The meeting of the Steering Committee of the MSU Faculty Emeriti Association was called to order by the Chairman with the following members present:  Nelson, Greenbaum, Harper-Jones, Ishino, Bader, Forsyth, Shaw, Stone, Hudson, Fischer, Wickert, Ferris, Adam, Birdwell and Sparrow.
 
The minutes for the May meeting were approved as corrected and those for the June meeting were approved as distributed.  
 
The Chair reviewed the schedule for upcoming meetings: September 24, October 22, November 19, January 27, February 24, March 17 and April 21. He indicated that the November meeting would be held on Tuesday, November 19th instead of the regular Wednesday meeting date and would be a luncheon meeting beginning at 11:30, probably at Kellogg Center. At that time special recognition will be given to Deborah Dezure. A brochure announcing the October 24-26 conference of AROHE (Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education) in Los Angeles was shared.  No decision was reached concerning MSU participation.  

1. FILLING POSITIONS

• Academic Council: It was reported that roger Funk wishes to be replaced as the Steering Committee’s Representative to Academic Council. Stone will serve in this capacity during first semester with volunteers from the Committee to fill in as needed for the rest of the year.

• Trustee Meetings: Adams will continue to attend these meetings as the Committee Representative.

• Health Care Task Force: Stone, who will be the Committee Representative, was given a vote of appreciation for his previous work relative to the Committee’s participation on this significant task force.

• Communications Committee: Forsyth led a discussion concerning the need to develop a communications /public relations strategy or plan for the organization. The concern is: “How might we best make use of university and community publications and web sites? “ Hudson and Birdwell were asked to serve as an ad hoc committee to clarify what needs to be done and report their recommendations at the next meeting.

• MSU Retirees’ Association: Wickert requested that someone else serve as liaison to the broader University Association. Since Forsyth already works with that group, he will assume this additional responsibility.
  

2. SEMINAR COMMITTEE REPORT
• Fischer reported that the next seminar will be held on Friday, September 19th in the Radiology Auditorium (2:30 – 4:30 p.m.; refreshments at 2:00.) The speaker will be Dr. Jim Sikarskie, who will present a lecture on ”The Bald Eagle as a Monitor of Environmental Health in the Great Lakes Basin.”

• Fisher appreciates receiving speaker suggestions but would appreciate receiving some back-ground information about the person being suggested, so that he can be more knowledgeable about the individual when he issues the invitation to speak. (We need to continue making suggestions that represent a variety of topics.) Attendance ranges between 70 and 90. 
  

3. BYLAW CHANGES
• Forsyth led a discussion concerning possible editorial changes in the Bylaws. The major issue is related to the use of “shall” vs. “will” and having consistency throughout the document. Support for the u of “will” was indicated. Forsyth will make the changes, and Shaw will make the changes on the web. Substantive changes – if any -- will be considered later, probably at the spring meeting of the Association.
  
4. ON-LINE JOURNAL
• Bader reported that the Committee had several productive meetings and distributed a hand out that outlined the current thinking about this project. A possible name for the newsletter would be Collegial Interchange: The Journal of Faculty Emeriti.
• Under consideration is the possible addition to the previously discussed mission statement of the following sentence: “The Journal publishes articles by individuals who have studied a subject in depth, especially in the context of a sustained career, and who wish to communicate their learning to scholars in a wide variety of disciplines.”
  
5. ORAL HISTORY
• Ferris indicated that numerous faculty members were participants in an oral history project that was conducted as part of the MSU Sesquicentennial Oral History Project. Nelson reported on progress that was made concerning our SIRB application to proceed with the oral history project. An upcoming meeting will be scheduled with Archives to determine next steps of the project.
6. OTHER MATTERS
• Shaw indicated that last year’s request for used musical instruments led to a gift of a tuba; used instruments are still needed and a request has been made to publicize this request to Emeriti.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:36 p.m.   

Maxine Ferris
Secretary