MCPP Board of Directors Meeting Minutes October 17, 2021

October 17, 2021

Present:  Jerry Brandell, Peter Wood, Liam Faulkner, Miriam Goldstein, Karen Weber, Elizabeth Waiess, David Freiband, Eve Avrin, Linda Young, Shil Sengupta

President: Jerry Brandell

The Board approved the minutes for September 2021 with minor corrections.

Treasurer:  Eve Avrin: There have been few financial changes since May.  The major outlays in the last report were for Zoom renewal and for tax preparation. Since the MPC Foundation uses the Paypal account, this cannot be closed.  However, the bulk of funds in the Papal account can be transferred to the general fund.

Kasia has still not submitted an invoice for her activities so far.  Peter Wood will contact her.

Programs: David Freiband:

• a)       Using a game show format, David helped Board members understand the ways to deal with registration problems for Sunday presentations.  Registrants who have not changed their password after September 4, 2021, will need to update their passwords to be able to register.  This is the most common source of registration problems.  Save the date announcements outline the steps potential registrants need to take.  A very few people may not have current email addresses on file with MCPP, so the system doesn’t recognize them. They should contact Karen Weber to update their contact information.
• b)      The University of Michigan needs at least a month’s notice to cancel room reservations for Sunday presentations.  A discussion of the possibility of returning to in-person meetings included an inquiry (to be pursued by Peter Wood) of how larger organizations like AAPCSW handle in person meetings, the possibility of setting up hybrid meetings, and vaccination and testing policies.  We will need to be aware of current state regulations and University policies. Given the logistics and costs involved, we need to consider carefully what are the advantages of a change back to in-person meetings.  A survey could help gauge the wishes of the membership. We agreed that it makes sense to have virtual meetings when the speaker can’t be present.
• c)       We need to recruit speakers for the 2022-23 academic year.  Our ability to conduct programs will depend on having a functioning Board.

Membership: Linda Young

The new website is helping with membership needs. Some simplifying of membership categories is in process.  Letters will go to new and prospective members, for example non-members who have attended some of our presentations. The process for renewing membership is being simplified.  Although our future as an organization is uncertain, we will continue to solicit memberships.

Elections:  Marybeth Atwell

Almost all Board positions will come open next year. The Board needs to consider how  to recruit people and to find people  who will perhaps  collaborate on positions – for example co-chairs, or rotating presidencies.  Marybeth will get new or revised position descriptions to the next Board meeting.

Psychology CE credits:  Miriam Goldstein

Although Mary Nowack had to bow out of collaborating on this work, the position doesn’t seem onerous and Alice Michael, the previous CE person, has agreed to provide support.  Miriam will continue to evaluate whether she can handle the work alone.  The next re-application to the APA is in 2024.

By-law revision:  Peter Wood

Discussion of the revisions to Article 2 of the by-laws led to some changes in wording.  Peter will put together the revisions and send them to the Board for ratification at the next meeting in November 2021.