2008 Board, Committees, Sections & Focus Group Meetings - Alphabetical
2008 Board, Committees, Sections & Focus Group Meetings - Chronological

2007 Family Science Section Minutes (pdf document)
2007-2008 Family Science Section Work Plan (pdf document)

NCFR Family Science Section
Minutes of the Section Business Meeting
November 7, 2007
Pittsburgh, PA

Welcome and Introductions:
Chairperson Sandra Bailey called the meeting to order at 8:00 pm. Each person in attendance introduced themselves. The following people attended: Beckie Adams, Sandra Bailey, Deb Berke, Jennie Dilworth, Susan Ericksen, Deb Gentry, Kathy Gilbert, Raeann Hamon, Jason Hans, Tammy Harpel, Claudia Heath, Christina Higgins, Jesse Higgins, Mary Ann Hollinger, Cody Hollis, Mike Merten, Bahira Sherif-Trask, Karina Shreffler, Laura Smart, Michael Storm, Susan Takigiku, Amanda Williams, Sue Williams.

Sandra Bailey introduced the section officers in attendance: Tammy Harpel, Vice Chair;  and Jennie Dilworth, Secretary/Treasurer.

Approval of 2006 Minutes and Section Financial Report:
Jennie Dilworth, Secretary/Treasurer, distributed a sign-up sheet for those who would like to be reviewers, presiders or discussants at the 2008 NCFR Conference (see attached). She circulated a copy of the Family Science Section Meeting Minutes for 2006 completed by then-secretary Tammy Harpel and distributed  copies of the June 2007 Section Financial Statement (the most recent statement that could be obtained prior to the conference). As of June 2007, the balance is $2,280.13. Jennie noted that some additional costs that will show up on the next financial statement include the $200 Wes Burr award and cost of the plaque. Further, beginning in January 2008, each section will receive $2500 and there will no longer be section fees. The $2500 will be added to whatever remaining balance is held in reserve for the section at the end of 2007. However, the $2500 received each year must be spent in that year and cannot be carried forward into subsequent years. A motion to approve the minutes and financial report was made, seconded, and carried.

Budget for 2008:
Sandra Bailey discussed several budgetary items. First, she raised the possibility of sending new Section Chairs to a half-day training session at future Spring meetings. This is a new training being offered by NCFR to help train new section chairs. The training takes place in the location of the subsequent conference, therefore, travel costs will vary. It was also clarified that the expense for this would only occur every other year since Section Officers serve 2-year terms. After discussion, Becky Adams moved that  $1000 from the budget be used for the half-day training. After additional discussion, the motion was  amended to include the provision that this be done initially on a trial basis, then re-evaluated. The amended motion passed unanimously.

Another possible budget item involves co-sponsoring a session at the 2008 conference. Program Chair Anisa Zvonkovic approached Sandra Bailey about our section co-sponsoring a Teaching Update for Teachers at the 2008 Conference. It was suggested that the section could sponsor or co-sponsor a TUT on service learning. Although Anisa did not ask for money, this is one way we could spend some of our budget. Another option is to use the budget to bring in a well-known speaker. Another suggestion was to donate the unspent balance of our annual budget to Heifer International to avoid losing the money. A motion was made to explore this option further, was seconded and passed.

Request for Officer Candidates for 2008-2010 Term:
Sandra issued a call for candidates for the next election. The following members volunteered to run as follows:
Chair: Tammy Harpel, Claudia Heath
Vice Chair: Jason Hans, Susan Takigiku
Secretary/Treasurer: Karina Shreffler, Rhonda Buckley, Scott Hall
Student/New Professional: Brian Willoughby, Michael Sturm, Jesse Higgins

 Motion passed to accept this slate of officers.

Presentation of Wes Burr Award:
Tammy Harpel explained the procedures for reviewing student papers submitted for the award. Students who submitted section proposals to be presented at the conference were invited to submit a 15-page paper for award consideration. The review committee consisted of 3 reviewers. Amanda Williams of Oklahoma State University was declared the winner and received a $200 check, certificate, and plaque. Sandra Bailey thanked Tammy for developing the rating criteria for the papers.

Call for Submissions for 2008 Conference:
Sandra Bailey stated that conference submissions were up this year for our section (40+). The more submissions we have, the more slots we have on the program. Therefore, more submissions will increase the section’s visibility. In preparing the 2007 conference program, Sandra tried to group 3-4 papers with some similarities into a session. Papers that are “outliers” may be put in a poster or some other type if it doesn’t go with the other accepted submissions. She explained that with roundtable submissions, our section gets only one roundtable, not an entire session. Symposia take up the equivalent of 4 papers from another format. She asked that when submitting a proposal for the conference we consider carefully if the best format is a workshop or roundtable since they use up more of our slots than a poster or paper. Posters are easy to fit in and there is a little more flexibility with slots. There was about an 80% acceptance rate for submissions to our section this year. Appropriate topics for submission to our section include: training, identity, and development of family scientists; teaching/pedagogy; family researchers; practice, techniques, and ethical issues related to technology and family.

Write-Ups for NCFR Report:
Sections are to submit four write-ups annually for the NCFR Report. These can be short articles of 150-200 words written for the section. Sandra will be asking for volunteers to give ideas and/or write articles for the Report to help disseminate more information about and promote the section.

Announcements:
A call for proposals for the June 2008 Family Science Association Conference to be held in Savannah, GA was distributed. Members were invited to submit proposals on service and experiential learning.

Mary Ann Hollinger announced there are two faculty positions at Messiah College and a Dean’s position.

Bahira Sherif-Trask will be editing a special issue of the Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal. She invited us to submit abstracts by Nov. 15.

Bahira Sherif-Trask, Deb Gentry, and Deb Berke are section members who are also representatives on the NCFR Board. They welcome feedback on the conference.

Adjournment:
Sandra requested that any ideas or feedback on the section be sent to her via the listserv.

Sandra thanked everyone for attending, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 pm.

Discussant/Presider/Reviewer List
NCFR 2008