STC @ NCSU – Student Chapter
16 June 2005
Meeting Minutes
Submitted by: Michelle Mebust, Secretary
ATTENDEES: Sarah Egan Warren, Will Flowers, Michelle Kidd Tackabery, Heather Brautman,
E-Ching Lee, Michelle Mebust
After dinner, welcome and introductions, Sarah provided a brief history of the NCSU student
chapter of the STC.
STC TRANSFORMATION
In its attempt to boost membership and financial solvency, STC is undergoing a transformation. In
late 2004, the STC mandated that graduate students wishing to be STC members must be enrolled in
three or more classes, eliminating nearly every member of the NCSU student chapter. In response,
Sarah, Landra Hester, and Angel Huang gathered information, worked with the Carolina and ECU
chapters of the STC, and wrote a report requesting that the STC Board of Directors rescind the new
student requirements. In early 2005, the STC Board reversed the student eligibility changes
(although the membership form does not reflect the reversal).
All the effort put into petitioning the STC Board to change its policies regarding student eligibility
resulted in a less active STC student chapter at NCSU. Nonetheless, the chapter did provided three
social activities, one educational program, student orientation, and a regular newsletter.
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR 2005-2006
Membership Applications
As noted above, the STC is not changing its form for student eligibility; thus, students applying for
membership may be confused about their eligibility, as well as the membership application process
itself. To reduce potential confusion, Sarah suggested 1) the NCSU STC officers help spread the
word about actual requirements and 2) having Will Flowers collect all the student applications and
submit them en masse with the correct membership designations and faculty signatures.
Will plans to set up a table in Tompkins with STC information and will also run membership drive
during the first or second week of classes.
Orientation
Orientation will be split into two sessions this year: one for the incoming M.S. students on August
15, 2005, and a second for the incoming Ph.D. students (no date has been set yet). Sarah will present
information on the STC chapter and welcomes presentations by the officers. STC officers will
provide refreshments; a sign-up message will circulate in late July or early August.
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Mailboxes
The English Department provides mailboxes in the Tompkins 113 Computer Lab for all MS
students. However, most students don’t realize they have mailboxes, so we need to do a better job
of advertising their existence.
Proposed Activities
The STC student chapter will try to provide a social activity the last Sunday of each month. Other
activity types include educational, service, project, and fundraising. Table 1 below contains a
schedule-in-progress for the 2005-2006 school year.
Table 1: Proposed Activities for the 2005-2006 Academic Year
month
August
September
October
November
activity
 Aug. 25: Happy Hour at Sammy’s (Avent Ferry), 7:30pm - ? (social)
 Aug. 28: chocolate tasting party at Lindt Chocolate, Crabtree Valley Mall,
3:00pm (social)
 Sept. 25: picnic at Pullen Park (social)
 job interviewing skills with Ronnie Duncan from Timely Text (educational)
 booth at the State Fair?
 registering for spring 2006 classes (educational)
 Nov. 12: “challenge” the Carolina STC chapter to game night; hold at James
Scott Farrin offices (social)*
 Nov. 29 and 30: Bake Sale (fundraising)
December


Jan 12: Welcome Back/Welcome (new students) at Playmaker’s (social)
content management seminar, using LAMP (Michelle Tackabery’s co-worker)
(educational)
 redo bylaws, student group charter (project)
February
 Chinese New Year (social)
 Walk for [cause to be determined] (project)
March
 NCAA Basketball Final Four party (social)
 Renaissance Festival (social)
 new officer elections
April
 student defenses (educational)
 Science Olympiad (service)
*
The “Challenge” idea could be submitted for a Pacesetter award (a good idea that others can copy
and use)
January
Fundraising Activities
To increase our funds, we came up with the following possible fundraising activities:

Offer for sale the NCSU Tech Comm T-shirts, which are $12 each in sizes from S to XL. The
STC officers can take extras to program activities and orientation, as well as advertise them via
email, the Web site, and the newsletter. Also, we can sponsor a contest on the Web site for the
most interesting place someone has worn their NCSU Tech Comm T-shirt.
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
16 June 2005
Offer for sale other items, possibly including sweatshirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, water
bottles, etc. We could possibly contract with Cafe Press to manufacture these items for us to sell.
Note: If we decide to offer several items for sale, we may wish to develop a new logo, perhaps
sponsoring a contest to solicit submissions.
Hold a Bake Sale on November 29 and 30.
Orientation Planning for Fall 2005
Fall 2005 Orientation for incoming Technical Communication Master’s degree students will be held
Monday, 15 August starting at 6:00pm (room TBA) and lasting until around 7:30pm.
The STC@NCSU Officers will provide refreshments for orientation. We will send out a sign-up
message as orientation draws closer.
Next Meeting
The next meeting for STC officers will be August 23, 2005, at 5:30pm at Bruegger’s.
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2005 Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda
1. Opening and STC Student Chapter History
 Established in early 90s—but no records other than financial
 Late 90s got a handle on the financial situation and in 2000 revitalized the chapter
o Naming problems—STC and NCSU
o Went from 0 to 17 members
o Won chapter of merit or excellence every year since then
o Won merit and most improved for our newsletter
o Provided students with experiences to compliment their graduate education
 TRANSFORMATION
o Change in requirements for graduate students—must be taking 3 or more classes per
semester—eliminated almost every member
o Although we provided 3 social activities, one educational program, our focus was on
membership
 Landra, Angel and I surveyed members,
 petitioned the Board of Directors,
 gathered data from other schools,
 partnered with the Carolina Chapter and ECU to discuss the transformation,
 I worked closely with the Student Member Support Committee and the
Assistant to the President for Academic Affairs about the requirements,
 Last winter, Landra and I wrote a report for the Board asking them to
reconsider the new requirements. The report was read out loud at the
January Board meeting. The final decision handed down in the spring was
that they would reverse the changes. (although the form continues to have
the old information, this is something that we can work with!)
 What that means for this year
o I know that many of you did not experience the best of STC last year. However, I
want you to know that things did happen last year and I know that much more can
happen this year.
 What you can expect from me
o My role as faculty advisor changes depending on the group of officers. What I will
always be is a cheerleader for STC and for the students in the MS and certificate
program (and now the PhD program). I will remind you of deadlines and make sure
that decisions we make as a chapter are in line with the STC vision and regulations as
well as NCSU.
o Ideally, this is a student run chapter and I am just here to help out when I can and
provide some consistency from year to year.
 What I want from you
o To be excited and interested in STC
o To follow through
o To let us know if personal situations prohibit you from completing STC work
2. Introductions
3. Brainstorming using the Chapter Achievement Award guidelines
4. Scheduling for 2005-2006
5. Forms and paperwork
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