Minutes: CGS Board Meeting, Mike Murphy’s House,

Saturday, October 6, 2007

1. Present: Jennifer Helzer (President), Robert Voeks (Vice-President), Robin Lyons (Secretary), Dan Walsh (Treasurer), John Aubert (Past President), Jim Wanket, Lisa Fischer, Craig Davis, Irene Naesse, Mike Murphy, Richard Eigenheer, Steven Graves, John Carroll, Lin Wu, Alison McNally (Student Representative), and Jacque Chase (California State University, Chico).

The meeting was brought to order at 10:00 AM by President Jennifer Helzer. Minutes from Spring 2007 were amended to change the sentence, “several proposals for the annual meetings for 2009 and beyond were received including proposals from…”, to “several suggestions for the annual meetings for 2009 and beyond were received including suggestions from...”. Dan Walsh moved to accept the minutes as amended; seconded by Lisa Fischer. John Aubert also moved and it was seconded by Richard Eigenheer that the minutes will no longer be included in the CGS bulletin, but would be made available on line through the web site. However, the bulletin would include a summary of major announcements related to the discussion in the meetings. Both motions concerning the minutes were passed unanimously.

2. Announcements: Robert Voeks announced the near completion of a center for Remote Sensing at CSU Fullerton, and Alison McNally announced an upcoming conference at CSU Stanislaus entitled “Beaming BIONEERS”. Irene Naesse explained that Orange Coast College would be hosting a Poster Session in connection with a World Regional Geography presentation on “The Geography of Death”. The poster presenters would be encouraged to submit their posters at the upcoming CGS meeting in Chico. Mike Murphy announced the publication of a geography lesson  that he presented at the NCGE meeting at Lake Tahoe last October.  His participation at the conference was sponsored by the CGA.

3. Board Duties: President Helzer announced that there are some vacant duties that need to be assigned to board members. This announcement was followed by a discussion of the need to balance duties among board members and to change other board duties.

Irene Naesse gave details of the vendor duties for which she has been responsible. She suggested that this duty be divided into two sections, one for Northern California and the other for Southern California. She also discussed handling of the raffle donations associated with the annual meeting. Jim Wanket volunteered to assume these duties.

President Helzer noted that the awards committee needed additional help. Irene Naesse suggested the creation of a non-board committee of CGS members to work on the award committee. Robert Voeks suggested dividing the duties into several categories and assigning the judging duties before the beginning of the annual meeting. Lin Wu suggested that the CGS require extended abstracts be submitted ahead of time by all presenters seeking an award. Craig Davis agreed that we have a committee of four for each of the award categories (graduate papers, undergraduate papers, posters, and maps). The following board members agreed to chair each of these committees: Graduate papers – Robert Voeks, undergraduate papers – John Carroll, posters – Lin Wu, maps – Lisa Fischer. Robert Voeks also suggested that the instructions for judging the papers differentiate between personal and group research. (see additional discussion of award winner press releases in Item # 14)

4. Travel Awards: President Helzer announced that CGS received a donation of $450.00 for student travel awards from an anonymous donor. She suggested that a committee be formed to assign travel awards. Irene Naesse volunteered to chair this committee as part of the general scholarship committee.

5. 2007 Annual Meeting in Chico, May 2-4, 2008: Jacqueline Chase reported that CSU Chico is actively supporting the upcoming annual meeting on their campus. She described several proposed field trips, as well as details for lodging and camping. Transportation at the meeting, including the use of buses and vehicle reservations were discussed in detail. The Friday night BBQ will take place on campus at a historic house known as the Warren Center. The banquet location has not yet been determined. Jacque Chase assured the board that further research into transportation and food service is underway. It was agreed that the CSU Chico website will be coordinated with Steven Graves, the webmaster for the CGS website. There was extensive discussion by the board on workshops, student panels and other conference related activities.

6. Spring Board Meeting: The board discussed the topic of the spring board meeting, including the time and length of the meeting. Irene Naesse suggested that the meeting be held on Thursday evening prior to the annual meeting to help with last minute organizational issues. Other suggestions for the time of the meeting included Friday night after the BBQ and early Friday morning. After considerable discussion, the board agreed to meet Friday evening following the BBQ and the keynote speaker.

7. Treasurer’s Report: Dan Walsh reported that there was an unexpectedly large cost for the meals at last year’s meeting in Borrego Springs that resulted in a slight financial loss from the meeting revenues. Scholarship donations were also less than normal, and production costs were higher for sales items and the cost of a notice of the CGS meeting at the NCGE meeting in Lake Tahoe. Dan emphasized the need to better document the conference incomes and expenditures as well as other transactions.

The board discussed how information about award donors should be announced at the meetings. It was agreed that a brief standardized biography added to the website and read at the meeting prior to the issuing of each award. Award winners need to be advised to write a minimum “thank you” note to the donors. It was also suggested that the newsletter list the names of future donors to the various student awards, upon the donor’s approval.

Dan Walsh also noted that guidelines about costs and expenses, especially for miscellaneous gifts should be developed and followed by the board. It was agreed that the executive council of the CGS board, including the treasurer, be contacted about any expenditures exceeding $50.00. This motion was made by John Aubert and seconded by Jim Wanket. Treasurer Dan Walsh also requested enforcement of the refund policy associated with the cancellation of conference meeting fees. It was agreed that the calendar dates published ahead of time for non-refund of fees would be adhered to with any emergency exceptions being approved of by the treasurer.

8. Proposed CGS Official Calendar:

Oct. 6, 2007 – Fall board meeting.

Oct. 19, 2007 – Deadline for Fall Bulletin Submissions

Nov. 10, 2007 – Fall/Winter Bulletin completed, sent to printer and ready to mail.

Early Nov. 2007 – Final CG manuscript sent to the printer. Send nominations for CGS board positions submitted.

Dec. 2007 or Feb. 2008 – Winter planning meeting for the Annual Conference. (Required attendance of president and conference planner, optional attendance of past president, vice-president, and other board members.)

Early Dec. – Mailing of CG.

Jan. 18, 2008 – Deadline for spring bulletin submissions.

Feb. 8, 2008 – Spring bulletin completed, sent to the printer, and ready to mail, bundled with registration packet for annual meeting.

Mar. 7, 2008 – Deadline for Chico annual meeting nominations by awards committee.

Apr. 4, 2008 – Deadlines for Chico annual meeting including registration, scholarships, abstracts, vendor registration, advertising in conference program, publicity and promotion of annual meeting and election ballots.

May 2-4, 2008 - CGS Annual Meeting in Chico including spring board meeting on Friday, May 2 following the BBQ and keynote speaker.

May 16, 2008 – Deadline for summer bulletin submissions, mailing of awards press releases, and any additional follow-up associated with the Chico Annual Meeting.

June 13, 2008 – Summer Bulletin completed, sent to printer, and ready to mail.

Oct. 4, 2008 – Fall CGS board meeting at a location to be announced after discussion conducted by email among board members.

9. CGS Promotional Merchandise and Publicity: Steven Graves agreed to take the responsibility of producing annual T-shirts for sale at annual meetings.

10. Vendor Report: Irene Naesse distributed a sheet of vendor participation at the Borrego Springs meeting. Glencoe/McGraw Hill, with K-12 specialization was new and will be encouraged to attend at Chico, especially because of the teachers’ workshop that will be part of this year’s annual meeting. Irene noted that vendor participation has been diminishing, although donations to raffle items had been increasing. The board discussed selling raffle items to generate scholarship funds. Board members were also encouraged to bring regional items that could be used for the raffle.

11. Website Report: Steven Graves asked if there were any problems with the website. No board members had any complaints. Steven also noted that he was planning to make a number of improvements in the website.

12. Membership Report: John Aubert reported that the CGS currently has 285 members. He also noted that student memberships were increasing, and that this number was higher than the average long term student membership. President Helzer asked the board if free one year memberships should be offered to new faculty in California colleges and universities. The board agreed to this idea and indicated that names should be sent to John Aubert and a solicitation of names be announced in the bulletin.

13. CG report: President Helzer, reporting for Dolly Freidel, noted that reminders of the deadlines were sent to potential contributors. It was suggested that the cost of the CG for non-members and institutions should be standardized and updated on the inside cover of the journal. Dan Walsh suggested an increase in the cost to $20.00 for domestic non-member subscriptions and $25.00 for international subscriptions, including shipping. It was also noted that on-line subscriptions are available. President Helzer announced within the next few years that a colleague and herself would be interested in assuming the editorship duties. There was discussion about requesting associate editors for the CG. It was agreed that at the appropriate time, the position of editor be publicized online and in the CGS Bulletin.

14. Bulletin Editor’s Report: President Helzer reported on behalf of Crystal LoVetere that at the annual meeting, before the banquet begins, the names of award winners be given to her so that photos and awards can be correctly correlated. It was also suggested that press releases of award winners be sent to the student’s campus Public Relations Coordinator and Department Chair. The Chair of each student award committee will be responsible for sending the press release, and the Past President will be responsible for sending the press releases for the Special Award winners.

15. Nominations for Open Board Seats: Craig Davis announced that because of resignations, there are 5 positions open on the board. Mike Murphy moved and Dan Walsh seconded a motion that the 5 positions be filled in the upcoming election for board members. All agreed. Craig Davis requested that all nominations be sent to him together with brief biographies by early November.

Alison McNally agreed to accept the position of interim student representative. Richard Eigenheer moved to formally accept Alison McNally to the board, John Carroll seconded, and the board agreed. Nominations are also requested for two permanent student representatives to the board, one from Northern California, and one from Southern California.

President Helzer adjourned the meeting a 3:25 PM.