[Ntso] SHSU NTSO-November Minutes & New Messages

[John & Frances Fennessy]

The notes to November's meeting are below. Please read all the way to the 
bottom; there are messages to the general assembly from each officer at the 
end of this email.

Thank you!
Frances Crawford Fennessy
NTSO President





NTSO
Non-Traditional Student Association
General Assembly Minutes

November 11, 2004

Call to Order: Frances Fennessy, NTSO president, called the meeting to 
order.
Officers in attendance: Ralph Bales, business manager, and Valerie Johnson, 
secretary.

Special Attendees:  We were honored to have Dean Yarabeck, Dean of Students, 
speak with us.  Dean Yarabeck spoke on co-curricular transcripts.  For 
additional information please refer to www.shsu.edu/cocurricular.

Also in attendance was Leah Winfield from Student Activities.  SHSU student 
activities supported our NTSO functions.  We have Ms. Winfield and SHSU to 
thank for the wonderful lunch.

Minutes:  The first official meeting of the NTSO 2004 kicked off with a 
bang.  Presently we have over 200 members.  We had 36 members’ sign the 
attendance sheet, but it appears as if there were a number of members who 
attended that missed the sheet.  We had ordered 60 lunches and almost all of 
them were gone!  Thank you all for coming and helping to make our 
organization great.  It takes many hands to work together and make this a 
success.  This is an exciting time.

The meeting began with an introduction of the new officers, for the position 
of business manager, Ralph Bales and Valerie Johnson as secretary.  Ralph 
started the proceeding by honoring our veteran’s with a short remembrance of 
their service to our country.  After brief introductions Frances addressed 
the group.
Topics of discussion:
1) Suggestions for speakers that would interest you.  If you have 
suggestions for a speaker please contact us and let us know.  We would like 
to have a speaker attend each of our monthly meetings.
2) There will be a number of opportunities for your involvement.  Please let 
us know when you will be available and let us know what you would like to 
do.
3) We have received approval for our formal night.  This will be held during 
the Spring semester.  We will need your support to make this a success.  
There will be opportunities to assist with this by serving on a committee.  
More details will follow as we go along.
4) Question posed if after graduation a member could continue to participate 
in club activities.  We are a brand new organization with a tremendous 
amount of potential.  There is certainly the possibility of developing an 
alumni association, which our members could continue to support.
5) We are working on a website; however, this will take some time to 
develop.  Please be patient with us as we go through the growing pains 
common to any new organization.  In the meanwhile, our listserv is open.  
Please remember when you use the listserv you are sending your email to 
everyone in the group, all 200+ members.  We suggest that you direct your 
message to an individual when it concerns a private matter or a matter best 
handled by an individual.  Or, in the alternative you may contact one of the 
club officers directly.  Frances Fennessey, president, at 
roughneckbooks at hotmail.com, John Fennessey, vice president, at 
roughneckbooks at hotmail.com,  Ralph Bales, business manager at 
stdrjb19 at shsu.edu, or Valerie Johnson, secretary at stdvjj14 at shsu.edu.  
Additionally, you can personalize the settings for the manner in which you 
receive your messages by setting it to batch.  That way you will only 
receive one email containing all the messages sent on a particular date.  
This will reduce the overall number of messages coming into your inbox.  We 
will be glad to help you with this should you encounter any problems.
6) At the present time our organization has no dues.  However, we cannot 
guarantee that the student activities center will continue to foot the bill 
for lunches, etc.  This is an area that may change and develop over time 
based upon the needs of the organization and the wants of the members.
7) There was a great deal of discussion and concern over the issues 
surrounding the Gintz apartments.  A meeting has been scheduled at Whitehall 
on Monday, November 29th, at 4:00 pm for those interested in and/or affected 
by the issues surrounding Gintz.  This meeting will include President 
Gaertner, who is attending in an effort to meet the residents, and to hear 
the concerns of those who are affected by his decision to tear down the 
Gintz. Additionally, a discussion forum has been set up online, which you 
may want to participate in; read the President’s Corner below.

President’s Corner (Frances Crawford Fennessy) - I was really impressed with 
the turnout we had at our first meeting. You guys are wonderful! I look 
forward to working with you in the future and meeting every one of you. In 
response to several requests, I have started a bulletin board thread for the 
Non-Traditional Students Organization. If you would like to read it, add to 
it, ask questions, introduce yourself, etc. please feel free to do so at: 
http://ww2.shsu.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8811. In response to several other 
requests about the Gintz apartments, there is a thread on the bulletin board 
about that topic as well (I did not start this one). To review it, add to 
it, or just ask questions, please feel free to do so at: 
http://ww2.shsu.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9191.

Vice President’s Corner (John Fennessy) – I’m very sorry I was not able to 
meet you at our first meeting. However, I assure you I will be at the next 
one! Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 9 at 11:45 until 
1:00. As we did at the last meeting, we will be serving a free lunch 
courtesy of the Student Activities Center. Our guest speaker is Dr. Bernice 
Strauss; she will be presenting a workshop entitled, “Beat the Stress! 
Non-Traditional Stress Management.” If you are interested in attending, 
please RSVP by December 6 at roughneckbooks at hotmail.com.  As always, if you 
need to leave at 12:30 or enter at 12:30, you should feel free to do so.

Business Manager’s Corner (Ralph Bales) – We’ll need your support to make 
this work.  It’s your organization.  If everyone will give a little, every 
time, we can make this a huge success.  Please email me at stdrjb19 at shsu.edu 
if you are interested in working in a committee or have ideas that you would 
like us to consider. Thanks for your help!

Secretary’s Corner (Valerie Johnson) – I will need some assistance with the 
preparation of a flier advertising our next meeting. Please email me, at 
stdvjj14 at shsu.edu, if you would like to create the flier, or you have time 
to put some fliers up in your building. Thanks!

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