9/22/2018

Meeting Minutes - September 22, 2018

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Longwood University Alumni Board was called to order at 9:15 a.m. by President Tammy Jones on Saturday, September 22, 2018 in the Martinelli Board Room at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

Directors Present: Tammy Jones, President; Dale Baake, Vice President; Ryan Catherwood, Secretary/Treasurer; Sharyn Abernatha, Byron Bracey, Heather Brown, Cydney Cavender, Chris Davis, Kathy Fox, Charlaine Hirst, Erica Howell, Jeris Johnson, Robin Liesfeld, Amanda Lloyd, Shawn MacDougall, Melody Margrave, Linda Norris, Dante Ricci, Paige Rollins, Rachel Rose, Becca Shelton

Directors Absent: Mandi Mulholland, Rohsaan Settle, Caitlin Zoetis

Representatives Present: Liz Harris, Foundation Board, and Polly Raible, Board of Visitors

Greetings – Ms. Tammy Jones

Congratulations to Dale and Kelly Baake on birth of Elena Elizabeth
Thank you to Becca, Ryan, and Nicole for setting up the reception at the Virginia Tasting Room and the volunteer opportunity for the Virginia Book Festival

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the June 9, 2018 meeting were distributed and reviewed. Ms. Jones requested a motion to approve the minutes.

Action No. 1: A motion was made by Ms. Cavender and seconded by Mr. Bracey approving the minutes of the June 9, 2018 Board meeting.

Board of Visitors Update– Ms. Polly Raible

Last BOV meeting during Hurricane
Convocation was fantastic – great way to kick off meeting – despite the weather, students wanted to attend Convocation no matter what – reminded that traditions are important
Welcomed new BOV members during next meeting
President Reveley took time to celebrate successes: fundraising, dedication of Freedom Monument, two new basketball coaches
Greek life is under stress around hazing – a national speaker around inclusivity was brought to campus
Longwood susceptible to IT vulnerabilities that have been shored up thanks to Victoria Kindon and team
Strategic Operations have been doing marketing research and focus groups on applicants that picked another school to figure out how to attract more students
Coaching model for freshman was added this fall to help support new students as they transition
Civitae rolled out this fall as new core curriculum with goal of better preparing students with skills for job market
Ken Copeland, VP of Finance, has left for Hampden-Sydney College, search group has been hired – Louise Waller is filling position for interim period
Troy Austin spoke about rebuilding basketball programs, D-1 athletics great for university
Students brought to BOV several proposals, started conversation about extending add/drop deadline, working on restocking SGA food pantry, working on civic engagement, SGA driven by officers but trying to change culture and build group experience

Foundation Board Update – Ms. Liz Harris

Leadership changes had Mike Ellis rotated off, Mike Lewandowski is the new president
Drew Hudson is new Vice President
Patty Rosenberg is Interim Executive Director starting full-time
Added three Directors to the Foundation Board
Total assets of Foundation were 94 million – goal is 100 million
Advancement Office has been really great as well as Spider Investments in bringing in funds
9 million will be paid out in fiscal year 2019 for scholarships
Five board members put up $50K challenge to Foundation Board which was matched totaling $109K
Annual scholarship dinner will be February 19^th to celebrate students/donors
Hull Springs Farm via Foundation Board making accommodations to serve as Brock Experience location

President’s Report – Ms. Tammy Jones & Ms. Sabrina Brown

Brown would love to hear from the Board in submitting more class notes for the magazine and is open to story ideas in the magazine – something that’s interesting and/or significant
Next edition of the Longwood Magazine will be distributed in November (three issues a year)
Ryan to put Melody slideshow on the Alumni Association pages on the website
Survey responses are high from the request for feedback on the magazine
Thanks to Nicole for putting on the summer event schedule with baseball games and Welcome to the City events
Convocation was very moving with Dr. Harbour as the keynote speaker
Everyone seems to like the community outreach projects including FACES and the VA Book Festival, will keeping trying to provide opportunities with low time commitment
New Longwood Alumni Board of Directors Facebook group launched – please join!

Vice President’s Report – Mr. Dale Baake

New buildings coming up: new academic building behind French Hall, Admissions building across High Street, new Joan of Arc Statue on Brock Commons, renovations of the two tower residence halls, Upchurch opening
Growth in Farmville has been substantial with new stores and restaurants opening regularly

Treasurer’s Report – Mr. Ryan Catherwood

Action No. 2: A motion was made by Ms. Hirst and seconded by Mr. Davis to approve the $2,600 request to disperse funds from the Alumni Lecture Series endowed fund in support of seven projects submitted by Longwood faculty and other alumni groups.

OACS Report – Mr. Ryan Catherwood

OACS hosted several baseball watching events over the summer as well as three Welcome to the City events engaging over 300 alumni
Two new staff members joining over the next three weeks, Amber Litchford and Ashley Jones, both alumni
Please consider hosting a student after the New Year in our Work Shadow program
Ryan presented at recent conference in New Zealand about the 1 Hour a Month program and the Day After Graduation podcast
SWAG available for the Board in front of the room

Guest Speaker – Ms. Victoria Kindon, VP of Strategic Operations

Strategic Operations unit created by President Reveley focused on engaging and providing customer services from prospective student through active alumni
Unit includes Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid, First Year Experience, Student Success (Writing Center and Tutoring), Alumni and Career Services, IT, Marketing and PR, and University Analytics departments
Lots of work being done to understand who our students are – most average about 94 miles from home based on surveys and focus groups
Trying to do a better job getting in front of guidance counselors
All advertising is aimed at having a social media element to it, trying to influence a “wow” factor and have people take pictures and share
Tremendous volatility in higher education due to decreasing number of college age students – private schools are giving big discounts that public schools cannot give – creates “Champagne Effect”
Kindon shared more about the new construction vis-à-vis the execution of the Master Plan

Committee Reports

Finance Committee – Victoria Kindon

State appropriations, tuition fees, philanthropy pays for OACS salaries
Revenue from events career fairs and partnerships like Aramark, Balfour, support OACS and through OACS the Alumni Association is supported

Board Relations – Dale Baake

Five people rolling off the Board in June, keep thinking about possible new members that are donors and geographically spread out
Slate of Awards nominees presented: Jean Ridenour Appich (Class of 1952) for Paige Cook Axson McGaughy Lifetime Loyalty Award, Betty Eike (Class of 1965) for Nancy B. Shelton Spirited Contributor Award, Otis Brown for Horance Mann Honorary Alumni Award, Robby Newman (Class of 2012) for Outstanding Young Alumni Award, Caroline Townsend-Neal (Class of 2005) for Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry Humanitarian Alumni Award, Judith Dreisewerd Deichman (Class of 2010) for Thomas Jefferson Professional Achievement Award, Randy Copeland (Class of 1986) for William Henry Ruffner Alumni Award

Alumni Awards – Chris Davis

Action No. 3: A motion was made by Ms. Brown and seconded by Ms. Rollins to approve the slate of 2018-2019 Alumni Awards recipients to be honored at the Alumni Awards banquet on March 15, 2019

Alumni Events - Becca Shelton

Events committee thinking about how it could be more involved at Mega Reunion
Loved networking even with students/alumni on the Friday evening during Mega Reunion
Wants to find ways to participate between meetings

Structure and Function – Byron Bracey