The meeting was called to order
by President Linda Putnam shortly after 11:30 am. The members present were:
Rachel Jumper, Linda Putnam,
Clare Gill, Sarah Bednarz, Claudia Nelson, Byoung-suk Kweon, Chara Ragland,
Jyotsna Vaid, Lauren Cifuentes, Mindy Bergman, Carol Loopstra, Raksha
Balasubramanyam, Tracy Cyr, and Karan Watson.
I.
General Business for WFN Network
A.
The minutes of the April 19 meeting were reviewed and approved.
B.
Treasurer Report –Clare Gill reported on account balances:
250474: As of 4/30/07 was $1473.16. Income received in April was $838.10 for
the Spring luncheon. Payments were received for all attendees. Payment of the
Spring luncheon invoice and the Mentor plaque are being processed. Projected
account balance after these expenses are processed is $975. Net increase of
~$920 this fiscal year (starting balance $-54.93).
158134: as of 4/30/07 was
$702.42. This account has been inactive since January. There is an encumbrance
of $265.56 for a GAR which needs to be released making the projected balance
$967.98. These funds will be very useful in hiring a GA for next year and
organizing events for next fall.
163824: Zero balance.
511719: Inactive account with
$4.67 balance.
C.
Web Update – Raksha Balasubramanyam gave an update on the progress
of the blog site for posting narratives on family leaves and other issues of
interest to the WFN membership.
1. The blog site has not been
advertised yet. It will have 3 access levels: Administrative, Contributors,
and Reader. As a result of last month’s discussion Rasksha reported that users
must obtain permission to access and contribute to the site.
2. Linda Putnam reported on the
disclaimers that will accompany the blog and Karan Watson raised issues about
filtering and handling inappropriate entries. She urged us to remind
participants that the site is public and subject to open records requests.
Participants should avoid denigrating others in the blog.
3. Several topic sub-headings
were discussed for files or different threads. These headings included family
friendly policies, departmental relations, promotion and tenure issues, dual
career issues, travel issues, and issues relevant to the Galveston campus. The
addition of a “search” feature was also discussed.
D.
Mentoring Program—Rachel reported that approximately 25 pairs
scheduled lunches in April. One pair was from Galveston. Abuelo’s Restaurant
was very cooperative and mentors/mentees really enjoyed having lunch there.
Linda Putnum announced (sadly for WFN) that Rachel Jumper will be returning to
teaching duties in the fall, and that WFN will need to search for a new graduate
assistant to help with the program next year.
II. Introductions—
A. New
Members. A brief introduction of the new steering committee members was
given. The election closed with 70 WFN faculty members voting in the at-large
election. All candidates received positive votes and were elected. The four new
Steering Committee members in attendance were: Lauren Cifuentes, Dept. of
Educational Psychology, representing the College of Education; Mindy Bergman,
Dept. of Psychology, representing At Large, Place 1; Byoung-Suk Kweon, Dept. of
Architecture, representing Architecture; and Carol Loopstra, Dept. of Forest
Science, representing the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Two other
new members were unable to attend due to faculty meetings and prior
commitments. They are Lori Taylor from the Bush School and Elizabeth Umpress
from the Mays Business School.
B.
Resignations and departures. Clare Gill from Agriculture and Life Sciences
who has served as Treasurer for 2006-2007; Marty Loudder from Mays School of
Business; Caroline Ketcham from Education; Carol Silva from the Bush School;
Jyotsna Vaid, At Large Place #1; Rachel Jumper, Graduate Assistant for the WFN
Mentoring Program. An announcement was made that Linda Putnam is likely to be
leaving Texas A&M in the fall, which will leave the faculty oversight of the WFN
Mentoring Program vacant.
III.
Election of Officers—2007-2008
A. Members of
the Steering Committee conducted elections for the 2007-2008 officers.
B. The new
officers of the WFN Steering Committee are: President: Sarah Bednarz;
Vice-President: Ginger Carney; Secretary: Tracy Cyr; Treasurer: to be
determined.
IV. Updates and Debriefing
on Spring Activities
A.
Feedback and Suggested Improvements for Spring Luncheon—A printed list of
suggestions for ways to improve the planning and execution of the Spring
Luncheon was distributed.
1. In addition to the list, Karan
Watson indicated that the Dean of Faculties office produces a slide show of
recently promoted faculty (that could be edited to display the women faculty).
She suggested that this show could be set up to run during next year’s luncheon.
The WFN planner would need to contact Cindy Anderson or John Skroggs to get this
set up.
2. Clare Gill brought up the
problem of late registration after the RSVP deadline. Linda Putnam suggested
that we send the letter to the Deans earlier and contact them by telephone to
get the RSVP. We could indicate in the letter that the luncheon is in
recognition of the candidates whose names have been forwarded to the Board of
Regents. The organizers could then contact the Deans’ offices, follow up on
payments, and get representatives from offices to confirm attendance by the RSVP
deadline.
B.
Update on Committee on Family Friendly Policies—Linda Putnam reported that
the committee has met twice since our last WFN Steering Committee and will meet
again shortly. The committee is in the process of developing a list of
priorities, and subgroups are going to be formed to discuss specific topics,
such as tuition wavers for TAMU dependants and elderly and infant care issues.
This committee and the subgroups will continue to function next year and report
back to the WFN Steering Committee.
C.
Update on the Women’s and Gender Equity Resource Center Committee—Linda
Putnam reported that the committee had discussed re-organizational issues, such
as budget, space, and the drafting of a new mission statement. The center will
need a permanent replacement for the interim director, Linda Parrish, who will
step down in August.
V. Planning for 2007-2008
A. Welcome Letter and New
Faculty Orientation. Linda Putnam reported that the new WFN President needs
to develop and send out a letter of welcome to the new women faculty members,
one that describes the WFN’s activities and the mentoring network, and includes
a brochure. Copies of this letter were distributed to members of the Steering
Committee.
1. Sarah Bednarz will get the
names from the Dean of Faculties office, send the letters, and send the names of
the new women faculty in each college to each of the WFN representatives.
Steering committee members are urged to contact the new faculty members in their
college.
2. WFN will host a table at the
Network Exhibit for the New Faculty Orientation in August. The Dean of Faculties
Office will send the date and information about the exhibit and the dinner.
B. WFN Reception for
New Women Faculty—October 10, 4:00-6:00. Mindy Bergman volunteered to
organize this event.
1. WFN members discussed possible
venues—keeping it at the Rotunda of the Academic Building, hosting it at the
University Club, or having it at the Williams Alumni Building. WFN has to move
tables and organize catering if the event is held in the Rotunda. However, the
other venues may be cost prohibitive. Mindy will contact folks at the
University Club and the Williams Alumni Building to compare prices.
2. WFN Steering Committee members
need to contact each of the new women faculty members in their college and ask
to take them to the reception as a special guest.
C. Fall Luncheon—Lauren
Cifuentes volunteered to spearhead the Fall Luncheon and work closely with the
new treasurer. The luncheon will be held from 11:30-1:00 on a date between
November 5-16 in MSC 206, depending on days that a speaker is available and the
MSC room is open.
1. We typically
have about 60-80 people attend the fall luncheon.
2. Last year our speaker was
Becky Gates. Suggestions for this year speaker include women who are leading
the Family Friendly Policies issues at different universities, especially
Virginia Tech, University of California-Berkeley, and University of Michigan.
Several names were suggested including Patricia Rankin at University of
Colorado, Mary Ann Mason, Dean of Graduate School at UC-Berkeley, and Carol
Hollenshead, Director of the Center for the Education of Women at University of
Michigan.
3. Lauren will contact the Dean
of Faculties office and work on lining up the speaker. She will also contact
the MSC to check on room availability. Her aim will be to get a speaker, room,
and date by July, so we can prepare a flyer on our fall activities to hand out
at the New Faculty Orientation.
D. Brown Bag Lunches—Carol
Loopstra will coordinate next year’s lunches with the help of Byoung-suk Kweon.
Several topics were suggested for brown bag discussions: feedback on the TAMU
campus climate survey, infant care and elderly care, going up for promotion to
full professor, and a discussion of the blog and topics posted on it.
1. Discussion of the TAMU
Climate Survey—September 18-19, 11:30-1:00. Karan Watson suggested that the
WFN schedule a discussion of the results of the Climate Survey early in the
semester. The Steering Committee decided to do two days back to back to get
feedback on this survey. Karan Watson and Becky Petitt might be speakers for
this session.
2. Discussion of Options for
Infant and Elder Care—October 31, 11:30-1:00. This session might include an
update on the Family Friendly Policies Committee and options for policies and
practices regarding these two topics.
3. Publicity and Serving
Lunch—The Steering Committee decided to publicize these Brown Bag
discussions very widely—including through Aggie Hotline and Distribution A
(contact Nancy Sawtelle in the Provost Office for sending information out on
Distribution A).
E. WFN will hold a meeting in
July to say good-by to Linda Putnam and to establish the details of upcoming
activities.
The meeting was adjourned at ~1:30
p.m.