Members present (16): Lonny Cain, president; Rick Nagel, past president; Jim Slonoff, treasurer; Lois Self, executive secretary; Kim Kubiak, second vice president; Jan Larsen, first vice president; Jim Killam, communications coordinator; Joe Corrado; Don Lyons; Richard Parmater; Cheryl Wormley; Colin O'Donnell; Pam Lannom; Roger Ruthhart; Owen Phelps; Tom Martin.

Members absent (5): Gale Baldwin, John Etheredge, Dave Fornell, Phil Jurik, Ray Karges

Cain called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.

Minutes of the Jan. 19 board meeting were approved unanimously (Ruthhart motion / Kubiak second).

Officer reports:

President: Cain said no immediate action had been recommended by an ad-hoc committee regarding any change in compensation for the executive secretary and communications coordinator. Also, no action is recommended yet concerning recommendations for increasing revenue.

Marx Gibson Mentor Award: Cain said he has commitments from IPA, AP, Chicago Headline Club and Southern Illinois Editorial Association to sit on the advisory board. Lorrie Gibson, Marx's widow, will not be available for meetings until May. So the first meeting will be in
May, date to be announced, probably in Joliet. NINA board members will be welcome to attend.

Treasurer: Slonoff reported a checking account balance of $2,257.38, and a savings account balance of $5.94. He anticipates no problem with the amount of scholarship money approved Jan. 19. Report accepted unanimously (Lannom motion / Lyons second).

Executive secretary: Self said she is concerned with the "fragility" of the NIU print journalism faculty. Dr. Angela Powers is considering an offer to chair the journalism department at Texas A&M University; Dr. Edgar Huang already has accepted a position at the University of Central Florida. Several adjuncts already teach writing classes in the department, including NINA board members Cain and Killam. Self may be looking soon for someone to teach design and graphics. On the brighter side, Alan May has been retained to teach broadcast and basic news writing classes, and a new broadcast-news person has been hired.

The NIU Journalism Banquet is scheduled for April 27. NIU has named Steve Mills and Ken Armstrong of the Chicago Tribune as Illinois Journalists of the Year.

First vice president (membership committee): Larsen said the membership drive continues, with dues notices also to be mailed soon. With recent mergers/acquisitions, there is some confusion as to where to mail bills. For Hollinger's part, Slonoff suggested sending bills to individual, local publishers.

Second vice president (education committee): Discussion centered on training opportunities. Cain said he and/or Etheredge would contact Bill Dedman and attemp to reschedule the computer-assisted reporting workshop, which was canceled for March 16.
Several members cautioned against being overly ambitious with training opportunities this spring and summer, because of a tight economy and budget constraints.

The board unanimously directed Self to look into having the Dedman session coincide with NIU Journalism & Media Camp, which runs June 24-29, in order to ensure strong attendance. (Nagel motuion, Phelps second).

Nagel said he and Etheredge judged the high-school scholarship contest, which received 27 entries. Winners will be announced soon, and matching contributions will be sought from the students' hometown newspapers.

Future workshops: Parmater said the Chicago Headline Club holds brown-bag discussions in the city, and is looking to expand to the suburbs sometimes. Cain asked Killam to include the Headline Club on NINA mailing lists. Board discussion resulted in NIU's new Naperville campus being recommended as a potential site.

Cain suggested a photo workshop for June, including a best-single-photo contest. But discussion left the board convinced the contest and workshop would stand a better chance of success as part of the fall conference. The board unanimously approved a new photo contest to be run in conjunction with the best-clip contest this fall, with a $10 entry fee and a prize structure similar to that of the writing contest (Slonoff motion, Ruthhart second).

The board also agreed to empower the executive board to meet in June if necessary to approve contest structures and prize amounts, since the regular August meeting would be too late (Self motion, Phelps second).

Cain asked Killam to explore the idea of cooperating with NIU to sponsor a big-name speaker this year.

New business

Spring Conference April 27. Cain said that Gina Barton and Tim Harmon have been confirmed as speakers, with a topic of narrative writing. They won't request a fee, but will need two hotel rooms for Thursday night (Dana Ditrichs is handling this). The conference will be held from 9:30 to noon at NIU's Center for Black Studies. Cost will be $10 each, plus parking ($4 in the visitor lot). Killam will highlight the change of location and parking arrangements in the upcoming newsletter and on the Web site.

Best Clip Contest. The board discussed ideas to split the contest into divisions for daily and weekly newspaper writers, and also to include a category for correspondents / free-lancers. But, the consensus was that one year's contest was not enough to form a judgment on whether the contest was fair to all entrants. At the executive committee's recommendation, the board voted to stay with the existing contest parameters this year (Self motion / Ruthhart second).

Fall conference ideas. Several ideas were discussed, including offering several concurrent, breakout sessions to attract a wider audience. The board voted to turn the topic over to the program committee, which will report to the executive committee at a special June meeting (Slonoff motion / Kubiak second).

Communications coordinator's report. Killam said the spring newsletter would be finished and mailed by early next week. The Web site will be updated as well. He also thanked editors for using stories from DeKalb News Service, the new online news service staffed by NIU journalism classes, and reminded editors to send tearsheets for the students.

Bylaws. Cain noted that any potential changes must be proposed by the Aug. 10 board meeting.

Shop talk. Cain asked board members to quickly mention interesting things going on at their newspapers. Several reported they either have or soon will change to a 50-inch web size. Corrado said two new Sun publications are being launched, in Downers Grove and Glen Elyn; and that visuals director Mike Davis has accepted the job of White House photo director. Larsen said Herald News photographer Scott Strazzante has been named NPPA photographer of the year. O'Donnell said the Daily Herald has been busy with reader reaction from the redesign, launched March 5. Kubiak said the Sycamore News has moved to a new office at 500 E. State St., and that a town meeting is planned soon to address school violence. Phelps said the Rockford Diocese has established Catholic Synapse, a Web-based database that lists volunteer opportunities (www.rockforddiocese.org). Martin said the Bureau County Republican is asking reporters to list their "dream stories" they've always wanted to do, and then is trying to find ways to get them done. Killam said his students have had trouble finding summer internship opportunities due to tighter budgets, and that he has several talented students who will graduate in May.

Meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m. Next regular board meeting is Friday, Aug. 10.

Minutes submitted by Jim Killam, communications coordinator