SWS SOUTH CENTRAL CHAPTER
Fall Business Meeting Minutes
October 22, 2010 – Oxford, MS

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Officers
Matt Stahman – President - Present
Carol Thompson – President Elect - Present
Julia Cherry – Past President - Present
Robbie Kröger – Treasurer - Present
Rebecca Howard – Secretary - Present

Board
Diane DeSteven – Present
Samuel Pierce – Present
Jayme Shiner – Not Present
Chuck Walker – Not Present


Call to Order
The 2010 Fall business meeting of the South Central Chapter was called to order by President Matt Stahman at 1:45 PM on 22 October 2010.

Quorum
Secretary Rebecca Howard declared a quorum, with a total of 26 Chapter members present. President Stahman welcomed and thanked all for their attendance. He then introduced the Chapter officers and Board members in attendance at the meeting.

Past Meeting Minutes
Copies of the minutes from the 2010 spring meeting in Salt Lake City, UT were distributed for review by Secretary Howard. A motion was made to accept the minutes as written. The motion was seconded and the minutes were approved by a membership vote.

Treasurer Report
Treasurer Robbie Kroger reported that the Chapter assets as of 20 October 2010 were $18,512.54. Other items highlighted from the report include:

• Student awards granted for travel to this Chapter meeting totaled $800.
• Although the Chapter approved $2,000 to support the participation of an undergraduate student from an underrepresented group in biological sciences at the SWS 2010 annual meeting in Salt Lake City, the student failed to attend the meeting. Therefore the Chapter will incur no costs for this program in 2010.
• The Board voted to provide $1,750 to support President Stahman's travel to the annual SWS meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2011. Kroger noted that the Chapter has a stated goal to retain at least $8,000 in the checking account.

Kroger noted that the Chapter has a stated goal to retain at least $8,000 in the checking account.

Standing Committee Reports

• Membership. Treasurer Kroger reported that current Chapter membership as of 1 January 2010 stands at 323. A total of 24 new members was recruited from the plant identification workshops held in the summer of 2010.
• Program. No Report.
• Nominations. No Report
• Archives. Rebecca Howard reported that the archives continue to be maintained at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, LA. Plans to eventually scan the hard copies of old records to create digital files have not been achieved to date.
• Bylaws and Standing Rules. No report
• Special Issues. No report

Special Committee Reports

• Chapter Poster. President Cherry reported that Emily Greer has completed the poster design. A copy will be printed that can be carried or sent to meetings for display.

Old Business

• Annual SWS Meeting. President Stahman reported that the Chapter had expressed interest to the International Board in hosting the SWS Annual Meeting in 2013. However, because SWS and INTECOL are co-hosting a meeting in Orlando Florida in July 2012, the Board does not wish to hold two consecutive meetings in the southeast. The Chapter now proposes to host either the 2014 or 2015 meeting, with Mobile, Alabama as the meeting location.
• Workshops. Treasurer Kroger said that two successful plant identification workshops were held in 2010, in San Marcos, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The workshops recruited 24 new Chapter members. Information on continuing education credits for consulting firm staff will be posted soon on the Chapter website.
• Undergraduate Mentoring Program. The Chapter Board has approved continued participation in this program and will provide funds in the 2011 budget to support a student from our region to attend the meeting in Prague, Czech Republic.
• Proposed By-Laws Change. President Stahman noted that a change to the Chapter By-Laws, Article III 3(a), to extend the president, president-elect, and past-president positions from a oneyear to a two-year term was proposed at the business meeting in Denton, TX in November 2009 and discussed at the business meeting in Salt Lake City in June 2010. The SWS wishes to standardize presidential terms to two years across all chapters to provide continuity at Society Board meetings. President Stahman noted that a vote on the measure is now due. The current wording in Article III 3(a) and the proposed changes are:
  
  Current: "The President, President-elect, and Past-president shall serve for a period of one year or until the next annual meeting, and the Secretary, the Treasurer and Board members shall serve for a period of two years. Board members shall be elected to serve two-year terms, so that in each calendar year, two new Board members are elected and two will rotate off the Executive Board, with four elected Board members serving in overlapping years.
  
  Proposed Change: "The President, President-elect, Past-president, Secretary, Treasurer and Board members shall serve for a period of two years. Board members shall be elected to serve two-year terms, so that in each calendar year, two new Board members are elected and two will rotate off the Executive Board, with four elected Board members serving in overlapping years."
  
  
  • A motion to accept to proposed By-Laws change was made by Diane DeSteven.
  • The motion was seconded by Julia Cherry.
  • Discussion was opened; no discussion occurred.
  • A vote was called, and the motion to change the Chapter By-Laws, Article III 3(a), as noted above was passed by a majority vote of the members in attendance.

  New Business

  • Proposed Student Clubs. Diane Schneider reported that a club for students at Alabama universities was approved at the International Board meeting in Salt Lake City in June 2010. The Club will facilitate contact between students and will help them to share research ideas and progress.
  • Future Meetings. The tentative proposal put forward by Eddie Mullholland at the Salt Lake City meeting to host the Fall 2011 meeting at the Red River Research Station near Shreveport, Louisiana has been withdrawn. President-elect Carol Thompson will seek potential hosts for this meeting in either Little Rock, Arkansas or Lafayette, Louisiana.
  • Outreach. President Stahman called for new ideas for outreach efforts. No idea were submitted by members.
  • Nominations. Past-President Cherry announced that four new positions will be filled in spring elections. The positions are President-elect, Treasurer, and two board members; all members elected to these positions will serve two-year terms. Cherry noted that potential candidates should make a commitment to attempt attendance at Chapter meetings. She encouraged any member interested in becoming more involved with the Chapter to submit their names as candidates.

  Other Business

  No additional business items for discussion were presented by the membership.

  President Stahman called for a motion to close the Business Meeting. A motion was made, seconded, and approved by membership vote. The meeting was adjourned at 2:20 PM.

Addendum
The student presentation awards were:

• 1st Place: Rick Zarate, University of North Texas, Denton
• 2nd Place: Alex Littlejohn, Mississippi State University
• Poster: Matthew Dempsey, University of North Texas, Denton

Prepared by Rebecca Howard, Secretary
March 12, 2011