University of North Texas
Parent Association
Spring Meeting
1. President Elizabeth Cheney called the meeting to order at 9:17 a.m. in the Gateway
Center following the “Spring Goody Box” stuffing. Minutes from the Fall Parent
Association (PA) meeting were disbursed and reviewed with no discussion from the
membership. A motion to approve the minutes as submitted was tendered and
seconded. The motion was approved; the minutes are accepted.
2. Officer Report
a. President - Elizabeth talked about the Spring Social held at the Super Pit in
conjunction with a UNT basketball game. 230 people RSVP’d and 150 attended.
The event cost the PA $1000.00 and the office of Transitions picked up the
remainder. Elizabeth said that she had received good feedback on the social.
Elizabeth asked the members to begin thinking about new ways to market the PA
and acquire new business for the PA.
b. Vice-President - Sheryl Jordan discussed the on-line survey recently conducted
on behalf of the PA. 1600 surveys were sent out and we received 127 responses
(see attached). 60% of the respondents were annual members and 14% were 2
year members. 85% of the respondents were satisfied with the PA. Sheryl
discussed the reasons for non-renewal from the survey; several respondents
stated they live far away and don’t get to participate, and several questioned if the
PA could do things “regionally”. Sheryl asked the attending members what their
thoughts were on the subject, and one member recounted how her email must
have gotten dropped and she didn’t receive anything from the PA; that she had to
get the information “oh her own”. The membership agreed that if the PA is “going
to use technology to communicate”, then use if effectively, making sure that email
lists are current, etc. Elizabeth interjected that it’s very important that we all stay in
constant communication and that email is the best route for that, along with the
PA Facebook page.
c. Historian - photo’s need to go into the album on the PA Facebook page. If you are
at a UNT event and take pictures, please send them to Teresa.tavares@tx.rr.com
and she will add them.
d. Secretary - no new business; minutes already submitted and approved.
e. Parliamentarian - no report
f. Treasurer - Melissa gave an overview of the PA financials. The PA has a couple
of accounts, and they are “university” accounts so that they remain tax exempt.
Melissa pointed out that this is “key” as she can assist with the $$ if the PA is
short on funds. Scholarships are funded by a lifetime endowment, and the interest
from the endowment is what is used to fund the scholarships. Usually the
scholarships are for $1000. Financial Aid department administers the scholarship
program. Merchandise sales profits also fund the “draw” scholarships. The
philosophy is to “get as much to the students as possible”. Due to this, the fund
gets fairly close to “zero” each year. The transitions department pays some of the
costs of things like calendars, while the PA pays for the post cards. The bottom
line is that it’s ok if we get “close to zero” each year, as we are trying to get as
much $$ to the students as possible. Mike reviewed the budget (see attached).
The fund balance is $30895. There was discussion from the members asking if
the budget was going to be revised to show the lower cost of goody box stuffing
materials. A question was proffered from the floor asking if we need to approve
the budget at this time vs. at the end of the fiscal year in September, and the
answer was no, this is just the mid-year report. A motion was made and seconded
to accept the treasurer report. Motion approved. Report accepted.
g. Legislative report - Melissa discussed how UNT is doing well in the legislature.
UNT has been approved for 2 new buildings; one for Science, Technology, and
Research, and one for Art. The membership asked if new housing was being
considered to allow for increased enrollment, and Melissa advised that housing for
returning students was a challenge at times. Melissa said that enrollment should
increase, that the freshman class looks like a 10% increase, bringing enrollment to
over 36,000 students. The Union starts shutting down in May 2013, and Stovall
Hall will be the temporary Union. The new Union should be completed with
remodeling by August 2015.
h. New Business
i. Membership renewals - an incentive is going to be introduced that allows for
students whose parents renew early to be automatically included in Draw
Scholarships. The membership asked if we are soliciting PA memberships at
the summer send off parties. Elizabeth said that we are trying to get all of the
parties covered with PA board members and we would advertise/accept
membership applications at the parties.
ii. Summer Orientation - Elizabeth covered the summer orientation dates.
Catherine is going to put all of the dates on the PA website. Elizabeth urged
new parents to sign up for parent orientation and for members to urge new
parents to attend. Parents can stay at “Honors Hall” during orientation.
iii. 2013 Merchandise - Elizabeth reviewed the merchandise program. The current
process of ordering at the beginning of the school year and then re-ordering
when the supplies get low isn’t working, so all of the years’ merchandise is
going to be ordered up front. The $$ is the same, it’s just being spent at one
time versus at various times throughout the year. Elizabeth said that all of the
“sale” merchandise is going in a $5 bin for orientation. The membership posed
the question “can we have a drawing to give some of the $5 bin inventory
away to those who join at orientation?” Sheryl Jordan made the motion that we
take 2 of the 50 draw scholarships and give them form new members; 1 for
renewal and 1 for new membership (lifetime members and 2 year members
are added in when they update). The motion was seconded and passed.
Melissa noted that moving out of the union had the adverse effect of no
storage for merchandise. Melissa suggested that we use the vendor on-line
store and receive 3 shipments of merchandise throughout the year. We would
have to pay 3 shipping costs. Elizabeth stated that she knows some UNT
alums that have warehouse space in Irving; maybe we could get all of the
merchandise shipped at the same time and stored in Irving. There was lengthy
discussion regarding this, and it is tabled until it can be investigated further.
iv. Pop-up Banners - Catherine discussed the pop-up banners. An example was
examined, and the membership felt it was a good investment. A motion was
made, seconded and approved to purchase one.
v. Tri-fold membership form - there was discussion about the tri-fold form; that
maybe we could use a 5 x 11 inch card, printed on both sides instead. We
made 500 tri-folds last year and we need 5000 this year. We can get the cards
for around $2000. Motion made, seconded and approved to go with the cards.
vi. Elizabeth reviewed upcoming dates; specifically Family Weekend in October
and Homecoming in November. Mitch is donating the footballs we throw, and
is providing a trailer/truck for the float. We will build the float on the Friday
before Homecoming. Elizabeth will send more information about that later on
in the year. Everyone was reminded to buy the large bags of candy AFTER
Halloween to bring to be thrown from the float. We may allow parents to ride
bicycles in the parade with the float.
With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 10:51 a.m.
Drawings for the “Draw Scholarships” to follow.
Respectfully submitted,
Tony Hill
Secretary