Transition Team Minutes
January 9, 2004
Conference Call

Present

Walt Whitmer, Pennsylvania State University (Chair)
Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center
John Burton, University of Nevada
Steve Daniels, Western Rural Development Center
Pam Hearn, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development
Rod Howe, Cornell University
Jeri Marxman, University of Illinois
Charles Sheppherd, Alcorn State University
Julie Stewart, North Central
Greg Taylor, Texas A&M University
Bonnie Teater, Southern Rural Development Center

2005 Conference Committee

John Burton was on the call and indicated that with his current Nevada responsibilities, he is unable to assume total responsibility for the 2005 conference. He is willing to handle local hosting responsibilities, but does not feel that time will allow him to pull everything together. Jeri Marxman agreed to serve as the program chair for the meeting. She will handle the content and program details. John and Jeri will serve as Co-Chairs for the 2005 Conference Committee.

Database Committee

Julie Stewart reported on the status of the database and the NACDEP listserv. Currently, there are over 900 names with some states not included. The listserv will be ready on Monday, January 12 for a letter to be sent throughout the system. It was agreed that the listserv will stay operational for a few months without additional work on a complete database. Each Committee is to give thought on how they might use the database and assist with determining the fields necessary for an accurate record.

Marketing and Outreach Committee

Rod Howe, reported that the NACDEP website would have a link for having individuals throughout the system to be added to the listserv. He also indicated that he would be preparing a one-page flyer that could be used to increase interest and support for NACDEP. If anyone has names of potential Committee members, they are asked to pass these along to Rod.

Membership Committee

Jeri Marxman reported that she and John Amrhein have been working at organizing a committee and convening a conference call next week to deal with issues of Membership. This Committee too requests the names of individuals from the Northeast and Western region. Rod Howe requested that he be involved in the first meeting of the group so that he is aware of information that might need to be included in the Marketing and Outreach effort.

All Committees

It was the consensus of the group that all Committees would work independently and bring reports to the entire transition team on a monthly basis at the conference calls. It was also decided that Committees would prepare written reports and send them to the full transition team two days prior to the NACDEP conference calls.

Next Conference Call

February 13, 10:00 a.m. Central (662-325-8448)