February 2010 minutes

Here are the minutes of the February 2010 meeting of the JACC Board of Directors held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles Feb. 21. 

Members Present:

Faculty President Jay Seidel (Fullerton), Student President Michelle Olson (Chabot), Faculty Vice President Dympna Ugwa-Oju (Fresno), Student Vice President Anttwan Stanberry (Skyline), Faculty Vice President Danny Edwards (Bakersfield), Student Vice President Brandon Hensley (Glendale).

Staff Members Present:

Events Director Timi Poeppelman and Communications Director/Secretary Rich Cameron.

MINUTES

Minutes from the last meeting were approved and Michelle was thanked for keeping them in absence of the secretary.

REPORTS

FACULTY PRESIDENT REPORT

Jay reported on schools that are having problems and how he is working with them. He particularly mentioned San Mateo, Southwestern and LA City colleges.

Retirements can also create opportunities for schools to cut programs or push for them to go online only and we're keeping a watch out for those situations.

Rich suggested that the organization form an official policy about online only as an option for programs. His point was that we can give our members guidance and ammunition for fighting premature efforts to move publications to online only.

STUDENT PRESIDENT REPORT

Michelle reserved her report for talking about the convention.

NORCAL FACULTY REPORT

Dympna talked about the NorCal Conference and expressed concerned about budgets and potential participation in this year's convention. Timi said this remains a concern, but we've faced this problem for years and our numbers keep going up. And this year members are reporting larger enrollments than ever. Whether this will translate to increased registrations is unknown.

The 2010 NorCal Conference will once again be held at San Jose State University.

NORCAL STUDENT REPORT

Anttwan reported that the NorCal Conference was a success from a student point of view. He expressed a desire for a student listserve to improve student communication.

Michelle and Anttwan are planning an editor roundtable at Chabot College on March 19.

SOCAL FACULTY REPORT

Danny said that he has not heard much from SoCal members on issues, but that he is staying on top of programs with problems caused by budget, retirement and other factors. He seconded the idea that JACC should adopt an official policy regarding online only publications.

SOCAL STUDENT REPORT

Brandon had no report.

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR REPORT

Rich reported on listserve problems where some faculty are receiving messages as attachments rather than as e-mail messages. He is working with the Internet service provider to determine what is causing this and how to resolve it.

CAL-JEC REPORT

Rich reported that he gave a speech on the state of journalism education in California for the California Press Association in December. CNPA has published a written version of the report on its web site and will distribute a printed version shortly.

Cal-JEC will meet next in March to select this year's Outstanding Teacher Awards and a chair for the next two years.

TREASURER REPORT

Timi reported for Jaquie and distributed a budget report (see attachments: spreadsheet and written report) outlining income and expenses associated with conferences and the convention. All accounts have been consolidated into one, but separate accounting is taking place for each conference. The report does not have complete accounting for the just-completed Morro Bay Conference, which saw smaller participation and less income this year.

The board also discussed issues, both short-term and long-term with credit cards for the organization.

M/S/C/ (Anttwan/Michelle) to authorize Dympna to open a credit card account or take responsibility for the existing American Express account in the name of JACC to be used for JACC business and that JACC will accept financial responsibility for one year, at which time we will revisit who should be responsible for the account.

M/S/C (Danny/Brandon) to authorize the Communications Director, the Events Director and the Treasurer to carry JACC credit cards.

M/S/C (Danny/Michelle) to add the Communications Director and Events Director as signators on JACC checking accounts.

EVENT DIRECTOR REPORT

Timi deferred her report to later in the agenda when discussing the conferences and convention.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

2010 MID-WINTER CONFERENCE REPORT

The board discussed the lower participation in this year's conference and whether changing dates would have an impact. Timi reported the problems in trying to switch dates and it looks like we need to stay about where we are now in the calendar.

The Blue Heron workshop was run by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and was well received. The conference also began partnerships with California Watch and the Wall Street Journal.

2010 STATE CONVENTION REPORT

Timi thanked the student officers for their work at the NorCal and SoCal conferences and looks forward to working with them for the State Convention.

Apple will be sponsoring the faculty reception Thursday night and will loan us some computers for the conference. There will also be interactive activities for the faculty.