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President Jim Ittenbach called the meeting to order at 3:20 p.m. following a group photo.
Minutes
Minutes from the January 16, 2003 meeting were approved by voice vote following Huffine's motion and Ferguson's second.
Alumni Council Report
Smith reported that the Council met on February 8, 2003. Three new members were welcomed: Terry Coleman, representing NREM; Jim Grim, representing Journalism; and Kathy Hutson, representing Nursing.
The Alumni Association and the Ball State Federal Credit Union have partnered for a second term. The credit union will provide funding to the Association and underwrite some golf outings.
Board of Trustees President Tom DeWeese noted that room and board rate increases for the 03-04 academic year had been tabled at that time. He said that Ball State's student retention rate is higher than in past years--90 percent, while they had been between 70-80 percent. The increase is due to BSU's effort to attract better students, a downturn in the economy, and the declining availability of jobs.
Ervin reported that Mary Sissel has completed her term as chairman of the Ball State Foundation board and is succeeded by Dick Hutson. Tony Schneider was elected secretary and a member of the Foundation's executive board. The Foundation portfolio is being invested in a prudent manner yet is experiencing some negative performance, as are most other university foundations.
Estopinal reviewed the BSUAA Foundation accounts. Except for a slight increase in CD returns, the accounts are similar to those of one year ago. The Association's 2002 budget and expenses were reviewed and a 2003 budget proposal of $520,000 was discussed, noting that the total request is less than the approved 2002 budget. The 2003 budget was then passed.
Walton reviewed BSUAA services. The insurance program serves a number of alumni with 287 term life policies, 50 Graduate Gift Life program participants and 22 policies in the GradMed program. Affinity credit card revenue is $93,613 with 6,994 active accounts. There are 2,457 photo I.D. cards in circulation and the C.A.R.D. program continues to expand.
Sparks reported that six high school coaches were honored as fall 2002 "Coach of the Year." They were Tim Cleland, Delta HS-- boy's tennis; Jim Garrett, Penn HS-- girl's golf; John Hochstetler, Muncie Central HS-- football; Chuck Koeppen, Carmel HS-- boy's cross country; Steve Lewark, West Lafayette HS-- girl's cross country; and Dave Shondell, Muncie Central HS-- volleyball.
Shipley reported that Beth Olinger joined the BSUAA as assistant director of special events; and Kate Webber was promoted to assistant director of outreach.
A report on the Alumni Involvement Index indicates that 46,558 alumni were involved in one or more activities in 2002. The Alumni Association's e-mail address policy is being requested by numerous other universities, and was possibly the first to be developed. The Alumnus Magazine now reaches 129,000 alumni in 114,000 households.
Dean's Report
Richardson talked about the H.H. Gregg million-dollar commitment to the Sales program, which will be named for the company. The Sales Team participated in a National Sales competition and placed third overall.
Entrepreneur Magazine came out with rankings in the past issue and Ball State's College of Business received several high rankings: Don Kuratko was voted as the number one professor in an entrepreneurial program; Ball State ranked number one regionally, and the Ball State faculty ranked second in the country. This year marks the 20th anniversary for Ball State's Entrepreneurial program.
Commencement is May 3, 2003. The two recipients of the Award of Distinction, Charles Schnatter and Dale Bottom, cannot attend the ceremonies, but the Award for Achievement recipients, Kevin Ervin, Lyle Miller, Larry Wechter, Barbara Zipperian will receive their awards at the event.
A new COB advisory board has been established in Information Systems and met in March. Finance, Marketing and Human Resources will be forming their boards over the summer months, while Economics and an MBA advisory board will form in the spring.
Scholarship allocations total $140,000.
Richardson mentioned that as of July 1, 2003, the current Finance Chair, Kris Mantripragada, will hand off the position to Howard Hammer. Christy Hutson has left the Development office and candidates for her replacement are being interviewed. The second issue of Business magazine will be mailed out in May.
Ray Montagno is replacing Rod Davis as the COB representative on this Alumni Board because of his Outreach position. He reported on a March 5 meeting of the college Executive Committee to develop a strategic plan. They discussed their stakeholders, did a SWOT analysis and evaluated their current internal operations. They established five goals: 1. To develop viable and relevant interdisciplinary programs; 2. To engage COB faculty, staff and students more with business, government and other institutions; 3. To increase external funding through grants and gifts by 25%, and to increase donors by 50%; 4. To develop an integrated comprehensive, disciplined approach to marketing the College of Business; and 5. To improve internal processes within the college to increase faculty productivity and contribution to other COB goals. Action plans were then set to accomplish these goals. They hope to have this packaged to release by July 1, 2003.
Continuing Business
Heeter reported on the Awards Committee meeting. The majority of the guidelines have not changed and discussion was on the revisions. The Committee recommends that The Hall of Fame Award be given to a Ball State alumnus who is a recognized civic leader as exemplified by volunteer efforts, and that The Award of Distinction will go to a College of Business alumnus who holds a prominent position in business, government or the academe.
The Award of Achievement will go to College of Business alumni who hold a position of responsibility and have demonstrated success in the early stages of their career. The wording number of years they are out of school has not been set, and the concept of 10, 15, or 20 years was discussed. A Distinguished Partner Award has been created and will be presented to those who are not necessarily graduates of Ball State, but rather a supportive friend of the College of Business.
The board decided to not limit the number of awards given in a year. It was also suggested that we award recipients throughout the year, promoting them as we go, with one major event to recognize them at the end. Heeter would like to pick a date and work backwards from that regarding the nominating process.
Ideas for a recognition event were discussed, including a black tie event, with a keynote speaker and corporate sponsorships to fund the event. Richardson suggested looking at other schools similar to BSU to see what type of events they sponsor. Smith mentioned using technology, such as video conferencing, to recognize those that are far away to keep costs down for everyone.
Estep reported that 25 seniors will receive the Professionalism Certificate this year. A total recorded attendance for the events was 1,923. The BSU Discovery Group awarded the program $8,000 to cover costs of the speaker series. Through the letter writing campaign, 50 alumni wrote 922 letters to prospective freshmen. In the future, the board requests an electronic forward of the list of students to be contacted.
New Business
Ittenbach distributed results of his Alumni Board survey. The top five initiatives selected by the board were the Professionalism Certificate, a Recognition-Awards program, Student Recruiting, Brand Management and Dialogue Day. Ittenbach also distributed a proposed plan and diagram of who could serve on which committees to accomplish these five goals. He talked about focusing on internships and he is making contacts in the not-for-profit area in Indianapolis. Board members who would like to serve as a liaison to a COB Advisory Board should contact Richardson.
Ittenbach reiterated that Dialogue Day needs to be re-vamped for improved student-alumni contact. He opened the floor to discussion as to whether the board wants to get involved. Montagno said that he and Richardson had discussed the boards thought of having it as a weeklong event and agreed it would be a good idea. They would like to have one speaker in every class for a week. This amounts to about 210 classes and requires a minimum of 70 alumni speaking throughout the week. Schulz suggested not including the 200 level classes due to their lack of experience, but it was decided that the speaker could talk about a general interest topic. Richardson said that the COB could coordinate the volunteers and place them with certain classes. The week of October 27--31 was chosen. It was decided that board members would host luncheons each day for the speakers, and help recommend alumni participants. Ittenbach also spoke of a survey he would like to conduct over the summer to determine interest areas of College of Business alumni.
Huffine spoke early in the meeting about the Cardinal Executive Organization, a group of approximately 30 executives mainly in Indiana, who want to promote Ball State. They are NOT officially affiliated with Ball State and do not wish to be. They have divided into five committees to accomplish their vision to endow a chair for the Entrepreneurial Program, get more Ball State alumni connected onto boards around the Indianapolis area, and help Ball State bring in quality speakers, as well as help professors get more speaking opportunities.
Board membership and tenure was discussed. Ittenbach and Taylor said constitution needs to be reviewed and updated.
The next board meeting was set for June 25, 2003 at 4 p.m. with the location to be determined.
Ittenbach adjourned the meeting at 5:20 p.m. and the board went to Richardson's home for dinner.
