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2006 Annual Report |
Page updated: December 18, 2006 |
SIGUCCS
About
Us
Awards
Competitions
Conferences
Information
of Interest
July
1, 2005 - June 30, 2006
Submitted by Leila C. Lyons, Chair
SIGUCCS (Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services) hosted two successful conferences during 2005-2006 and ended the year with a significant fund balance. Membership continues to increase due, in part, to marketing efforts and reduced registration for SIGUCCS members at conference events.
The Executive Committee members for 2005/2006 were:
- Chair, Leila Lyons
- Vice Chair/Conference Liaison, Nancy Bauer
- Secretary, Jen Whiting
- Treasurer, Bob Haring-Smith
- Information Director, Terry Lockard
- Robert Paterson served as the immediate past-chair.
- Jen Whiting assumed additional responsibility for vendor relations in anticipation of the end of Shiree Moreland's term of office.
Several volunteers in Executive Committee-appointed positions head specific operational areas:
- Ethan Benatan coordinated tutorials/workshops for the both conferences.
- Shiree Moreland coordinated vendor relations through CSMS 2006.
- Lynnell Lacy coordinated the state captains program.
- Jim Bostick chaired a financial and strategic planning committee.
- Greg Hanek coordinated the Communication Awards program.
Planning
The Executive Committee holds planning meetings during each conference and conference calls between these meetings.
A financial and strategic planning committee, chaired by Jim Bostick, addressed the SGB EC's concerns about SIGUCCS' declining fund balance and long-term financial viability and concluded that there is not a regular decline, rather there were planned expenses which reduced the excess. Specifically,
- The $60K decline is due to a ~$40K deficit in 2003 because of conscious financial decisions made in 2003. These included funding of the Penny Crane award, revitalizing CSMS, and a special event to recognize the 30th anniversary of CSMS.
- Also in 2003, dues revenue decreased significantly because the transition to a conference only SIG resulted in the previous years' members not being billed.
- The conference management group (CTE) was hired. The initial year's fee was paid by the board; the allocation into ACM increased because the allocation is based on the total expenses.
The SIGUCCS treasurer also examined the liability of our conferences. ACM currently requires $144K, and as of June 30, 2006, we had $307,356 in the fund balance. The treasurers of both conferences are now required to work more closely with the SIGUCCS treasurer on conference finances.
Strategic planning efforts focused on continuing to increase membership, which has been growing since 2001, and understanding the needs of our members in order to provide services of value. To better reflect the current SIGUCCS membership, which has changed over the years, and the focus of our services, we reviewed our mission statement and plan to propose a revision to the SGB EC.
In the coming year we plan to develop a coherent vision of SIGUCCS and market this to the membership and to institutions of higher education, as well as a cohesive strategy towards vendor participation in our two conferences. We will also submit to ACM a proposal for use, in a controlled way, of monies in the fund balance that exceed ACM's requirement in order to provide some financial assistance to our conferences to ensure that they remain viable and serve the SIGUCCS membership.
Awards Program
The SIGUCCS Awards Programs have been in place for several years. The Penny Crane Award recognizes significant multiple contributions to SIGUCCS from individuals over an extended period of time. The Hall of Fame awards recognize the many individuals who have contributed their time and energies to benefit SIGUCCS. For descriptions of the awards programs please go to: www.acm.org/sigs/siguccs/awards.htm
Penny Crane Award: J. Michael Yohe was the recipient of the 2005 Penny Crane Award, for more information please go to: www.siguccs.org/awards/PCraneAwards/pc2005.htm
Hall of Fame: Five people inducted into the Hall of Fame. They were: Kay K. Beach, Jim Bostick, Jennifer Fajman, Glenn R. Ingram (posthumously), and Mervin E. Muller. For a description of the recipients please go to: www.acm.org/sigs/siguccs/awards/HallFame/fame2005.htm
The Chair of the SIGUCCS Awards Selection Committee, Jerome Smith, worked with the Executive Committee this year to establish an orderly rotation, based on the calendar year, of the committee's membership as described in www.siguccs.org/awards/committee.htm. Two new members, Linda Hutchison and Diane Jung, replaced Jean Bonney and Marion Taylor who retired from the committee at the end of 2005.
2005 User Services Awards: As we have done for many years, we held our Communications Awards competition in conjunction with the Fall User Services Conference in Monterey, CA. A description of these awards and the 2005 winners can be found at: www.acm.org/sigs/siguccs/competit.htm
Judging this competition is a daunting task, traditionally undertaken by the previous year's Communications Awards winners. The Executive Committee appointed Greg Hanek to work with a representative from each Fall Conference committee to oversee the Communications Awards competition from year to year.
Conferences
The thirty-third Fall Conference was held November 6 to 9, 2005, in Monterey, CA. The theme was "Fishing for New Ideas." Four hundred eighty-two people attended the conference, an eight percent increase from the previous year. Proceedings were made available in CD ROM format. One hundred twenty-two abstracts were submitted for the program of which 60 were accepted as papers and seven rejected. Thirty-one abstracts were formed into 10 panels and 24 abstracts were accepted for the poster session. The conference had a surplus of approximately $11,000.
Following the practice established for the past several years of moving the conference to new locations, the thirty-third spring Computer Services Management Symposium (CSMS) was held from April 9 to 11, 2006, in San Diego, CA. The theme was "Shedding Light on New Ideas." One hundred twenty-three people attended the conference; 50 were first-time attendees. The program included three plenary sessions with invited speakers, facilitated discussion sessions, and birds-of-a-feather sessions. The conference received many favorable comments, particularly for the opportunities it provided for networking for the attendees.
Future conferences include the Fall User Services Conference to be held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, November 5 to 8, 2006, and the CSMS in Savannah, GA, March 24 to 27, 2007.
Financial and Membership Issues
(Note: see SIG Services section in the annual report for SIGUCCS financial and membership data.)
We continue to maintain a healthy fund balance, thanks in a large part to the success of our two annual conferences. As of the end of June 2006, our fund balance was approximately $307,356 and our membership was 578, up almost nineteen percent from the previous year.
Comments and contributions may be sent to the Information Director at infodir_SIGUCCS@acm.org