Presidents Message

By President

Edie Lee

edie.lee@lifetime.oregonstate.edu

Edie’s Notes—President’s Annual Report ‘08

Text Box: The State Convention in Portland is coming up at the end of April. One of the tasks of Branch President is to submit a branch annual report to the AAUW of Oregon President. This report is printed in the Convention workbook and allows all the branches in the state to share program, fundraising and recruiting ideas. To give you an idea of what the Corvallis branch has been up to and what is planned for the rest of the year, I have included the report in this column. ANNUAL REPORT 2008 This year the Corvallis branch is concentrating on making more of our branch programs mission based, focusing on education in particular. We now have a greater opportunity to collaborate with Oregon State University, which is conveniently located in Corvallis. Our former Program Development VP works at OSU and has many contacts among the faculty. Several of the faculty members have graciously agreed to present programs to our branch. We have already listened to a presentation about gender equity in higher education. Soon we will be taking a tour of the OSU entomology research laboratory and will also celebrate the 35th anniversary of the OSU Women’s Center and Women’s Study Program. Members are encouraged to bring friends and prospective members to our programs. The membership committee makes informative booklets and membership material available at the meetings. We continue to have other education based activities. We will again offer two scholarships to local older-than-average undergraduate women. One will be for $1000 for an OSU student; the second will be for $750 for a Linn-Benton Community College student. A year’s Student Affiliate AAUW membership will also be provided for these students. One of last year’s local scholarship winners will be the

Text Box: main speaker at our annual May luncheon. We will also continue to provide scholarships totaling $200 to send girls to OSU’s “Expeditions” and “Adventures in Learning” summer enrichment programs for students in elementary and middle school. We will donate $100 to OSU’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference, where women students from various campus organizations are given the opportunity to increase their leadership skills by attending various seminars. Our branch is providing annual AAUW memberships for the Educational Foundation Fellowship winners who are attending OSU. This year we have one past International Educational Foundation Fellowship winner and two current IEF winners. The recipient of OSU’s Outstanding Senior Woman award also receives an AAUW membership from the Corvallis branch. Our main fundraising event continues to be a Bridge Marathon. Members of the community who enjoy playing bridge pay for the privilege of joining a group and playing each other for several months. The final night is “party night” at the Corvallis Country Club, where bridge is played just for fun and the marathon prizes are awarded. Last year we made $2,300 which was used for local scholarships, EF and LAF. We expect to make a similar amount this year. Our other fund raisers are a poinsettia sale for EF at our Holiday Tea in December, our Used Book Sale for LAF at our May luncheon, and our classic film night for EF and LAF. We currently have six interest groups, including our ever popular Literature Groups. Some of our members have joined AAUW to participate in one of the literature groups and later discovered the other activities and interests that were available. The Great Decisions group discusses current topics in foreign affairs, and is part of the nationwide program. Participants gain knowledge of the topics from discussion

Text Box: booklets and DVDs. The monthly no-host lunches give members a chance to experience the many new eateries in Corvallis and catch up with old friends. We would like to increase our membership. We have 96 members, down 4 members from this time last year. Several prospective members and members at large attended the new members’ coffee in February. Hopefully some of them will join the Corvallis branch. [end of report] Now that you know what we’ve been doing, and how important our fundraisers are for the education of women and girls, would you consider holding an office in AAUW? Our nominating committee is hard at work, but we still have several elective offices to fill. We need a President, President-Elect (who will be President in 2009-2010), and two additional people for Membership Co-Vice President. The positions of President and President-Elect could be shared by two people each, so that the duties of those offices would be halved. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Sue Borden, the head of the nominating committee, sueborden@cmug.com. If you have questions about the positions, please contact the person currently in that position. You can get this information from the yearbook or the newsletter. Our slate of officers at this time consists of: Program Development Vice President – Janice Abele Membership Co-Vice President – Marion Dickens Treasurer – Sue Borden (second year of a two year term) Secretary – Holly Harris We’re looking forward to a fun and productive year next year. This can only happen with your help.