MOUNTAIN PLAINS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL MEMBERS BUSINESS MEETING

October 12, 2007

 

1.      The meeting was called to order by Don Carpenter, President of the Board of Directors

 

2.      Minutes from Oct 21, 2006 MPMC membership meeting were approved as submitted.

 

3.      Carpenter introduced the 2007-08 Board of Directors, noting expiration year of their terms.

Casimir Barczyk, Purdue University-Calumet, Member, 2009

Larry Carstenson, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Past Conference Chair, 2008

            James Frost, Idaho State University, Conference Chair, 2009

Alan Hamlin, Southern Utah University, Member, 2008

            David Summers, University of Houston-Victoria, Member, 2009

            Richard Vail, Mesa State College, Conference Chair Elect, 2010

      Carpenter noted that there is one open position of the Board and that his term expires at the

      end of MPMC 2007.

 

4.      Carpenter discussed the proposed amendment to the Bylaws (attached) that had been distributed by email a month earlier as required in the Bylaws.  A motion to approve (Barcyk, Frost) passed with minor wording changes.

 

5.      Carpenter extended a hearty “thank you” to University of Nebraska at Kearney’s MPMC 2007 Organizing Committee.  He noted that there were 95 paid registrants and 69 full papers, two workshops, one panel discussion, and several abstracts.  Significant contributions of MPMC 2007 include creation of a logo and construction of a web site.  In appreciation of the quality of this conference, the Board of Directors has invited UNK to host MPMC 2012.

 

Carpenter introduced Larry Carstenson, Chair of UNK’s Organizing Committee.  Carstenson introduced the members of that Committee and the track chairs.  The membership gave all a warm round of applause.

 

Carstenson present a check for $500 seed money to Jim Frost, Conference Chair for MPMC 2008.

 

6.      Frost formally announced MPMC 2008 to be hosted by in Pocatello, Idaho by Idaho State University’s Informatics Institute.  He distributed fliers describing the conference.

 

7.      Carpenter made a special presentation of a plaque to Frost for his service as President of the Board of MPMA from 2005-2007.

 

8.      Carpenter introduced Larry Hughes who encouraged attendance at the afternoon’s roundtable presentations/discussion of abstracts.

 

 

9.      Carpenter introduced Alan Hamlin who encouraged members to submit papers to the Mountain Plains Journal of Business and Economics.  He also encouraged members to volunteer as reviewers for the journal and to submit their information to be included in the membership list on the MPMC web site.

 

10.  Hamlin conducted elections for members of the Board of Directors.  He offered Carpenter’s name as nominated by the Board.  Carpenter was elected by a show of hands.   Hamlin asked for nominations for the other open Board position.  Kristi Berg nominated Carla Cabarle from Minot State University.  With no other nominations, the vote was called and Cabarle was elected.

 

11.  Carpenter announced that the Board of Directors had decided to raise the registration fee to $225 for MPMC 2008 and explained the rationale.

 

12.  Carpenter reminded the Board that their meeting would reconvene immediately after the close of this meeting.  He also reminded members to enjoy the tour of the Arch, to participate in the roundtable discussions in the afternoon, and to attend the banquet, best paper awards presentations, and dinner theater in the evening.

 

13.  With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.  The next Members Business Meeting will be in October 2008 in Pocatello, Idaho.

 

Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws of Mountain Plains Management Conference

 

1. Changing the name of the organization.

 

Background

 

At the October 2006 Board of Directors annual meeting, the Board entertained the idea of clarifying the role of the Mountain Plains Management Association (MPMA) versus the Mountain Plains Management Conference (MPMC).  Though the term is commonly used, MPMA does not exist.  The advantage of establishing MPMA as an entity that sponsors MPMC would be to provide a professional membership organization for those who routinely attend MPMC.  Another advantage is that MPMA could engage in future scholarly and professional activities in addition to sponsoring MPMC.

 

The original concept was to add a second set of Bylaws for MPMA.  The present strategy would be to amend the existing Bylaws. Ether way, the change would be accomplished without any additional overhead.

 

Proposed Amendment 1

 

The name of Mountain Plains Management Conference (MPMC) shall be changed to Mountain Plains Management Association (MPMA).  The Bylaws shall reflect that sponsorship of the annual MPMC shall be a primary activity of MPMA.

 

Implementation

 

To implement the amendment, the following changes would be made to the Bylaws:

  • “Conference” would be changed to “Association” and “MPMC” would be changed to “MPMA” in the document heading and in Articles I, VII and VIII and Sections 2.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.4.
  • The wording in Section 5.1 would be changed from “The annual conference of the Mountain Plains Management Conference (MPMC) shall be held in the fall …” to “The annual conference of the Mountain Plains Management Association (MPMA) shall be the Mountain Plains Management Conference (MPMC) and shall be held in the fall …”

 

 

2. Clarifying certain aspects of the annual conference.

 

Background

 

At the October 2006 Mountain Plains Management Conference, the membership approved an amendment that added Sections 5.01a, b and c that clarified certain aspects of the annual conference.  Since then, members or the Board of Directors have identified a few other aspects of MPMC that should be clarified.

 

 

Proposed Amendment 2

 

The following sections shall be added to the Bylaws:

 

5.01 d  Host Colleges or Universities.  The Board of Directors is responsible for approving a rotation of host colleges or universities.   The hosting of this conference is currently rotated on a five year rotation among three colleges, including Idaho State University, Southern Utah University, and Mesa State College (Grand Junction) and two other colleges chosen by the Board of Directors.  The directors will choose from among those colleges who have submitted a letter of intent from the dean (or similar authority) of the candidate college.

 

5.01 e  Conference Chair Responsibilities.  This person is responsible for planning and executing the entire annual conference, including paper sessions, refreshments, banquets, awards, identifying lodging and parking, and other aspects necessary for a successful conference.   This person shall appoint track chairs, discussants and reviewers to conduct blind reviews for papers submitted, organize and staff paper sessions, and determine best paper awards. This person shall be responsible for producing a Proceedings CD to be distributed at the MPMC.  The Conference Chair shall also communicate at least monthly via email with the President of the Board of Directors as to the status of preparations for the conference and shall submit a final financial statement at the Board of Directors’ annual meeting.

 

5.01 f  Contractual Obligations.  No member of the host school shall be allowed to bind MPMA into any contractual obligation or legal status.  All financial and contractual arrangements for MPMC will be solely the responsibility of the host school, including but not limited to the establishment of any bank accounts.

 

5.01 g  Conference Registration Fee.  The Board of Directors will set the MPMC registration fee for the next year’s conference at its meeting at the present year’s conference.

 

5.01 h  Conference Profit or Loss.   The host school is responsible for all revenue and expenses of the MPMC that it hosts.  MPMA is not responsible for any operating loss.  The host school is entitled to retain any profit it might earn, less any annual charges set by the Board of Directors, such as a contribution to the subsequent conference.