I'd like to thank the Central Chapter members who helped make this meeting a success. Yolanda and Beulah deserve our heart-felt thanks for organizing the technical program and making the food arrangements, respectively. Rosalie Graves organized the entertainment and Debby Brinkerhoff presided at the registration table. Libby offered to prepare the Abstracts for distribution, and jumped in to run the meetings in the absence of President Nancy Stages. The registration form and Call for Papers for the annual meeting and technical symposium were included in the July newsletter. A separate mailing of the Call for Papers was made earlier. We distributed a number of announcements at UNM Biology Department, and all Board members were encouraged to help by distributing copies to women outside of the network.
14 speakers and two workshops were arranged for the meeting and at last count 34 women and one child arrived during the weekend of October 20-22 at the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research site, a UNM research facility. The speaker/entertainment for theSaturday evening dinner at Val Verde Steak House was Dr. Emily Neigh from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She addressed the general topic of technical writing in her entertaining presentation entitled We're Scientists, not Poets!
The income for registration and housing fees was $1,560 received by the October 14th deadline, plus $225 paid on-site. Three full and one partial scholarships were requested and approved. Expenses included payment to the LTER for housing and laundry, printing and mailing of the Call for Abstracts, photocopying and stamps for confirmations, film and film processing, payment to child care provider, catererer and other food expenses to provide meals during the meeting, and a fee for the Saturday evening speaker. Either Yolanda or Beulah may have more expenses to claim, so I don't have a final budget report at this time.
Several last-minute problems arose. (1) Rhea Graham sent a letter canceling her address as keynote speaker due to the closure of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. I'd like to read her compelling letter and press release that explain the circumstances. (2) Colleen McNurney from the Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge called to say the vans she planned to use for our tour were no longer available. Thank goodness Yolanda saved the day with vehicle(s) from Phillips Lab, and one Forest Service van was available. (3) Rent-A-Granny was to provide child care services, but did not find someone willing to travel from their Belen office to the LTER. An ad was placed in the UNM newsletter Lobo, but they managed to neglect to run the add despite three visits to the office. Kelly Livermore's daughter Julie was able to baby sit on Saturday and Sunday, but would be in school on Friday. Two requests for childcare were received (one later canceled). Also renowned ecologist Dr. Judy Meyer was originally invited to give the keynote address, but she had to decline due to concurrent obligations.
Central Chapter (Debby Potter)
Our EYH Conference was held on March 4, 1995, at UNM. Yolanda gave an
outstanding performance as EYH Chair, with excellent assistance on
facilities by Diane Marshall, Nan Founds, Debby Potter, Rosalie
Graves, Debby Brinkerhoff, and all other committee members. Our
Keynote Speaker, Astronaut Dr. Linda Godwin was fantastic! About 174
students from midschool and high school attended the conference. In
addition, students from the Phillips Lab Marsville program met with
Dr. Godwin. All speakers were invited for a free dinner meeting with
the Central Chapter. We thank all of our sponsors, including
Albuquerque Public Schools, American Chemical Society, BDM
Technologies, Sunwest Bank, Sandia National Labs, IBM, PNM, Ethicon,
UIE, SAIC, Orion, EG&G, ASI, USAF Phillips Laboratory, UNM, US
Department of Energy, Nobel Sysco, and Price Club.
The Chapter has two volunteers to Co-Chair EYH next year, Ronda Cole and Jerry Sue Thompson. Chapter members want to consider having EYH every two years, rather than annually.
The meeting was called to order by President Nancy Stages at 10:12 a.m. at the home of Yolanda Jones King, in Moriarty, NM The following Board members were present: Mercedes Agogino, dede Collins, Adrienne Dare, Libby Haas, Yolanda Jones King, Carol LaDelfe, Ellen Overton, Debby Potter, Nancy Stages and Lynda Towers. Proxies for Kelli Livermore and Rachael Pitts. The minutes from the June meeting were reviewed, amended and unanimously approved.
Standing Committee Reports.
- Membership (Lynda Towers). Currently there are 161 active members with one new member in the Northern Chapter, Ann Mauzt. There are no renewals and no corrections to the data base.
The membership chair reported that welcome letters will be sent to all new members upon joining.
It was decided that for new members who join late in the year, their dues will be applied to the next calendar year.
- Newsletter (Debby Potter). The July issue was mailed to all members of the Network. The next newsletter will be after the annual meeting. Bring all reports/submissions to the annual meeting or mail them to the new editor.
- Fundraising (Yolanda King). There have been no new checks. A $1000 proposal was sent to Sun West the week of August first.
- Science Fair (Mercedes Agogino). No report. The question was asked how many awards do we want to give, six or ten. It was decided it would be left to the discretion of the Science Fair Chair as mentioned under the budget section.
It was discussed and decided that student winner "thank you letters" should go to the archives..
- Annual Meeting (Debby Potter) Rhea Graham, Director of the Bureau of Mines, has accepted the invitation as keynote luncheon speaker.
The registration and the call-for-papers were included in the July newsletter. Reponse on papers had been slim, only 10, and up to 28 are needed, so the deadline was extended to September 1.
Only 4 registrations had been received at the time of the board meeting.
The registration fee was raised to $50.00, $10.00 higher than originally planned. This was a Central Chapter decision based on their financial concerns regarding up-front costs.
EYH
- Statewide - A disk containing Surveying your Future information was given to Adrienne.
Yolanda had not yet had an answer from DOE/SNL on assistance on color printing costs. UNM costs are estimated between $2000.00 and $3000.00 for 3000 copies of Surveying Your Future.
A motion was made to spend $2000.00 for 3000 copies but amended to look into $5000 line item to include both a brochure and Surveying Your Future. It was decided that this should be discussed at the annual meeting and approved on next year's budget.
- Central Chapter - The Central Chapter is still looking for a volunteer to be the next EYH chair. Three people have volunteered for the position in 1997, Jerry Sue Thompson, Nan Founds, and Rachael Pitts.
The Central Chapter wants to consider EYH on a biannual basis rather than annually. Debby Potter will start a calling tree to get an EYH 96.
- Northern Chapter - No EYH report.
Southern Chapter - work with AAUW continues in planning the EYH for February 24, 1996. The facilities at Dona Ana Commumity College have been reserved. Committees from both organizations will cover registration, speakers, workshops, food, group activities, publicity and corporate sponsors. Responsibility for task accomplishment will fall upon the committee with support from anyone who is willing to and able help.
- Silver City - No new items.
- Eastern - No news to report.
Chapter Reports
Central Chapter - The Chapter met on June 17th at the home of Ellen Evans. One science fair award winner report and the essays in the contest It's the Year 2005 and I'm a Scientist Now were read.
The next meeting will be held on September 20th. The chapter hopes to elect new officers then. Debby Potter will not volunteer to be President of the Chapter and hopes to be active in other areas.
Northern Chapter - Reported that they had a meeting in July and that there was some discussion of a picnic.
Southern Chapter - A monthly meeting was held on July 11 at the WSMR Community College. The guest speaker was Katherine Greyson, Executive Director of the Los Piños Sexual Trauma Recovery and Crisis Center. She presented information to the group on who the victims of sexual trauma are and what the center can provide for them. She noted that women, are by far, not the only victims. Children and even adult men are all too after victims. She also discussed the future of the center. Due to financial cutbacks, her position is being eliminated so she will be returning to Albuquerque to continue her education. The center will continue to offer limited services. She also noted that the center is always looking for potential board members and rape crisis advocates.
The chapter presented Ms. Greyson with a check for $500.00 as a donation to the center.
The August monthly meeting was held at the Hacienda restaurant in Las Cruces on August 8. The guest speaker was Cookie Stephan, Director of the Women's Studies Program at New Mexico State University. She discussed the program which as expanded to include a Supplemental Major, an Undergraduate Minor and a Graduate Minor. This program is also suffering from financial hardship. The good news is that they are now a bona fide line item in the budget which brings a little more security. The chapter members provided Ms. Stephan with ideans on how she can address women in science and engineering specifically.The next meeting is planned for September 12.
Eastern Chapter - No news to report.
Silver City - No news to report.
Old Business
The discussion on a national affiliation continues. AWIS information on chapter startup was presented by Nancy Stages, the down side is an increase in dues.
More information on the math-science network will be obtained through EYH. Nancy will bring more details to the annual meeting.
It was moved and approved that up to 10 grants may be given to students and others should they need financial assistance, such as waiving registration fees and paying housing, to attend the annual meeting provided the following criteria are met:
- A brief statement of the need to arrive in the hands of the meeting committee by October 14.
- Preference will be given to those presenting papers.
- Registration fees will be waived and housing paid.
New Business
Libby Haas would like to initiate a program to contact Math and Science Hight School teachers via a packet containing a letter and Network brochures. Each chapter should give names to Libby by the time of the annual meeting. A motion was moved and approved to support this effort and it was also moved and approved that postage and brocures be bugeted through the PR funds.
The meeting adjourned at 12:40.
The Board met during the annual meeting at the Sevilleta LTER. Minutes of the meeting are in preparation.
Standing Committee Reports.
- Elections (Kelli Livermore). This year I sent out 153 ballots. I received 42 back, which is an elcellent rate of return--over 25%. The breakdown is as follows:
Vice President/President-Elect - Lynda Towers - 41 votes
Member-at-Large - Yolanda King - 41 votes
Member-at-Large - Carol LaDelfe - 42 Votes
Member-at-Large - dede Collins - 40 votes
One write-in vote was received. It was for Ellen Evans for an unspecified position.Because the by-law revision was left off the ballot, the issue was brought to the membership at the annual meeting. The motion was made and seconded to change the maximum number to 17. An amendment was made and seconded to change the minimum number to 6. After discussion, a vote was taken and the amendment passed. Then, a vote was taken and the by-law revision was passed.
- Newsletter. No report since the next issue (October 1995) will be after the annual meeting and the responsibility of the new editor
- Annual Meeting. (Debby Potter, Chair)
The 1996 annual meeting will be hosted by the Northern Chapter.
Chapter reports
- Central Chapter (Debby Potter)
The chapter met on Wednesday September 20th at the home of Debby Potter. Notes were recorded by the Secretary, Rosalie Graves. Our speaker was Theresa McCarthy-Brow of Phillips Lab who talked about laser optics. ("Fabrication of Large, Thin, Meniscus, Active Optics for Space-Based Telescopes.") We elected new officers as follows: President Kelly Bitner; Secretary Rosalie Graves (continuing from last year); Treasurer Debby Brinkerhoff (continuing from last year) and Program Chair Jerry Sue Thompson. Kelly will appoint a representative to the Board. Thanks to the Board for suggesting a phone-tree to obtain the slate of nominees. It worked! The next meeting will be on Wednesday November 15th at the home of Rosalie Graves.
EYH The Chapter has two volunteers to Co-Chair EYH next year, Ronda Cole and Jerry Sue Thompson. Chapter members want to consider having EYH every two years, rather than annually.The next meeting of the Board will be on December 9 in Las Cruces.
Treasurer's report not available
Newsletters were mailed to all members at the beginning of July, April, and January. Issues included the President's Message, autobiographical sketches called Meet Your Board, Chapter reports, Board Meeting summaries, Treasurer's Report, and a State Science Fair Report. I had a great time as editor, and hope you enjoyed each issue. Thanks for everyone's cooperation! The next newsletter will be after the annual meeting, so please give your reports to the new editor who will be appointed on Sunday.
Central (Debby Potter)
The chapter met five times last fiscal year, i.e,. on Wednesday September 20th, June 21st, April 19th, January 18th, and November 16. Program Chair Carol Skinner did a terrific job! Speakers included Theresa McCarthy-Brow of Phillips Lab whose talk about laser optics for space-based telescopes was entitled Fabrication of Large, Thin, Meniscus, Active Optics for Space-Based Telescopes; science fair award winner Angela Aims; Lisa Desjarlais from the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center at Sandia National Lab; network member Kelli Livermore, State Director of HawkWatch International; and Dr. Krista Edmonds on the topic of PowerSpeak or VictimSpeak. Thanks to Rosalie Graves for sending announcements and helping to arrange for the caterer!
Regional science-fair awards of $50 were given to three young women on March 17: Roshanna Lucero, Sydney Henning and Marjon Zabihi.
Rosalie Graves judged essays in the contest It's the Year 2005 and I'm a Scientist Now, part of a community outreach program for promoting the television series "Discovering Women" produced by WGBH Boston. The winners were: Third Place, Amy Brinkerhoff, $500; second place Celeste Bierner, $150; two third place awards Stacy Graham, $50 gift certificate from Computer Corner and Sydney Henning, Smithsonian magazine subscription from Battelle Memorial Institute; honorable mention Sarah Ruth Gonzales, certificate from the Network. UNM Provost Dr. Mary Sue Coleman distributed the awards at a ceremony at the KNME studio. Network members attended a preview of the series hosted by KNME. The full series included profiles of six scientists, and copies of the full six hours can be obtained through Films for the Humanities 800/257-5126. Companion activity guides called Seek Out Science were distributed in English and Spanish. These programs were provided financial support from the Intel Foundation.
We elected new officers as follows: President Kelly Bitner; Secretary Rosalie Graves (continuing from last year); Treasurer Debby Brinkerhoff (continuing from last year) and Program Chair Jerry Sue Thompson. Kelly will appoint a representative to the Board. Thanks to the outgoing officers, including previous Treasurer Beth Sellers and Carol Skinner. EYH
Our EYH Conference was held on March 4, 1995, at UNM. Yolanda gave an outstanding performance as EYH Chair, with excellent assistance on facilities by Diane Marshall, Nan Founds, Debby Potter, Rosalie Graves, Debby Brinkerhoff, and all other committee members. Our Keynote Speaker, Astronaut Dr. Linda Godwin was fantastic! About 174 students from midschool and high school attended the conference. In addition, students from the Phillips Lab Marsville program met with Dr. Godwin. All speakers were invited for a free dinner meeting with the Central Chapter. We thank all of our sponsors, including Albuquerque Public Schools, American Chemical Society, BDM Technologies, Sunwest Bank, Sandia National Labs, IBM, PNM, Ethicon, UIE, SAIC, Orion, EG&G, ASI, USAF Phillips Laboratory, UNM, US Department of Energy, Nobel Sysco, and Price Club.
The Chapter has two volunteers to Co-Chair EYH next year, Ronda Cole and Jerry Sue Thompson. Chapter members want to consider having EYH every two years, rather than annually.
The accomplishments of the Northern Chapter of NMNWSE in 1995 included an increase I the membership. The word is getting out that we are an asset to the professional, technical woman. Our goal for next year is to continue our membership drive. We plan to do this by having monthly activities, both social and professional, that will draw our inactive members out and attract new members.
This year we had a well attended self-defense workshop led by Rosalie Multari, a LANL postdoc who is now on our Steering Committee. We held our Summer Picnic, which was well attended and rain-free this year! We hosted an enjoyable EYH conference which incorporated some of the fun team-building activities that other EYH groups in the country have used successfully. We were also instrumental in locally facilitating the Working Women Count! Survey sponsored by the Dept. Of Labor. The survey forms at LANL and the response was phenomenal. It is thrilling to help make working women's voices heard nationwide.
The big event for the Northern Chapter of NMNWSE was our Annual Meeting, held September 27th. After a quiet summer approximately 25 members had lunch together and welcomed the new board members. Our speaker was Amy Anderson, a counselor from LANL's Employee Assistance Group. She discussed methods to identify and manage stress and had handouts for us to take home as resources. The new and old board members got together on October 11th at departing president Deborah Kubicek's house for dinner. Despite the small turnout, we were able to decide on a number of positions for board members. The positions filled so far include: Karen Schultz Paige, president; Wendee Brunish, vice-president; Ginger Young, secretary; Trish Wright, treasurer; Deborah Kubicek, membership. Our next meeting will be in mid-November when we plan to fill the remaining positions and kick off the new year with an EYH scheduling meeting and a brain-storming session on next year's activities.
December 9
Las Cruces (Wyona Turner)
February 10
Silver City (Adrienne Dare)
April 13
Albuquerque (Libby Haas)
June 8
Santa Fe (Karen Schultz Paige)
August 10
Moriarty (Yolanda Jones King)
cladelfe@lanl.gov
600 Los Pueblos
Los Alamos, NM 87544