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2000 Annual Report |
Page updated: June 18, 2003 |
SIGUCCS
About
Us
Awards
Competitions
Conferences
Information
of Interest
July 1, 1999- June 30, 2000
Submitted by Jennifer Fajman
SIGUCCS (Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services) had another successful year in 1999-2000 and progress was made in a couple of important areas. Our two annual conferences remain healthy, our membership appears to have stabilized, and we are fortunate to end the year with a significant fund balance.
The board members are: Jennifer Fajman, chair; Robert Paterson, vice chair; Linda Hutchison, secretary-treasurer; Linda L. Downing, Susan E. Hales, Alan Herbert, and Lawrence K. Pickett, Jr. are members-at-large. John Bucher will serve as the immediate past-chair. The board decided to continue their term of office for another two years in order to continue their progress in providing services to its constituents.
Publications:
The area of publications needs special attention in the coming year. No newsletters have been published and the future of this service needs to be re-evaluated. Although issues had been published in previous years, the content of the newsletter had been substantially reduced in recent years. A new process needs to be defined that meets the needs of the membership as well as is sustainable.
The information on the web site is valuable and activities of SIGUCCS are prominently displayed, including the updated Peer Review and Awards programs information.
More emphasis has to be made in the area of publications to make information more prominently available and accessible in electronic form - via the web, and possible other means, such as CDs.
Special Projects:
Our Peer Review Process went through some redesign this past year and will soon be re-marketed. A description of the process is provided at: http://www.acm.org/siguccs/peer.htm A newly formed group of volunteers has been created to facilitate the process. Letters were mailed to all SIGUCCS members to encourage participation in the program. The program is a valuable service not only for organizations being reviewed, but provides for professional development for the participants.
An awards program was approved by the SGB. There will be an annual Penny Crane award, recognizing her many years of involvement with SIGUCCS and ACM. Penny Crane received the first award which was accepted by her husband, Ted Crane, at the fall User Services Conference in Denver. The process for nominations was implemented, with information on the web site as well as a mailing to all members of SIGUCCS. In addition, a call for nominations for the Hall of Fame were requested.
Conferences:
The twenty-seventh Fall User Services Conference was held November 7-10, 1999 in Denver. The theme was "Mile High Expectations" Approximately 425 people attended the conference, with tutorial registration at around 295. Poster sessions were added to the program this year, which were enthusiastically welcomed. Also, there was a major emphasis on providing more discussion times during the program (e.g., there was a discussion session with the Plenary speakers immediately following their address).
The spring Computer Services Management Symposium (CSMS) was held March 19 - 21, 2000 at its usual location in the St. Louis Marriott Pavilion Hotel. The theme was "Rolling Along a River of Change - Still" the conference was constructed as a series of plenary sessions and parallel facilitated discussion groups. Approximately 82 people attended
Future conferences include the 2000 Fall User Services Conference to be held at the Omni in Richmond, VA, October 29 through November 1, 2000, and the CSMS at the St. Louis Marriott City Center, March 18-20, 2001. There have been a number of institutions who have expressed interest in hosting the Fall User Services Conferences in future years.
Financial and Membership Issues:
(Note: see SIG Services section in the annual report for SIGUCCS financial and membership data.)
We continue to maintain a very healthy fund balance, thanks in large part to the success of our two annual conferences. As of end of May, 2000, our fund balance exceeded $192,884.
Although our membership continues to decline, it's not doing so nearly so rapidly. We appear to be stabilized at around 400 total members. The decrease during the past year was 7.7% compared to 10% the previous year.
Competitions and Awards:
As we have done for many years, we held our documentation competition and awards in conjunction with the Fall User Services Conference. Johanna Colgrove, from Reed College in Oregon, was our ACM SIGUCCS Competitions Chair.
Information about the recognitions of institutions and individuals can be viewed at the SIGUCCS Web Site (http://www.acm.org/siguccs/competitions/comp1999.htm).
Comments and contributions may be sent to the Information Director at infodir_SIGUCCS@acm.org