- Call to order and welcome by President Barb Haag-Heitman
- Introduction of the Delta Gamma Board, Committee Members
and members attending meeting.
- Overview of the Delta Gamma Strategic Plan
Board and Committee Reports:
- Programs and Induction
- Leadership Succession
- Research
- Communications/Web Site
- Governance
- Proposal to add Alverno College to Delta Gamma
Chapter to form Delta Gamma At Large Chapter
- Voting on above proposal by membership in attendance.
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4:05 p.m. by Barb
Haag-Heitman
Members and guests provided brief introductions.
Barb H-H gave an overview of the Delta Gamma Strategic
Plan, which is that of creating welcoming environments,
and informed all that it is available on the Delta Gamma
website. Barb H-H also announced the fall/winter educational
reception preceding the business meeting and encouraged
all to attend.
Barb H-H mentioned the continued challenges the chapter
faces with recruitment and retention of members. Discussion
revolved around this topic, including the newly established
Facebook account for the chapter. In addition, all
communications are now online with few exceptions for those
who do not have an email address and desire correspondence
via U.S. mail. Mary Darling mentioned despite the recruitment
challenges; the chapter has a fairly large membership.
Barb H-H indicated currently there are 386 active members.
The inactive status at this time, however, exceeds active
membership at approximately 1400.
Pat Schroeder shared her experience with interviewing
individuals for faculty positions at Alverno, and how many
of those individuals consistently mention they are members
of STTIDG which says something to the commitment to nursing
scholarship and characteristics that STTIDG embodies, which
is an element of membership that is important for students,
practicing nurses, and faculty. It says something about who
we (STTIDG) are and commitment to a higher level of practice. Barb
H-H thanked Pat for the endorsement.
Barb H-H discussed various levels of involvement as well
as the benefits of membership at the local and national
level. Maureen Green shared several positive experiences
she has had as a member through mentoring and projects
which have provided great learning experiences as well
as networking opportunities with individuals from all over
the country. Maureen Green stressed the numerous opportunities
available to members including leadership and international
conventions. Barb H-H shared an example of a recent
positive experience in Singapore where she was welcomed
with open arms as a member. New members are also given
the opportunity to attend leadership conferences.
The other areas DG are exploring as a focus of STTI is
that of contributing to global health and creating a legacy
of personal leadership. For global health DG is looking
to see how we can advance the global health in our own
community because when one advances anything in their own
community advancement occurs for the whole. One of
the projects, for example, DG has been supporting in conjunction
with the MUSNA for the past 2 years is literacy at the
Marquette Neighborhood Health Center. Project BEYOND,
a HRSA federally funded project to increase nursing workforce
diversity, is another good example of levels of diversity
in terms of language and cultural diversity and perhaps
expanding our relationship with that project. Other projects,
that give purpose and meaning to the global community are
being explored. For example DG is looking to see how MU
nursing students can be supported overseas. More information
about our strategic plan and how members can be involved
is located on the STTI-DG website.
Committee Reports
Diane Dressler, faculty advisor, is responsible for eligibility
and induction, however she could not be at tonight’s
meeting. Any questions about eligibility and induction
should be addressed to Diane. Barb H-H stressed the
induction opportunities for community members, in addition
to induction for students at the college level. Community
membership offers an open period throughout the year. Online
and in person induction are available. However, in person
induction is highly encouraged because it helps introduce
new members to the community as well as create a sense
of community. In addition, many members attend the inductions.
With online induction, we tend to lose track of members.
So there are advantages and disadvantages for both. Criteria
for induction are on the website. International is
looking to be more global, but the intent of the virtual
chapter, for example, is to capture individuals on a broader
scale. There are two ways to become inducted. Student
and community member. Criteria for community membership
include having a baccalaureate level and leadership contribution
to the community of nursing.
Programming
We are also required to have two annual educational program
offerings per year according to the bylaws. The office
of the vice-president is responsible for this, which is
Maureen OReilly. Barb H-H mentioned some of the programming
done in previous years at joint Milwaukee chapters meetings.
Last year, for example, we looked at global community involvement
and student experiences studying abroad. This year we’d
like to propose panel presentations about the IOM and the
Future
of Nursing - Report
Maureen O’Reilly and Barb H-H – The Milwaukee
chapters come together for joined chapter meetings. Last
year we look at global involvement from the community. This
year we are looking at the IOM report about the future
of nursing. Recommendations for speakers included
Sally Lundeen (UW-Milwaukee), Karlenn Kerfoot (Aurora Health
Care), and Cathy Rick (CNO of the VA system), Peggy Troy,
however; members were encouraged to submit suggestions
of other nurse leaders and members. It was also suggested
that we take a more intergenerational perspective and include
students as well as accomplished professional nurses.
Maureen O’Reilly suggested it may be interesting
to have a reactor panel comprised of three people that
represent various areas of nursing. Members were encouraged
to submit ideas for this panel to Maureen O’Reilly. Please
send recommendations to Maureen O’Reilly
Lastly, this will be Maureen O’Reilly’s last
year as vice-president and Barb H-H encouraged members
to apply when the position opens.
Dr. Richard Fehring provided a brief overview of upcoming
research event SEW Consortium for Research (Bridges Conference)
slated for on May 13, 2011. Speakers at this event
will include: Dr. Cheryl Beck - Keynote
as well as speaker at a breakout session), Dr. Rachel
Shipman, Associate Dean at UWM(luncheon speaker), directors
from the PhD programs in Milwaukee will be a part of a
panel discussion on PhD and DNP programs, Dr. Katherine
Schroeder(MUCN faculty) will present information on research
ethics, and Dr. Margret Bull (MUCN faculty) will present
information on Geriatric Research.
- The call for research proposals for Delta Gamma is
due April 1, 2011 will be supported at a level of $3,000.
Any member is eligible. Dr. Fehring will put the announcement
out again.
- Barb H-H informed members that Dr. Fehring was recently
inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as a Fellow.
All congratulated Dr. Fehring.
Leadership Succession Committee
Maureen Green informed members of the tasks of the Leadership
Succession committee under the strategic plan. One of
these tasks includes building a roster of nominations
for open positions for the board and appointed members. The
following open positions for next spring’s roster
are vice-president who is program committee chair, president-elect
2011-2012 to learn role of presidency and assumes role
of president in 2012-2014, treasurer (2 year term), board
member for an “at large” affiliate we are
considering today and will have further discussion on
this, leadership succession committee members which
include two open positions and two appointed positions
by self-nomination that are reviewed by the board
for the leading edge publicity chair for the DG
website to help with disseminating information to the
members, and the research chair position. We
will be soliciting those at the beginning of the year. The
committee members that are on leadership succession will
be utilizing multiple methods of selecting nominations,
self-nominations, and nominations from the members. We
also have a strategic plan to look over the Chapter Key
Award which is an online submission of chapter activities
over a two year period. We are reviewing the chapter
key criteria in an effort to identify gaps and meet criteria.
Treasurer’s Report
We started our fiscal year with $44,174 with a current
balance of $41,769. A
question was raised about whether or not the chapter
had any investments. Mary Darling indicated that
the chapter did not have any investments partly due to
challenges of accessing funds in the past, which has
since then been resolved. Discussion also revolved
around the need for a CPA audit. Pat Schroeder recommended
a CPA firm that has worked with a number of small businesses
(Tom Kosler CPA). Several other suggestions
were made including exploration of investing a quarter
of the chapter assets into some form of third party entity
IRA. Other topics included questions about
the role and salary of the webmaster. Barb H-H
and Mary Polchert provided a brief overview of the extensive
amount of work the webmaster does as well as his timely
responsiveness for the amount he is paid quarterly. In
summary, the challenge for the treasurer has been seeking
someone to conduct an audit, making sure the right signatures
are on the accounts to ensure smooth transitions for
future officers, and exploring investments options.
Governance Committee
Co-chairs Diane Dressler and Barb H-H have been meeting
with Pat Schroeder and Patty Varga from Alverno for the
past several months to discuss the possibilities of forming
an “at large” Delta Gamma chapter with
Marquette. Every member was sent a letter in October
introducing the topic and background that had been done
to date as well as inviting members to attend this business
meeting and/or contact President Barb H-H about their
level of support or answer questions. The letter outlined
the discussion Margaret Callahan, Pat Schroeder, and
Barb Haag-Heitman had regarding the likeness between
the two colleges of nursing as well as goodness of fit
in terms of mission, vision, and values. The
board was also in support of moving forward with the
possibilities of becoming an “at large” chapter
with Alverno. If all are in agreement with moving forward
with an “at large” chapter, it would mean
a name change, as well as change in our operations such
as inductions, additional board positions so that both
colleges would have representation. Barb
H-H asked Pat Schroeder to provide a history of Alverno
College at this time.
Pat Schroeder
“MU has always been a home to me and as one of the charter members
of DG chapter I am proud to have a long affiliation with MUCN and
relationships with all of you, but now Patty Varga and I have a second
home, which is Alverno College. Alverno was established 125 years ago
in the Milwaukee Community by the Schools Sisters of St Francis and at that
time was created as a school for education. Eighty years ago a school of nursing
was established within Alverno College so for 80 years the Milwaukee community
has been blessed with nurses graduating from that program as well. In
mid-1970’s
Alverno took a very innovative step to create a new model for education
as people think about the Alverno experience and curriculum- it is an ability
based and performance focused model. It’s an organization
that believes that you can’t
only know, you have to be able to do. In so doing they established
eight major abilities which are values that are very consistent with
Marquette’s
philosophy and ongoing commitment. Those eight abilities result
in certain performance expectations for all students throughout their
curriculum. As
those performances and assessments are guided by criteria and evaluated
consistently over the course of the curriculum; it ends up being an
ungraded system. This is an important thing to note about Alverno. Beyond
being ungraded, so that students get successful around successful
assessments within their courses, it is highly focused on criteria
and outcomes and based on essentials of baccalaureate education guided
by CCNE, and an accredited program for its long rich history. So
I will assure you that the students at Alverno meet a very high gold
standard in their performance. Currently, we have almost 800
undergraduate students and we may be the largest school of nursing
in the state, but because we don’t have clear data on the schools
of nursing and enrollment within the state of Wisconsin, we can’t
exactly know. Students are admitted
from their freshmen year to a nursing major and are supported throughout
their curriculum in many innovative ways and by a wonderful long-term
faculty. We
have 25 full-time faculty , about 30 additional part-time clinical
faculty, and another team of about 40 additional registered nurses
who support the process with the skills lab supports and a variety
of clinical mentoring and tutoring. People
are proud to be Alverno grads in much the same way Marquette has that
ongoing commitment and connection with the people who graduate. It’s
a wonderful school with a great rich history and as such its leadership
team talked for the last several years about having a Sigma Theta
Tau Chapter. They have a commitment to scholarship and their characteristics
on love and courage are very important to the Alverno system. However,
as we looked at the expectations for establishing an independent chapter,
one of the things we recognized was a huge volume commitment. We
had to have a volume of ongoing full-time members to start and it
always ended as being a barrier for the school, and as a result, our
years of thinking and hoping for STTI chapter never resulted in achievement
or the active pursuit. As we began thinking about how
we could do this differently we began looking around the state of
Wisconsin for other models. We found that the “at-large” chapter
model is in existence and has been alive and well in the state of
Wisconsin. There
are two different dyads w/in the state of WI one which
was a founded before Delta Gamma came into existence which is the
partnership b/w UW-Madison and Edgewood College. They have a long
and rich history. Likewise a chapter
that was formed after Delta Gamma is the relationship between
UW-Greenbay and Belton college. They have established guidelines
as well as maintaining a healthy partnership with no apparent conflicts
or issues. All four partners
rave about the model and believe they are a stronger chapter
because of the partnership they have created. Therefore, Margaret
Callahan, Barb H-H, Patty and I began to investigate those other
chapter to see if this was a possibility with Alverno and Marquette.
So as we put forward this opportunity we do it from the standpoint
of wanting to create a win-win, because it doesn’t
work otherwise. We have a high level of enthusiasm
and Patty being a guiding leader in our work on the steering
committee within the Alverno faculty has created a body
of enthusiasm. There is a commitment moving forward,
we have seven faculty members who are, 7 already DGSTTI
members as well as another 10 STTI members who would be
happy to be a part of this new relationship. We
would love to make a commitment to move forward and enhance
this chapter. Of
course our very first conversation was could we assure
that we would never have to change the name “Delta
Gamma”, which absolutely would be
a foundational expectation and would be called “Delta
Gamma at Large”. So
we look forward to this and hope you would seriously consider
this opportunity.”
Dr. Margaret Callahan: “From MUCN’s perspective,
we also feel it would be good opportunity as a win-win.
We have also talked about this among our faculty and we
think there is a way to enrich what we are doing. Certainly
the strengths of both colleges, that have very mature values,
make good sense. From the perspective of the faculty we
are looking forward to this opportunity.”
Dr. Barb Haag-Heitman. “The board felt there
is a goodness of fit both being Catholic organizations
and there weren’t that many degrees of separation.
For instance, PattyVarga is a Marquette doctoral student,
a DG member, and faculty at Alverno. I am an Alverno
graduate and President of DG. We didn’t get
very far away from MUCN and we hear more and more of those
kinds of stories from other members which reinforces the
goodness of fit with MUCN. The board also discussed inviting
other schools of nursing that do not have chapters, but
there wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm or support
among the board members for that. So we are not looking
to just bring anyone in as a partner and Delta Gamma feels
that Alverno is the right partner. I think this idea
of an “at large” chapter is one we are seeing
around the country and in our own state.”
Barb H-H also mentioned that Sara Morgan, STTI Region Four
Coordinator, was included in the task force. Maureen
Green, who played that role in the recent past, indicated
that STTI has tried to have an established vision for creativity
in terms of benefits because of the recognition of the
time commitment involved in starting and maintaining a
chapter. A small geographic location like Milwaukee can
easily become inundated by chapters, therefore, the “at
large” chapter is a strategy that is really endorsed
by STTI to prevent undermining the mechanisms within these
small geographical areas and do things together for all
to benefit. Dr. Green provided several examples of the
benefits other “at large” chapters have experienced
such as huge inductions and the momentum they have gained.
Margaret Callahan also stressed the fundamental reason
for this decision is driven by the goodness of fit and
shared values between MUCN and Alverno.
Maureen Green mentioned that as board members, we may want
to encourage other universities to look at starting “at large” chapters
rather than starting new chapters or struggling to increase and retain membership.
Barb H-H: “In summary, we have met, looked at the
criteria, created a timeline for the criteria and looking
at June 1st to move forward with this process. However,
we need the membership’s support.”
Barb H-H opened the floor for questions:
- Diane Hankes asked a question about eligibility in
terms of the details involved and importance of ensuring
eligibility, and whether there were going to be joint
inductions. Maureen Green indicated there are mechanisms
in place at the national level for chapters to adhere
- to. Also, joint inductions are not mandatory.
- Pat Schroeder stressed the importance of creating a
set of guidelines, as discussed by the task force, to
further develop a policy and procedures manual by both
chapters to support the direction for current and future
board members.
- Mary Ann Mosley asked if the current board members
would be replaced if an “at large” chapter
were to establish between both chapters. Dr. Maureen
Green indicated there would be a transition period where
the chapter would continue with its current members until
the next election period, however, a representative from
Alverno would be added until the elections took place
because of the importance of having representation from
both chapters. The board recognized there will
be numerous details to work out.
- Mary Darling had questions regarding finances and keeping
general membership apprise about financial questions. All
agreed this was an excellent question and the board will
be reviewing and adhering to established national guidelines.
- Maureen O’Reilly suggested having a few bullet
points in a dedicated location on the website to keep
members informed, in addition to the already established
blog.
- Several concerns were raised about membership who do
not readily check the website and may have issues at
a later time because of their lack of awareness. Barb
reassured the board and membership present about the
procedural steps taken to ensure all membership was informed
(inform members 30 days prior to voting with ¾ vote
of membership present at business meeting).
Maureen O’Reilly made the following motion and seconded
by Diana Hankes:
"I move that the Delta Gamma Board proceed with completing all the prescribed
Sigma Theta Tau International requirements necessary to add Alverno College
of Nursing to the Delta Gamma Chapter - thus creating a Delta Gamma At Large
Chapter."
Ballots were distributed and tallied.
The motion on the table has passed 100%.
Announcements
Shirley Larson, past board member, has retired from the
VA and was presented with a thank you certificate at her retirement
celebration from Delta Gamma for her years of active involvement with
Delta Gamma, including serving on the board. Maureen Green announced
a 75th celebratory event at hosted by MUCN and St. Joseph on April 17th,
2011. Everyone will be receiving invitations.
Meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m. by President Barb Haag-Heitman |
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