Montana Chapter of the ASA

The meeting was called to order by President Susan Hinkins.

1. REPORTS

1. The minutes from the 2004 Business Meeting were approved.

2. Sherry Heis presented the Treasurer's Report.

   Beginning Balance	(October 12, 2004)		$663.21
   Income
   	Montana Chapter Membership Dues:	$211.00
   	ASA Member Recruitment Prog:	100.00
   	Subtotal:		311.00
   Expenses
   	Catering for 2004 chapter meeting:	$-152.25
   	ASA Membership - Treasurer:	-85.00
   	Subtotal:		-237.25
   Ending Balance	(September 19, 2005)		$736.96

3. Jarrett Barber gave the Chapter Representative report.
   • Task Force for getting new members
     1. K-12 classes outreach with career day, poster competition, or science fair
     2. Identify new ASA memberts that are not chapter members - send out chapter letter
   • Trial affiliation with ΜΣΡ, a statistics honor society.
   • Headquarters moving to new ASA building.
   • There will be a new e-publication at AMSTAT.org website. Working title might be Biopharmaceutical Analysis.
   • Stratic Initiative - 2 page proposal to forward ASA mission.
   • Traveling course using leaders in field as instructors - should Montana apply as host location?
   • Jarrett will provide handouts if members are interested in other items.

2. OLD TOPICS
1. A copy of the Chapter Constitution was brought to the meeting. Susan Hinkins has a request to Monica Clark to provide the constitution ASA has on file for the Montana Chapter. Members made a motion to have the Executive Committee use the copy available combined with the copy Monica may provide and submit a final copy to be ratifed or amended. Motion approved.

2. The topic of book awards was revisited. A question was raised regarding how there could be a Montana Chapter of ASA Book Award but it had to be funded by each univerisity. There was an informal proposal to consider substituting the donut fund with a book award. The donut discussion continued below with new topics.
3. NEW TOPICS
   1. The Treasurer's Report initiated a discussion regarding donuts provided for yearly Chapter meetings. There were numerous donut references throughout the meeting. Members determined the donut expense was excessive and will be cut in half for the meeting next year. Also, the bagels will be eliminated next year.

   2. Our constitution specifies several standing committees. The first committee discussed was the Education Committee. There was a discussion regarding presenting Chapter Awards for various school activities such as math competitions at the state level. To present a Chapter Award, we need an award and review team, possibly presenting three $25 awards each year. Dave Patterson will check with Missoula area school competitions and see if this would be an appropriate arena for a statistics award. Organizers should contact the Executive Committee if an award is to be presented.

   3. The second standing committee discussed was the Publicity Committee. AMSTAT News is collecting short articles to publish from each region. Eventually, our chapter will need to write up a brief history and list of sponsored events to describe who we are and what we do. It is believed that a chapter history has already been written and Robert Boik will contact Ken Tiahrt to see if he has a copy. The President, Susan Hinkins, pointed out that the Secretary, Sherry Heis, has undertaken to put much historical material on the Chapter website and in general has made the website a very informative and interesting site. The minutes and programs going back to the early 1990's are available there. Members should check out the information and in particular prior to the next meeting, the Program will be available on the website. Somehow donuts came up in this discussion.

   4. The last standing committee discussed was the Membership Committee. Susan Hinkins tried to pull up non-chapter members who live in Montana. This was an expected new feature on the AMSTAT.org website but it isn't working correctly. The chapter needs to contact statisticians in Helena and invite them to chapter functions. If they are invited to chapter functions, they might possibly return as chapter members. We also need to do a better job to notify all chapter members when speakers are at one of the campuses. The chapter email list (MTASA@listserv.montana.edu) would be one way to advertise to all members. Another possible recruitment effort would be to get involved with the experimental association of ΜΣΡ with ASA. There was a discussion regarding requirements to establish a ΜΣΡ chapter and some members believed too much is required to make it practical while Rick Rossi had already checked and believed it was feasible. Believe it or not, there was yet another discussion regarding donuts. Members believed it would be impossible to recruit new chapter members if donuts were not provided at meetings.

4. ELECTIONS
   1. The current President, Susan Hinkins, becomes Past President.

   2. The current Vice President, Suzan Gazioglu, becomes President.

   3. Sherry Heis will continue to serve as Secretary/Treasurer.

   4. Jarrett Barber will continue to serve as Chapter Representative.

   5. Steve Cherry will continue to serve as Ombudsman.

   6. Mark Greenwood was unanimously elected to serve as Vice President.

   
   

   2006 Montana Chapter of ASA Officers

   Past President:	Susan Hinkins, National Opinion Research Center, Bozeman
   President:	Suzan Gazioglu, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte
   Vice President:	Mark Greenwood, Montana State University, Bozeman
   Secretary/Treasurer:	Sherry Heis, Montana State University, Bozeman
   Chapter Representative:	Jarrett Barber, Montana State University, Bozeman
   Ombudsman:	Steve Cherry, Montana State University, Bozeman

   
   

5. NEXT MEETING
   The next chapter meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 19, 2006, at the Student Union Building, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte, Montana.

   The meeting was adjourned.
   

   Respectfully submitted,

   
   Sherry Heis
   Chapter Secretary/Treasurer