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Last Update 03/21/07 |
June 24, 2004 Executive Board Meeting Summary: With a lack of input from current and previous chapter officers to date on the Presidential Policy Directive, most matters regarding its content and functionality were deferred to the next meeting. Several key topics, however, were discussed at the meeting, including the Science & Education Committee in general, forthcoming fall chapter meetings and potential speakers, and input received from Red Bull on potential involvement with the North Florida Chapter. Other minor issues were discussed as well and are highlighted in the complete meeting report. Complete Report: The June meeting of the Executive Board of the North Florida Chapter of the AMS was called to order by President Chris Bennett at 5:30pm on Thursday, June 24, 2004. In attendance were the aforementioned President, Vice-President Geoff Wagner, and Past President Clark Evans. The meeting promptly began with a brief discussion of the Presidential Policy Directive. Since Geoff has not been able to obtain a copy as of yet and none of the other board members beyond Clark have been able to submit comments, further roundtable discussion was shelved until July. However, Chris noted his desire to have the document complete in its entirety by the end of July. A distinction between permanent items that should go into the chapter constitution, permanent items that should go into an addendum to the annual directive, and cyclical items highlighted in each year’s directive was briefly discussed and will be further refined with input of the Executive Board over the coming weeks. Any and all constitutional amendments and related documents are projected to be announced to the membership in September or October. The next topic on the agenda was the Science and Education Committee. Chris brought forth a motion to redesignate the Science and Education Subcommittee from last year as a full-fledged committee; this motion was met with no objections. Finding a new head for the committee was then discussed, particularly whether Chris should appoint a head or have a call for nominees from the membership-at-large, as he no longer felt that he would be able to effectively run the committee amongst his other obligations to the chapter. The consensus was that a head should be appointed this year with progress being made towards including this as a sixth officer position (fifth overall that would be elected) on the Executive Board starting with the 2005-06 chapter year. Chris concurred and then offered the title of head of the committee to Clark, who accepted. This appointment of a new Chair of the Science and Education Committee will be effective immediately barring any objections from the remainder of the Executive Board. Chris noted that he would gather his materials from the committee shortly and meet with Clark thereafter to complete the transfer process, while Clark noted that he would like to have a full-fledged program ready to go for programs starting in mid-September. The existing members of the committee will be contacted via e-mail shortly for ideas and suggestions and a committee policy directive will be formulated over the coming weeks with this input. Much of the rest of the meeting was devoted to fall chapter meetings and potential speakers for those meetings. A common theme of following the weather of the seasons for relevant speakers and topics was developed and followed through the process. For August, the chapter would like to have a well-known speaker in the public’s eye to talk to the membership. Ideally, this person would have previous ties to Florida State and/or Tallahassee. For the fall months of September through November, speakers and topics related to tropical weather were the primary focus. A decision on whether to hold a December chapter meeting or a social, as happened in the previous chapter year, will be made over the coming months. It is hoped that the majority of fall speakers can be secured by the end of August. Spring 2005 topics and potential speakers were briefly discussed as well. The wish list of speakers for Fall 2004 for the North Florida Chapter is as follows:
Potential speakers for Spring 2005 include Dr. Greg Forbes, The Weather Channel (winter weather); Howard Bluestein, Univ. of Oklahoma (severe weather); and Irv Watson, SOO, NWS Tallahassee (severe weather). The FSU radar truck and potential chasing opportunities, both hurricane and severe weather-related, were briefly discussed at this time, though no action was taken. The consensus from the meeting was that the chapter could serve to help get the FSU radar truck running once again, with chapter involvement and/or sponsorship, and that it would be a benefit to both the chapter and the department as a whole. By no means are these lists set in stone, however, and any suggestions for speakers for the forthcoming year are solicited and welcome. Please send any speaker suggestions via e-mail to Geoff Wagner (northflams@gmail.com) and copy the rest of the Executive Board for enhanced visibility and discussion. Similarly, speaker topics and social event ideas are also welcome through the same process. Potential involvement with Red Bull rounds out the major topics covered. Red Bull is involved with many extreme sports competitions across the nation and world and, particularly for their surfing competitions, is extremely interested in weather conditions. For the past couple of years, they have held surf condition forecast contests to interested parties in and out of universities across the nation. This project, dubbed Project: Swell, will continue in the fall. There are approximately 5 competitions coming up in the fall, scattered across the oceans, with the forecasting contest involving forecasting for all five regions over the fall. Therein lies a potential partnership opportunity for the chapter, whether in conjunction with or in lieu of sponsorship of FSU’s Local Forecasting Contest. Furthermore, the potential exists to create forecasting teams and projects – none of which currently exists – for some of their wintertime extreme skiing events in early 2005. Some or none of this could tie in to a forecasting project under development by Clark with three other students that might one day tie into the chapter. Further discussion is necessary, but preliminary indications are promising. Minor issues discussed at the meeting include an Atmospheric Sciences Science Fair held by the chapter, potentially two years down the line, as well as deciding on particular meeting times for August and September. It was decided that, due to the way the schedule lines up in August both with Thursdays and with classes, the first chapter meeting of the year will likely be held on Thursday, August 26, 2004 at 6:30pm. The exact location is to be determined. Further comments from Chris can be expected via e-mail to the Executive Board in the coming day or so. The meeting was adjourned at 6:35pm. For More Information: Chris Bennett, northflams@gmail.com |
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