2008 July

Board Notes, July 2008

Prepared by Margaret van Sicklen

On July 10, 2008 Acting President Marc Kirschenbaum called the meeting to order at 8:10 pm. He welcomed the old and new board members: Marcio Noguchi, Marc Kirschenbaum, Toby Schwartz, Margaret Van Sicklen, Ros Joyce, Rachel Langley, Janet Yelle, Ruthanne Bessman, Wendy Zeichner, Shrikant Iyer, Robert Lang and Rachel Langley our office administrator.

Earlier this year we carried out a survey of OrigamiUSA members and (via the web) various nonmember communities. The results of the survey are now posted on the website.

The Board discussed the four candidates that had expressed interest in the one remaining open remote seat. The four candidates for consideration were: Eric Gjerde, Anne LaVin, Daniel Robinson and Michael Weinstein. After review of each candidate’s statement the board had a lively discussion and a Board majority voted in favor of Eric Gjerde. Welcome Eric we are glad to have you on board! Marc took the action to write and thank each of the candidates individually.

Wendy Zeichner reported that Michael Naughton of the Election Committee is happy to stay on in the same role. And we are happy to have him - Thanks Michael. Shrikant Iyer and Margaret Van Sicklen both volunteered to join the committee.

  • Many board members stepped up to fill committee vacancies:
  • Toby Schwartz stepped up to join and Chair the Membership Policy Committee.
  • Ruthanne Bessman volunteered to join the Policies & Procedures Committee.
  • Wendy Zeichner volunteered to join the Policies & Procedures Committee.
  • Marcio Noguchi volunteered to Chair for the Exhibition Committee.
  • Ros Joyce joined the Exhibition Committee.

The Committees thank you.

Membership Committee reported 1672 current members, up from same time last year 1613 members and up from last month 1659 members.

Rachel Langley expressed sincere thanks to office volunteers Clara Onishi, Kathryn Wagner, Lily Tamanaha and Frances Matsuo for whom without their consistent efforts, a large percentage of what is processed out of the home office would not be possible. Rachel asked the Board to recognize the dedication of these specific members. The board requested that the volunteer recognition committee make a specific request for approval.

Toby Schwartz reported Issue #99 of The Paper would feature the OUSA Convention 2008. She is currently waiting on content from several contributors. She expects to have it out well before World Origami Days begins at the end of October.

March Kirschenbaum reported that the Annual Collections were printed and arrived in time for the 2008 convention. This year, the Annual Collection will also be offered for sale through Amazon.com post-convention, and the proofs for the Amazon version had been received and were reported to look great. At meeting time, pricing for the Amazon version had not yet been set.

Shrikant Iyer reported fundraisings efforts at the convention were successful. There were 51 donations, 45 of them were extra generous and they received the DVD premium that was offered for higher levels of donation. He suggested the idea of an OrigamiUSA fundraising effort at the Stony Brook Origami Conference on August 3rd. He will email the Board with a formal proposal of this idea.

Robert Lang reported that the convention registration pages had been taken down from the website and replaced with a post-convention summary page. Convention 2008 photos will be posted to the OUSA website on this summary page very soon.

Ros Joyce reported the Annual Gift for the upcoming Holiday Tree it will be a Saars Star. There will also be a folding session for models for the Tree on August 8thin the Museum.

Margaret reported that planning has started for World Origami Days (October 24 – November 11) and that she would be preparing materials to update the WOD website.

The Meeting was adjourned at 9:43pm.