Minutes of NINA Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes of the NINA Board meeting
Oct. 23, 2008
Nat's on Maple, Sycamore, Ill.
Members present (12): Dirk Johnson (executive secretary), Joe Corrado, John Etheredge, Lonny Cain, Rick Nagel, Jim Killam (communications coordinator), Colin O'Donnell, Pete Nenni (first VP), Sharon Boehlefeld (president), Denise Renckens, Penny Wiegert, Jim Slonoff (treasurer).
Members absent (9): Roger Ruthhart, Mike Cetera, Greg Rivara, Kim Kubiak, Kristen Schmidt, Jay Dickerson, Wally Haas, Randy Swikle, Pam Lannom.
Guest present: Curt Chandler, Penn State University
Boehlefeld called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Minutes of the Sept. 12 meeting were approved unanimously (Johnson motion / Wiegert second)
Executive Secretary's report:
Johnson said the Fall Conference is ready to go. 65 people are registered,
down from 80 last year. He also hopes to do another conference in Chicago
in spring 2009, similar to the one held this past summer.
President's report:
As tradition dictates, Boehlefeld presented the highly coveted Rhino Award
to Nenni, who will be incoming president in January.
Treasurer's report:
Slonoff reported a checking account balance of $7,666.30, plus $5.94 in
savings - the same as in his Sept. 12 report. Report accepted unanimously
Program Committee report:
Nenni said the Oct. 24 Fall Conference includes two speakers: Curt Chandler
from Penn State University, and Steve Buttry, editor of the Cedar Rapids
(Iowa) Gazette.).
Education Committee report:
Etheredge said the Best of the Press tabloid, featuring this year's contest
winners, is printed and ready to distribute. The board thanked the Ledger
Sentinel and Record Newspapers for printing it.
Membership Committee: No report.
Communication Coordinator report:
Killam said NIU will host a 3 ½-day high school journalism workshop
next July, and NINA journalists likely will be asked to help out. More on
that in the coming months.
Old business: An ad hoc committee (Nagel, Cain, Ruthhart and Killam) formed to review NINA's mission statement and bylaws reported back. The proposed new mission statement is:
"NINA's mission is to advance the quality, integrity and credibility of journalism and journalism education in northern Illinois."
And then each year, at the January meeting, the board or executive committee would come up with a short, bulleted list of how NINA will pursue that mission in that year.
Since the mission statement is part of NINA's constitution, a change will require a two-thirds vote at a general membership meeting. That meeting will be set soon.
New business: None.
Next meeting: Friday, Dec. 5, Northern Star office, NIU-DeKalb.
Meeting adjourned at 8 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Jim Killam,
communications coordinator, 11-3-08.
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