GSOC Board Notes October 11, 2014

President Sheila Alfsen called the meeting to order at the home of Rosemary Kenney. Present were board members Sheila Alfsen, Dawn Juliano, Beverly Vogt, Marty Muncie, and John Piccinninni. Quorum was not met. Also attending were GSOC members Tara Schoffstall, Bart Bartels, and Rosemary Kenney. Tara Schoffstall stood in as secretary for the meeting in place of Paul Edison-Lahm.

Approval of August 17th, 2014 board meeting minutes (Sheila). No motions were made or approved in today's meeting. 

Treasurer’s Report (Dawn) The treasurer’s report was reviewed. The President's Day Field Trip had a net gain for the club of $364 after expenses of $1,046 were paid. Jason McClaughry donated his $100 honorarium to the PSU Geology field trip fund. Dr. Orr gave his $100 honorarium back to the society.

Events

Friday night lectures: upcoming speakers

Sheila expressed approval that many of our previous and future speakers are connected to PSU, as we have been losing touch with them, especially with the new staff. We want to keep our presence with PSU and the Geology Department. They have been very generous to us in the past and we appreciate them. Also, since GSOC no longer has an ODIN account to access the computers or internet, we need someone at the meeting with PSU access, or we will need to inform the speaker she/he will need to bring a laptop for their presentation.

Donations received by the Friday Lecture Donation Box: Donations to the box at the door for Friday night lectures totaled $112 for the last two meetings. Sheila will continue to give reminders for donations before each lecture.

Snack committee update (Marty): Marty will open up the room and set up for snacks at 7pm. Whoever is in charge of snacks for the month simply needs to drop them off in the room to her and she will take care of it. Marty will be responsible for finding someone to take over if she is unable to attend a meeting. A suggestion was made perhaps each board member be responsible for one month of snacks. Also, the donation bowl will be kept out during snacks, in addition to the black box at the meeting. The donation bowl is for reimbursement, if someone asks. 

Field Trip Planning

President's field trip recap (Sheila): Sheila noted that when distances are large between field trip stops, it is better to use a specific time and location to meet and let people drive on their own, rather than try to manage a large caravan. Due to safety concerns, it is strongly encouraged that people carpool, including the start drive from Portland.

Sheila also noted that having several different places to register (email, website, snail mail) made it difficult to determine who would actually attend the field trip. This in turn caused difficulty in predicting how many copies of guides to produce. Typically GSOC policy is that only people who have paid prior to the field trip should be allowed to attend and receive materials. It was recommended this item be discussed at the next board meeting.

Field trips for next year were not discussed. 

Holiday Party: Carol Hasenberg will host the Holiday Party at her house on December 5, 2014, starting at 6pm. Dawn Juliano will also help organize the party. 

Annual Banquet (Sheila): Sheila has enlisted plate tectonics expert Tanya Atwater to speak at the 2015 annual banquet. Sheila is paying her airfare and hotel and will need reimbursement. Sheila is investigating whether coordination with PSU is possible to defray costs and increase community involvement. The Geology Department has indicated interest. Since Prof. Atwater’s talk will be popular, registration should be opened early to GSOC and other organizations. Due to the potentially large registration, it was suggested the payment deadline be strictly enforced. We will also need a big banquet hall, so Dawn will confirm if the Monarch is available for Sunday, March 8th, 2015, and inform Paul so it can be put on the website. 

GSOC 80th Birthday History Project: Many ideas were raised about projects. One idea was to see if any of our longtime members would like to share their GSOC history. Since Rosemary is a valued longtime member of GSOC, Sheila asked if she would give a short talk about her time with GSOC, possibly at the Holiday party. Other suggestions included having a Memory post on the website (and promoted throughout the year) where members could comment with their favorite memories and we could later share them either in the newsletter or at the Holiday party; and running a screensaver-type presentation of old GSOC photographs before each Friday night lecture.

Tara suggested we hold the Portland walking tour during the school year as an outreach to schools and students. Early May (Spring) was suggested. She will contact Paul to see if this is possible, and ask what needs to be done, and who to contact at Fossil Cartel for sponsorship at Pioneer Place. Tara suggested perhaps advertising could be in the form of postcards sent to the schools, as they are more likely to be read than a newsletter. 

Old and New Business

Nomination Committee (Sheila): Janet Rasmussen and Bart Bartels agreed to be on the committee. Sheila will ask Dave Olcott or Dennis Chamberlain to join as well. Per the by-laws, they will report their selections at the next meeting. 

GSOC Business Cards: Interest was expressed in allowing Anne O'Neill to create a business card for GSOC, with final approval by the board. Rosemary brought out an example of an older GSOC business card used years ago for reference. It was suggested that business cards be wallet-size, so when people ask for more information on GSOC at our events, they can easily store and retrieve it. Dawn contacted Janet about who has the original version of the GSOC brochure, so it too can be updated and used. 

New Members: Leslie Moclock, Tina Cobb, Matthew Vaughn, Derek Clark, Mary Eichhorn, Ana Meyer, Tim Kirkpatrick, Deborah Theisen, Heather Herinckx, Greg Aitken, Jiaming Yang, Kenneth Heininge, Steve Boyer, John Kelley, Sally Wojahn have recently joined the society. Welcome! 

PSU Student Liaison: Sheila mentioned a comment card had a suggestion that perhaps one meeting a month be devoted to PSU students who would like to present their work. It was suggested perhaps this be the duty of a Student Liaison, to organize this night.

Rosemary reminded us that in the past, the recipient of the GSOC scholarship would also present. Sheila will ask Nancy Erickson if the money GSOC donates is an individual GSOC scholarship, or if it is included in a more generalized scholarship fund. Bev suggested that in the future we raise our PSU donation from $800 to $1000, but it was decided to discuss the idea more next year instead. 

Next meeting will be held Saturday, December 13, 2014, 10am at Rosemary's house.

Notes compiled from board meeting minutes submitted by GSOC member Tara Schoffstall.