MSU Faculty Emeriti Association
Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
209 Olds Hall
May 24, 2006, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Attendees: Stone, Sommers, Reid, Wickert, Greenbaum, Kimball, Ishino, Funk, and Medick

I. Chair Stone welcomed the group and noted that the next meetings of the Steering Committee will be on the following dates.

June 21, 2006
July 26, 2006
August 23, 2006
September 20, 2006
October 18, 2006

Stone indicated that a sizeable part of the meeting would be devoted to a discussion of bylaws for the Association.

II. The minutes of the April 26, 2006 meeting were approved.

III. Updates:

A. MSU Retiree Association

Professor Wickert updated the Committee on The Retiree Association meeting. He noted that they had held a retreat in April and set forth the activities of the Retiree Association for the summer months. A list of the events is available for anyone interested

B. Lecture/Seminar Series

Professor Kimball reported that a speaker had agreed to be the lecture in September. The speaker would be Dr. Howard Tanner and the lecture would be presented the week of September 11, 2006. The Lecture/Seminar Committee would give us the specifics at the next meeting.

C. Representation on University Committees

Stone reported that in order to get full agreement on the MSU Faculty Emeriti representation on University Faculty Committees, it was thought necessary to get a sign off from the MSU Retirees Association to show a united front on this issue. Stone discussed this matter with Don Jost, President of the Retirees Association. Don Jost would bring the matter to his Board for discussion. This was the direction given us by Dr. Jon Sticklen from the Academic Council. Our intent was to keep the Retiree Association fully informed as to what was going on with the University Committees.

An interesting and somewhat confusing response was emailed to us on May 3, 2006 from Don Jost. He said that their Board does not want any representative from their organization to co-sign a proposed letter on the matter. He went on to say that their intent is to “support and endorse” our proposal but without co-signing the letter. He said that would like us to include in our letter to Academic Council information which would indicate MSURA is informed and is supportive of our request.

Stone suggested a response to Don Jost and a letter to Jon Sticklen be sent indicating that we intend to move forward on the issue even though MSURA would not co-sign the letter. The Steering Committee suggested that I meet with Dr. Deborah Dezure prior to sending any letter to Academic Council to determine if she had any issue with us going forward. This was agreed to by the Steering Committee and Stone said he would report back at the next meeting.

On another issue, we received an email from Jon Sticklen that Faculty Affairs had set up a special committee to review and make recommendations on medical care at MSU. His suggestion was to get a joint agreement with MSURA and FEA to jointly endorse a candidate for this committee. He would support and send forth a name to Faculty Affairs if we came up with a candidate and suggest that the person be added to the committee. This would be a representative but without vote. Note: This is a completely separate issue from the FEA being represented on Faculty Committees. Stone met with Don Jost and names where discussed as to a possible candidate. Professor Mary McCartney a retired professor from the College of Nursing would be a good candidate. Stone sought a response by sending an email to the Steering Committee for their thoughts. A number of responses indicated that she would be a good candidate. Stone met on May 26, 2006 and co-signed a letter with Don Jost to recommend her for the subcommittee. Dr. Sticklen subsequently sent forth to Dr. Ross Emmett, Chair of Faculty Affairs a memo recommending positive action on the appointment.

D. Medical Issues

Professor Greenbaum reported that they had not met since our last meeting and so they did not have a report.

IV. MSU FEA Organization Structure

A first draft of bylaws was passed out for discussion. Stone led a discussion on how the FEA might formalize its structure. He indicated that much work would be needed over the next few meeting to get a viable documents but the first draft was an initial step. He had met with Professor Gliozzo and incorporated his suggestions in the bylaws.

Many helpful suggestions were made by the Steering Committee and motions were made to modify the document. The motions approved were as follows:

• The title of the material should be “MSU Faculty Emeriti Association Organizational Guidelines” instead of By-Laws.
• There should be three elected officers those being the Chair, Vice-Chair and the Secretary/Treasurer.
• The elected officials should have staggered terms so that no more than one elected official would be up for election each year.
• The three Standing Committees would be the Lecture/Seminar Presentation Committee, The Communications Committee (not the PR Committee) and the Recognition Committee (not the awards Committee).

These motions passed unanimously and Stone said he would change the document accordingly and have it distributed prior to the next meeting.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.