeting, but Laura did summarize Debbi’s activities taken from Debbi’s annual report.

 

High Schools Relations, Donna O’Quinn.  she did not provide a paper report.  She will continue to update the superintendents.  She had not had any response from the letters so far.  She also suggested that local industries may be able to assist with education issues at the High School level.  She may work with the Chamber of Commerce in the Delta area as an option.  Soraya suggested that a workshop may be able to piggyback on the ACT workshop.  Louanne also suggested that IHL and Parents and Kids Program will be conducting Regional Fairs the next year (all sectors—not just selected sectors).  It could be that MASFAA could booth or otherwise disseminate information.  Teresa also suggested participating in the Mississippi Counselors group.

 

Legislative Relations, Ron Gambill.  No paper copies were provided to the group.  He did provide an annual report and it is included in the packet Laura passed out.  Ron expressed his enjoyment at being able to serve this past year.  Ron also notified the group that TSAC has announced their new director.  Ron went over the key points of pending budget and reauthorization/regulation concerns.

 

Membership, Janice Prather,  no further information to add to Membership.  Although she did create job descriptions of Member-At-Large and the Membership Committee, she provided those to Billye Jean.

 

Newsletter, Soraya Welden.  A paper report was provided.  She did have a few recommendations for this next year.  Can it be on-line?  If it is in PDF format, she suggested going for it.  The timing of the Annual conference (a requirement to provide a 30 day notice period of candidates) and the Spring newsletter edition to change the language in P&P so that the 30-day information is relaxed.  She also recommends that the Vendor/Sponsor person for both Newsletter and the other conference events should coalesce into a single responsible party.  In regards to conference sponsorships, Steve G. suggested that it may be difficult to ask for a single amount because conference expenses are not known at that time.

 

Nominations and Planning, Patrick James,  no report.  Steve thanked the everyone that volunteered to run for an office.  We had a great slate and it was a dual slate.  Brenda P. suggested that Nominations also had tried to work on diversity as a committee as well.

 

State Aid, Robert Givens,  No report was provided, but the information was provided in the annual report.  3 goals; ACH by IHL, streamlining refund process and thirdly, dual enrollment issue.  A standardized format for rosters is being suggested to Teresa as an item for this next year.

 

Training, Lori Ball.  No additional report provided.

 

Vendor/Sponsor, Jennifer Medley.  No annual report provided.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

Committee Limitation – One of the goals was to make sure that individuals who wanted to volunteer to participate by committee, were accommodated.  The conference committee could be split into planning activities and local arrangement activities.  That change has not occurred in the P&P but we can change that if we need to.  Soraya will lead a discussion tomorrow to go over the ‘volunteer list’.  One issue was the overlap of volunteers on multiples committees and how many members should be on each committee.  We may need clarification in P&P by the Directors.

 

A motion was made by Soraya Welden to modify Section 1.11 to change verbage as follows:  ‘Members may serve on one committee per year.   Additional committee assignments are allowed only where mandated by the Policy and Procedures, and or By-laws, or where assigned by the President’.  The motion was seconded by Anne Grove.  The motion was amended by Soraya to include ‘and/or the By-Laws’.  The motion was seconded by Robyn Cilwik.  The motion was carried.  The amended motion (the original motion) was carried.

 

Archive Policy – Louanne provided a paper copy of suggested language as a policy to be included in P&P.  Louanne made a recommendation to include her document as a procedure in the P&P.  Janice Prather moved to accept the recommendation and Soraya seconded the motion.  A revision to the document was made.  Documents are to be kept in the fireproof cabinet at the associations’ official address until they are imaged every 2 years.  Further, language was added so that a reasonable amount is adjusted for the Secretary and Treasurer to finalize their reporting as directed by the President.  The motion was voted and carried.

 

2007 Conference Site Selection – Tim Atkinson provided two documents; a document of 5 selection options and 2 recommendations with pros and cons.  Laura also provided a paper document regarding survey results of date concerns with a May conference.  A discussion of combining FINAID 101 and the conference occurred.  A motion by Soraya was made:  Pass information to Jackie.  Have Jackie contact at least the Grand and Beau for a 3 year option.  Other hotel options can be reviewed as well by Jackie.   Further, as soon as Jackie is ready for discussion, she will contact Soraya to set up a meeting to make a decision as soon as possible but before August 1.  Robyn Cilwik seconded the motion.  Discussion continued.  The motion was voted and carried. 

 

A photo of the old board and the new board was taken.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Laura thanked the Board for their hard work this past year.  She passed out MASFAA caps.  She then passed the gavel to Soraya.

 

Soraya asked for the old members get with new members to educate on the budget.  Ann Margaret passed out history number on the budget.  Soraya emailed a budget request form to members.  Please submit items on the budget and also discuss goals. The meeting adjourned at 3:30 for members to work together.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Levis R. Hughes, III

Secretary