Texas Community College Journalism Association
Spring Business Meeting: TIPA Dallas
March 23, 2018
Call to order
A meeting of Texas Community College Journalism Association was held at Crown Plaza on March 23, 2018 at 10:00 AM.
Attendees
| Robert Muilenburg | Del Mar | rmuileuburg@delmar.com |
| Mandy Derfler | San Antonio College | aderfler@alamo.edu |
| Chris Whittley | Tarrant County | Christopherwhitley@tccd.edu |
| Kate Rhoads | Brookhaven | krhoads@dcccd.edu |
| Daniel Rodrigue | Brookhaven | dtrodrigue@dcccd.edu |
| Lori Dann | Eastfield College | Loridann@dccd.edu |
| Meg Fullwood | Richland | mfullwood@dccd.edu |
| Scott Beckett | Delmar | Sbeckett1@delmar.edu |
| Mandy Smith | North East Tx CC | msmith@ntcc.edu |
| Maddisun Fowler | Amarillo College | mfowler@actx.edu |
| Bob Templeton | Midland | Btemple@midland.edu |
| Mary-Margaret Peterson | Midland | mpeterson@midland.edu |
| Libby Stapleton | Angelina | Lstapleton@angelina.edu |
| Jan Anderson-Paxson | Angelina | jpaxson@angelina.edu |
| Jill Gibson | Amarillo | jlgison@actx.edu |
| Charlie Ehrenfeld | South Plains | Cehrenfeld@southplainscollege.edu |
| Billy Alonzo | South Plains | Balonzo@southplainscollege.edu |
| Beth Lanton | Eastfield | elizabethlangton@dccd.edu |
| Kathleen Stockmier | Northlake | Kstockmier@dccd.edu |
| Rachel Stallard | Kilgore | rstallard@kilgore.edu |
| Sarah Sheldon | East Field | Sarasheldon@dccd.edu |
| Rufus Lorett | Kilgore | rlovett@kilgore.edu |
| Rachel Jennische | Tyler | Rjen5@tjc.edu |
Approval of minutes
Minutes were approved with the following changes
Take off Charlie, and Jill, Scott Beckett
Add Maddison Fowler – Amarillo College
Bob Templeton made a motion to approve minutes as amended. Mandy Defler seconded. Motion approved; motion carried
Call to order
President Lori Dann of Eastfield College called the meeting to order.
Introduction of new advisers
Introduction of officers
Lori Dann will be rotating off as president. Daniel Rodrigue will be incoming president, Derik Gray will be incoming Vice President.
Mandy Derfler – nominated by Robert Mullienberg as incoming secretary. Libby stableton made a motion to accept, Chris Whitley seconded. Unanimous approval.
Officers for 2019
President – Daniel Rodrigue – Brookhaven College
Vice President – Derik Gray – Tyler Junior College
Secretary – Mandy Derfler – San Antonio College
Update on Executive Director’s report.
First meeting since bob resigned. Meeting with available advisers at CMA to discuss next steps at this meeting, Beth Francesco offered to help and serve as interim but unofficial executive director through the next TCCJA Convention at A&M -Commerce.
Lori mentioned that this is a big unpaid job and previously, the scope was too large for one person. She mentioned that at the CMA meeting, advisers discussed creating job descriptions and set responsibilities for officers in order to remove some of the burden from the executive director. It was also mentioned that perhaps an institution instead of a person should serve a role as executive director.
Robert Mullienberg mentioned that the benefit of being hosted by an institution could lead to having better support from an entire institution who supports community college journalism.
Bob Templeton stated that there was originally no intention on requiring a 4-year to be an executive director, however, it has worked out due to the lack of bias toward community college contests. It was also mentioned that it helps provide convention sites and serves as a recruiting tool.
Lori Dan mentioned that Bob Bajackson would like to stay on as an advocate for community college journalism and serve the point person for the Distinguished Adviser Hall of Honor.
Future of Organization
Beth Francesco, Interim Executive Director, stated the when she approached her supervisor, there were questions raised about the length of term, financial obligation and time obligation. There is currently not a description of what is required from the Executive Director.
Bob Templeton mentioned that there are questions about where the money could be. He did not know if it would be better for the treasurer to handle it or the host institution. Lori Dan mentioned that the Executive Director should have access to the ufnds no matter where they are hosted. Bob Templeton mention that it is easier if the treasurer and the executive director are from the same institution.
Lori mentioned that we should form a committee to create what needs to be done going forward. All officers will serve, Bob Templeton and Chris Whitley were also appointed to serve. The timeline for having recommendations are October 2018. Bob Templeton has volunteered to approach 3-4 universities about hosting. Robert Mulinberg reiterated the important need to clearly define all expectations expect from the Executive Director/institution. Templeton agreed. There are concerns from the committee on length of term, should it be defined as a 5 year rotating term or left open ended.
Beth brought up the possibility of paying the executive director person in order to ensure that the person feels compensated. Bob Templeton believes that it should remain volunteer, Rachel Stallard mentioned that there should be a stipend associated with the position. Mandy Smith agreed that it should be decided among the newly formed executive director committee. Bob Templeton noted that TIPA sent out a search packet when they found Fred Stewart for Executive Director. Their packet is available to use as a starting point for creating our own.
Lori Dan stated that the bylaws will have to be amended to update any upcoming changes.
Beth Francesco has agreed to create a proposal of what TCCJA officers responsibilities will be. She is the current TIPA president and will serve as an outsider to assign roles.
Lori Dann reiterated the need to quickly define and fill the roll of executive director and what is expected of the host institution in order to ensure a smooth convention at Baylor in 2018 and Lamar in 2019.
Open Discussion:
Lori Dann opened the floor to allow anyone to mention any issues that they may be having with the upcoming changes and air any grievances from the past.
Bob Templeton stated that will be leaving his institution and will try to still be involved in TCCJA. He noted that we do not need to let the 4-year institutions to beat down on 2-year institutions. He also mentioned that we need to take into consideration how everyone behaves with one another. We should treat one another better and not focus on contests and awards. Awards mean something, but we need to work harder at just doing a good job on what we are doing every day. We need to not put so much emphasis on certificates and more on experiences.
Robert Muilenberg mentioned the importance off keeping bob on as an advocate for 2-year institution and to increase the awareness of the Distinguished Adviser Hall of Honor.
Mandy Smith spoke of the importance of the support of TIPA of TCCJA. She mentions that many TIPA advisers went to a community college or have worked at a 2-year and that they often have a heart of 2-year advisers and students. Lori Dann stated the importance of keeping 2-year organizations healthy because so much of 4-year schools depends on 2-year institutions. Lori also mentioned that we need to ensure that there are not 2-uear schools that are a part of TIPPA that are not involved in TCCJA. Jill Gibson stated that it is vital that we remain united due to ACGM and accrediting issues.
Kathleen Stockmier asked why it is so important to have a 4-year college as the executive host. Bob Templeton mentioned that it is appealing ot the 2-year students to visit a university campus. Lori Dann mentioned that universities have more resources. Libby Stapleton stated that she thought a 2-year institution could do it if the correct school was there. Chris Whitley mentioned that if the idea 4-year institution wasn’t available, a 2-year could work. Templeton agreed. Robert Muilenberg stated that we are aiming for a 4-year institution with the resources, staffing and time to serve as the executive director but if that does not appear, we can begin looking at 2-year. He reiterated that buy in from any institution is the most important factor.
Treasurer’s Report
Bob Templeton noted that TCCJA has 4500-5000 in the treasury. He is expecting 7500-8000 from Bob Bajcackson from an account that has built up at Texas State from conventions over the several years.
Templeton clarified that there are 2 accounts one for convention and travel expenses that are run through the university and another account to deal with plaques and other expenses. The secondary account will be closed, and all accounts will be combined. Templeton noted that we will need to spend some money to get the account total below $5000 for IRS purposes. Lori Dan mentioned that there are some branding items that the money could be spent on.
Templeted noted that there is $7000 as a start toward expenses for Beth’s expenses toward the Commerce conference.
Interim executive director’s report
2018 convention is October ___ at A&M Commerce. Beth has met with coordinators at Commerce to plan activities and locations for students.
Future Sites – Baylor, 2019. Lamar, 2020.
Contest Recommendations – Material for previously published contest. Beth recommends that advisers have materials by April 1st and a return contest deadline date of June 1st. This will allow for more time with judges and a pad incase there are any submission issues. Her goal is to create a functional contest submission system for whoever the next person is.
Previously published contest recommendations
The committee recommended that we streamline some contests by removing some of the platform specific categories. There was also a recommendation to add some platform specific categories. The recommendations were emailed to TCCJA members. Scott Beckett mentioned the need to have both an editorial and critical review column contest. Beth Langton stated that they tried very hard on the committee not to add any contests without subtracting from somewhere else due to the large amounts of material that has to be judged. Lori Dan mentioned the removal of the sweepstakes award in each platform area that are essentially for giving awards for most awards. By removing each platform award and creating one award, it would reward schools for student media work as a whole.
Lori Dann encouraged more discussion- Jill Gibson mentioned that she agreed with the column change but had concerns with the lack of broadcast categories. Beth Langton mentioned that some broadcast categories mentioned the need for a script and recommended that the language be removed.
Journalist of the year
Robert Muilenburg stated that the Caller Times was unable to serve as the location of journalist of the year. The internship has been moved to the Tyler Morning Telegraph. It is a privately owned newspaper and able to make decisions quickly. Robert Believes that there will be more internships at the Caller Times in the future. He mentioned that he will continue to help with Journalist of the year, but it is a duty of the executive director.
Nominations of Distinguished Adviser Hall of Honor
Take nominations in Spring meeting – email out bios – vote and gather a minimum of 5 letters of support. Letters will go to Daniel Rodrigue – need to vote before and finalize for Fall meeting.
Mike Haynes was nominated by Jill Gibson seconded by Bob Templeton. Unanimous acceptance. 5 letters are due by June 1st.
Contests – add critical review – strike script – clarify headline language –
Robert Muilnberg made a motion to accept New contest with amended changes –
Seconded by Mandy Derfler. Unanimously accepted.
Adjournment
Maddisun Fowler made motion to close, seconded by Robert Muilenburg.
TCCJA 