Minutes of the NINA Board meeting, committee of the whole and general membership meeting
Jan. 23, 2008 (rescheduled from Jan. 16)
Northern Star, NIU-DeKalb

Board members present (16): Wally Haas, Kristen Schmidt, Roger Ruthhart, John Etheredge, Jim Killam (communications coordinator), Pete Nenni (President), Sharon Boehlefeld (past president), Denise Renckens (2nd VP), Colin O'Donnell, Lonny Cain, Rick Nagel, Dirk Johnson (executive secretary), Joe Corrado, Mike Cetera (1st VP), Randy Swikle, Penny Wiegert.

Members absent (5):, Jim Slonoff (treasurer), Greg Rivara, Kim Kubiak, Jay Dickerson, Pam Lannom.

Guests present (2): Jason Akst, Jason Schaumburg

 

Committee of the whole
Board members met at 9 a.m. to discuss ideas for 2009 programs and workshops. Here's a general recap:

Potential topics

Management training for new editors
Skills journalists need to stay relevant
How to do more with less, without sacrificing quality
Juggling a huge, multi-town beat
How to blog / shoot video / do other multimedia
Managing newsroom morale
Reaching out to ethnic communities
Ideas for the newsroom to produce revenue
Social networking sites and reporting
Workshop specifically for free-lancers
Legal issues specific to new media
How to start a newspaper

These were distilled into a 2009 theme called, "The New Basics"

The Program Committee will plan the spring and fall conferences. Spring (April 24) will focus on people: tentatively, newsroom morale, management skills and ethics. Fall (Oct. 23) will focus on technology and new media.

The Education Committee will plan three workshops for 2009. One will be a panel discussion organized by Dirk Johnson, similar to the one held last year in Chicago. A second will be a traditional workshop, and a third will be delivered online.

 

Board meeting
Nenni called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m.

Minutes of the Dec. 5 board meeting were approved.

Treasurer's Report: None (Slonoff absent).

President's Report: Nenni said board members Kim Kubiak and Jay Dickerson have resigned. Kubiak has a new job outside of the newspaper industry and Dickerson's schedule does not allow him time to be a board member. As replacements, Nenni recommended Jason Schaumburg, managing editor-news of the Northwest Herald; and Jason Akst, journalism instructor in the NIU Department of Communication. The board approved these appointments unanimously (Corrado / Cetera).
Both terms expire in 2011.

Nenni read an e-mail from Greg Rivara, who is resigning from the board because of a new job outside the newspaper industry. The board accepted Rivara's resignation (Ruthhart / Cain). Nenni will look for a replacement. Rivara's term expires at the end of 2010.

This year's committee assignments are:
Executive committee:
President - Pete Nenni
1st Vice President - Mike Cetera
2nd Vice President - Denise Renckens Olszewski
Past President - Sharon Boehlefeld
Treasurer - Jim Slonoff
At-Large Member: TBA
Executive Secretary - Dirk Johnson

Program Committee: Mike Cetera (chair), Rick Nagel, Colin O'Donnell, Roger Ruthhart, Kristen Schmidt, Jason Akst.
Education Committee: Denise Renckens-Olszewski (chair), John Etheredge, Wally Haas, Randy Swikle, Jason Schaumburg.

Membership Committee: Sharon Boehlefeld (chair), Joe Corrado, Lonny Cain, Jim Slonoff, Pam Lannom, Penny Wiegert..
Resource Committee: Jim Killam, Dirk Johnson.

 

Program Committee Report: Cetera said the committee will proceed with planning the spring and fall conferences based on direction from the committee-of-the-whole meeting.

Education Committee Report: Renckens said the committee will plan three workshops as indicated above.
Etheredege proposed that the board designate $1,200 for scholarships to graduating high-school seniors. This is the same amount as last year. The board approved unanimously (Nagel / O'Donnell). Killam said the entry packets will be sent to high schools in the next week. Cetera suggested that, as a newsletter topic, former scholarship winners could be interviewed.

Membership Committee Report: Boehlefeld said the committee hopes to conduct an online survey of members to determine what sorts of training and programs they would like NINA to provide in the next several years. The committee also will identify and contact non-member newspapers.

Resource Committee / Communication Coordinator Report: Killam said NIU will host a workshop this summer for high-school journalists. This is in cooperation with KEMPA, the Kettle Moraine Press Association. Dates are July 12-15, and several journalists and teachers will be needed as instructors.

Old Business: None.

New Business: Cain suggested that NINA set up a way for out-of-work journalists to network, find free-lance work and potentially find full-time positions. Killam and others will work on this immediately - first via the Digital Ink blog.

Next Meeting: Friday, March 20, at the Northern Star.

Meeting adjourned at 11 a.m.

 

General Membership Meeting

According to the NINA constitution, a general membership vote is required for NINA to change its mission statement. A change was proposed last fall and the proposal was announced at the Fall Conference. The general membership meeting was advertised via the newsletter, blog and e-mail list.

Nenni called the meeting to order at 11 a.m.

This is NINA's current mission statement:
NINA is an organization of newspaper professionals dedicated to advancing print journalism, print-journalism education and training in northern Illinois.

This is the proposed revision:
NINA's mission is to advance the quality, integrity and credibility of journalism and journalism education in northern Illinois.

The revision passed unanimously (Lonny Cain motion / Penny Wiegert second).

Future general membership meetings may also address the possibility of changing NINA's name to Northern Illinois News Association.

Meeting adjourned at 11:05 a.m.

 

Minutes submitted by Jim Killam, communications coordinator, 1-26-09.


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