November Steering Committee Summary

The current and new steering committee members and officers met on November 11 for the day to plan the programs for the 2011 year. They took suggestions from the September Westerbeke retreat discussion, the October annual meeting, and the membership survey and sorted them out into long term and short term objectives. The short term objectives guided the meeting content for 2011. The long term objectives would require more discussion and information. One of those is the subject of scholarships which will be taken up at the January steering committee meeting. Information that is needed to inform the discussion are the following:
a. Eligibility for scholarships
b. What do the scholarships fund?
c. Do the scholarships go to the institution, organization, program or the student directly?
d. How much for an individual scholarship and what is the time period?
e. Do we want to see any sort of report after the scholarship period from the student or program?
f. What programs are already established for scholarships and what is their purpose? Do we contribute individual scholarships to their program or some other alternative?

The Steering Comittee voted to subsidize the Book Circle Proposed by Wendy Bertrand in the amount of $1,000 and agreed to look into a video history of the OWA for use on our web site and at the 40th anniversary. Leslie Golden will be working with the Women's Group of the EB AIA to schedule one or two group events which are mutually beneficial. Future details will follow and the complete Steering Committee minutes will be posted shortly.

The group also divided up responsibilities with the following coordinator
assignments:
Membership - Dede Tave
Finance - Judy Rowe
Newsletter - Gabriella Chamu
Programs - Leslie Golden
Policy and Procedures - Joanne Chow Winship
Information - Karlene Gullone
Public Relations - Susan Aitken
40th Anniversary - Gilda Puente-Peters

Judy Rowe will be going off the Steering Committee, but maintain her officer position as Treasurer. We will try to encourage her continued meeting participation as her reasoned voice and excellent facilitating skills have been a great asset to the meetings.

The committee decided to postpone to a membership planning retreat, the discussion of any revisions to the goals of the organization. There has been much interest in participating in this discussion which will be held in May on a Saturday with a professional facilitator. It was agreed to give ample notice to the entire membership of this planning retreat once the date and location are finalized.

The tentative schedule of activities for 2011include:
February 15 - Sales in Architecture by Anna Scott
April 19 - Healthy Alternatives for Interior Finishes & Materials by Jean Hansen
May (TBA)- Members' Visioning Workshop
June 7 - Personal Finances: Impact Investing by Lisa Kleissner
August - (TBA) - Women Architects by Inge S. Horton
September 16-18 - Westerbeke Retreat
October 18 - Annual Meeting
December - Holiday Party