Minutes of NINA Board of Directors Meeting
Members present (14): Colin O'Donnell (president), Greg Rivara (1st VP), Rich Rostron (2nd VP), Pam Lannom, Roger Ruthhart, Sharon Boehlefeld, , Jim Killam (communications coordinator), Lois Self (executive secretary), Pete Nenni, Randy Swikle, Jim Slonoff (treasurer), John Etheredge, Jay Dickerson, Lonny Cain.
Members absent (5): Joe Corrado (past president), Tom Martin (past president), Rick Nagel, Penny Wiegert, Wally Haas.
Guest present: Steve Ralston, chair, NIU department of communication
O'Donnell called the meeting to order at 10 a.m.
Minutes of the Dec. 2 board meeting were approved.
Treasurer's report:
Slonoff reported Dec. 31 balances of $4,234.56 (checking) and $5.94 (savings).
NINA made $356 profit on the Fall Conference, after paying $1,301.74 in
honorarium and expenses to the Readership Institute.
Self reiterated the Communication Department's offer to contribute $300
toward conference expenses, but the board's consensus was that it wasn't
necessary at this time.
Report accepted (Lannom motion / Ruthhart second)
Executive secretary's report:
Self said the Communication Department is working to bring a couple of prominent
journalists to campus as speakers, potentially on business reporting and
public relations.
The NIU Journalism Banquet will be held Friday, April 21.
Two searches are under way for journalism faculty members: one for print
and one for convergence/new media. Ralston said NINA's presence in that
process is welcomed, and added that he hopes the new faculty members will
have a close association with NINA when they arrive.
President's Report
O'Donnell nominated Boehlefeld as the at-large member of the Executive Committee.
The board approved (Rivara / Cain).
Ruthhart mentioned that former board member Jeannine Otto's spot is still
open. O'Donnell plans to invite another staffer from the Dixon / Sterling
papers to replace her.
One other board vacancy exists. O'Donnell encouraged board members to contact
him with nominations.
O'Donnell proposed these board-meeting dates for the remainder of 2006.
They are: March 24, June 23, Sept. 8, Oct. 26 and Dec. 1. The board approved
(Etheredge / Ruthhart)
Program Committee Report:
Rivara said the April 28 spring conference will deal with building Web site
traffic and revenue. He hopes to plan this as a program jointly sponsored
by NINA and the Illinois Press Association and held at the Daily Herald
offices in Arlington Heights.
Education Committee Report:
Rostron listed several ideas for workshops this year: grammar, training
aspiring managers, photo editing and covering elections. Self added that
NIU's possible workshop on business reporting could be a good fit also -
possibly to precede the March 24 board meeting. The grammar workshop is
tentatively planned for June 16. Any upcoming workshops will be promoted
in the next newsletter (early March).
Jan. 12, 2007, was set as a tentative date for a workshop on newsroom management.
Promotion for the annual scholarships for graduating high-school seniors
is already online, and printed packets will be mailed to schools in the
next week or two.
Also on the tentative calendar, Killam said, are a series of September workshops
for high-school journalism advisers. More about that soon.
Membership Committee Report:
No report.
Resource Committee / Communication Coordinator Report:
Killam said the next newsletter will be published in early March.
Old Business
None.
New Business
Rivara said he had been contacted by a redesign consultant looking for newspaper
contacts. Greg will e-mail the contact info to board members soon.
Killam mentioned that NIU is hosting, on Feb. 1, one of several open-government workshops being done at various sites by the Illinois Attorney General's office. He also asked that journalists attending these workshops express disappointment with the Attorney General's staff about the state's support of censorship of college media in the Governors State case. (more info at: http://www.splc.org/legalresearch.asp?id=49
Next board meeting: Friday, March 24, 2006, at the Northern Star, NIU. Times TBA - they may vary a little if planned around a workshop that day.
Meeting adjourned at 11:20 a.m.
Minutes submitted by Jim Killam, communications
coordinator, 1-23-06.
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