ALLIANCE COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (ACAA)
Board of Officers Meeting December 7, 2022
Officers in Attendance:
Michael Anderson (1978), ACAA President; James Koscielniak (1981), ACAA Vice President; Ed Mohylowski (1976), ACAA Treasurer; Susia (Burgess) Styborski (1983), ACAA Secretary; Sally Day (1985), ACAA Assistant Treasurer and Foundation Secretary; Randy Polovick (1981), ACAA Director; Lori Neese Kolin (1987), ACAA Director; Marcia Pilkiewicz (1975), ACAA Director; Richard Day (1985), President of Alliance College Alumni Association Foundation (Foundation);
Alumni in Attendance: Roberta (May) Polovick (1981)
Absent: Celeste “Mickie” Mickiewicz (1967), ACAA Officer Ex-Officio; Les Rachocki (1967), Foundation Treasurer; Aundrea Cika-Heschmeyer (1985), ACAA Director; Louis P. Sitnik (1986), ACAA Director.
The meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm by Michael Anderson, President. President Anderson welcomed all in attendance and especially the newly elected officers and directors. He provided a review of the last meeting which was a reunion review with the previous board included.
Introductions were made by all in attendance with each person being asked to talk about their favorite Alliance College class. Michael Anderson – Business Law; Jim Koscielniak – Econ 201 and 202; Ed Mohylowski – American History; Marcia Pilkiewicz – Courses by Dr. Carter/English major; Randy Polovick – Computer courses by Manross; Sally Day – Econ Strategy with Garbart; Rich Day – History of Religion; Susia Styborski – Statistics with Mr. Page; Lori Kolin – Courses with Schiffer and Garbart especially Business Law.
Treasurer Report
A financial review was given at the previous meeting with the reunion figures. Ed Mohylowski, Treasurer, reported he has begun work with Chase with the goal to change the ACAA banking to a bank with a national imprint. There are branches in Ohio so making the transition to Chase should be seamless. The account will need an additional signature as the Treasurer cannot have the authorizing signature. Ed noted that the account needs to maintain a balance of $7,000 for no cost banking. Sally Day reported she has finished all payments and credits and the balance of the account is $13481.83, and she will have a check made in that amount for transfer to the new account with Chase. Discussion was held regarding the balance and historically profits of the reunion were transferred to the Foundation. Jim Koscielniak suggested to hold off on the transfer of monies to the Foundation pending the major overhaul of the ACAA website that is needed.
Website Enhancements
Discussion on upgrading the website was held. All agreed we need to have an efficient and user friendly website, acknowledging it is the best way to connect with alumni. A website that is self-service for alumni to update their own information would improve the maintenance of the alumni directory. Various suggestions were made of alumni that may be able to help with the website upgrade. ACAA currently has a contract with Chet Federowicz as webmaster for maintaining the website. Sally will check his current contract for details and report at next meeting. Sally further reported she had received a message from alumni Kathy Polanski offering to help ACAA. Jim volunteered to reach out to Kathy to determine where she can help. Sally and Randy agreed to work together on pulling together information for further discussion about the website upgrade at our next meeting. Website upgrade will be a priority project for the coming year.
Exchange Student Program
Tabled pending further research into the mechanics of how a program would work.
Jagiellonian University Joint Venture
There are many exchange programs already in existence through the Kosciuszko Foundation and Jagiellonian University. Jim provided a summary of his discussion with Regina Jaworski and her conversations with Jagiellonian University. Jim will continue discussions with Regina and summarize the proposed project for review at our next meeting.
ZOOM Account
Jim Koscielniak made a motion to purchase a ZOOM account for $16 a month with no time limits and up to 100 attendees. Motion was seconded by Ed Mohylowski. All in favor.
Scheduling of the ZOOM meetings would be a sensible role for the ACAA secretary to provide. Almost all were in favor of this. Marcia Pilkiewicz and Sally Day volunteered to work with Susia to set up.
People Finder
Jim and Mike discussed using the People Finder program that was raised at the October 7th ACAA meeting. It is a subscription program used to find people based on known information such as previous addresses, maiden names, college attended. All agreed the alumni database needs to be up-dated to be accurate. It is approximately $180 a year. Mike agreed to contact Mickie to obtain the current list she has and forward it to Susia.
Larry Kozlowski
Larry spoke at the October ACAA meeting about the legacy of Alliance College. He is developing a list of suggestions for the promotion of the Alliance College legacy. Once the list is received it will be added to a future agenda.
2024 Reunion
Jim is working on a reunion timeline and has looked at venues for availability. Many spoke to the need to review and prioritize the feedback from the reunion survey and make decision on location and dates based on input, not necessarily what has been done in the past. Additionally, it was agreed the reunion committee does not have to be from within the Board and involvement from fellow alumni should be encouraged. Jim will update reunion information and get information from Mickie on reunion feedback for further discussion at the next meeting. Mike will ask alumni for interest in being part of reunion committee. Roberta and Marcia volunteered to be part of the 2024 Reunion Committee.
ACAA Summer Meeting
Jim offered to host the group in Chicago in August. Rich reminded the group that ACAA is planning a 2 week trip to Poland in Summer of 2023 and we should work around those dates. The dates for the Poland trip are being decided shortly. Date and location tabled until next meeting.
Insurance
Question was raised about what insurance coverage, if any, ACAA has that covers the Association and the individual directors and officers. Additional question related to what coverage is needed, if any, to protect ACAA for the Poland trip as a sponsor of the trip. Rich reported the trip is being planned by a Travel Agency and alumni and guests would book directly through the travel agency. Nonetheless it was agreed that pursuing what insurance coverage we have and what insurance coverage we may need is a wise move. Agreed to discuss further at the next meeting.
Next meeting via ZOOM will be set up and an invitation issued. Tentative date was discussed but will be announced pending member availability.
Motion to close the meeting by Ed Mohylowski and seconded by Marcia Pilkiewicz. All in favor.
Post Note: Next meeting scheduled for February 8, 2023 at 6:00 pm/Cambridge Springs time.