President's Corner - February 26, 2106

News of the Day!

• Time marches on and so must we all…
• I have asked Dean Greg Hand to appoint Sonja Kelley as Interim Director. I agree with the Dean that they feel it is essential to have someone on site that can be available and knows the territory. Sonja’s hours will be increased until a new Director is in place.
• Linda Rudy has agreed to return as our representative of the School of Public Health. We appreciate Lillian Smith’s contributions to us and hope we can continue to work with her in other ways. Linda will be dropping by our offices regularly to check on our needs with Sonja and Diane and she and I are in frequent touch via phone or email.
• The Board appointed a committee to review and interview prospective Director candidates, hopefully within the next 2 weeks or so. We have 21 application in hand. I am assured that, because this is a FEAP position (Faculty Equivalent Academic Professional), we will be able to rank the candidates and recommend 3-4 qualified candidates to recommend to the Dean of SPH and expect that decision to carried to fruition. [The committee: Ann Davidson, Bob Craig, Jane Martin, Tom Rogers, Linda Rudy and Jim Held]
• Angela worked until the last minute of her final day completing projects to keep us on track until a new Director is hired, including the completed Spring Term Catalog, a final report, including financials and membership counts to the Board, and two very exciting new opportunities for us that will go before the Board on March 7 for discussion and votes. I’ll report on those items after the Board meeting.
• The winter term is winding to a close. The usual interest groups will carry on through the interval between terms.  We’ll keep you up to date on these activities in this Bulletin.
• The Spring Term catalog will go to the printer any moment, so you can expect that to come along soon.
• Augusoft Lumens will go live by March 16. Sonja will announce added training and we urge you to take advantage of the very small groups she’ll meet with to show you around the site.  Some of us sat in last Friday and I, for one, was very pleased by how simple it seems to operate. Each member will receive a username and password that you can actually get NOW if you want to poke around the site yourself. Ask Sonja…
• Ready to be e-quipped?

Don’t try to go too fast. Learn your job. Don’t ever talk until you know what you’re talking about…If you want to get along, go along. [Politician Sam Rayburn]

Never regret.  If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience. [Writer Victoria Holt]

I used to dread getting older because I thought I would not be able to do all the things I wanted to do, but now that I am older, I find that I don’t want to do them. [Lady Nancy Astor]

OK, one more…

The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his wife. [Historian Will Durant—Will and Ariel Durant were married for 68 years and died 6 weeks apart in 1981]

Jim Held, President