AMTAS Business Meeting I
Date: Saturday, 11/21/2013
Time: 5.30 pm
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Meeting called by:
Ethan Schmidt
Facilitator:
Agenda Item I: Introduction
Ethan Schmidt
Introductions
Attendees:
Presenter:
Nicole Hahna (Advisor)
Type of meeting:
AMTAS Business Meeting
Note taker:
Diandra Russo
Formatted by:
Diandra Russo
Ethan Schmidt (President)
Dr. Kern
Ellen Trammel (Vice-President)
Melissa Heffner (Parliamentarian)
Diandra Russo (Secretary)
Kayla Hamilton (Treasurer)
AMTAS members
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Minutes
I.
1.
2.
3.
4.
II.
III.
Call to Order
Ethan called for a motion to call the meeting to order
SER motioned
MAR seconded
Ethan called the meeting to order at 5.33 pm
Reading/Approval of Agenda
a. GLR motioned to bypass the reading of the agenda.
i. MAR seconded.
ii. The motion passed.
Attendance
a. Great Lakes Region
i. The Great Lakes Region has 9 members in attendance.
b. Mid-Atlantic Region
i. The Mid-Atlantic Region has 14 members in attendance.
c. Midwest Region
i. The Midwest Region has 21 members in attendance.
d. Northeast Region
i. The Northeaster Region has members in attendance.
e. Southeastern Region
i. The Southeastern Region has 20 members in attendance
f. Southwestern Region
i. The Southwestern Region has 18 members in attendance.
g. Western Region
i. The Western Region has 1 member in attendance.
h. New England Region
i. The New England Region has 2 members in attendance.
i.
Recognition of all first-time national conference attendees.
i. Welcome to all of the new attendees this year.
IV.
1.
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Announcements
World Federation of Music Therapy Students Jen Spidey & Julie Blyte
Assembly of Delegates: 2011-2014  2014-2017: looking for new representatives, wfmt.info, call for
nominations, through December 1st, music therapy educator, faculty, self nominations as well, f you are going to
the world congress stay after the meeting.
o Individual Membership: 3 year terms, fees 30$, entitles to individual benefits, membership directory,
participate in research studies
o Other membership category: As Student organizational members - member by default as AMTAS
members you are automatically a member
o Available resources available: Window to the world, experiences from around the world, CONNECT, info
cards in 20 languages, international library of music (lullabies, etc…)
o Opportunity: Assembly of Delegates: Term 2014-2017: Looking for new representatives, wfmt.info, call
for nominations, through December 1st, music therapy educator, faculty, self nominations as well, if you
are planning to go to the world congress stay after the meeting.
o World Congress 2014: Pre Conference Training, Assembly of delegates roundtable, student poster
session, Travel tips how to make it affordable, Julie told the AMTAS members how she loved the
experience in SEOUL, Jen got involved through applying for a scholarship
2. Nicole Advisor:
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V.
Thanks the AMTAS officers, to step up to their positions
Nicole introduced SAAB Advisors:
Andrew Knight (Midwestern Advisor):
o Has been advisor for 5 years, he enjoys being advisor and is trying to increase membership, graduate
student of Minnesota, he agrees with what Bill Davis how he loved the energy of the students
Christine A. Routhier (New England Advisor):
o New England Region, AMTAS member when she was student it is part of professional identity
Natalie Mullis (Southeastern Advisor):
o has been an advisor for 2 years
Michelle Kennemer: (Southwestern Advisor)
o Has been an advisor for a long time, remembers being a student and encourages students to find a
niche within the field, let the passion guide you and get involved
Amy Furman: Thank you to AMTAS Executive Board and to SAAB Advisors. “I hope you are excited about
conference”, Amy worked in 4 different regions and had different jobs with different populations, it is a ticket to
different things
Nicole reminded the AMTAS members of the “Profession Packet”: Keep on being a member it is supporting the
protection of the profession
o It is not just discounts and conference, it is advocacy, support your organization, please let u know what
you are doing, hope to see you next year!
Reports
1.
AMTAS Executive Board
a)
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President (Ethan Schmidt)
Was initially elected as the Vice President and stepped in as president in June
Updated scholarship information on drop box
Updated forms on dropbox to make transition between officers smoothly
Collaboration with other AMTAS officers to fill the duties of the vacant positions
Receiving and organizing scholarship information
Coordinated Meetings
b)
President Elect (Vacant)
c)
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Vice President (Ellen Trammel)
Started serving in August
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Website: Added new tab for conference with information
Will be updating the website throughout the conference: Blog for students and interns separately, Intern Podcast
will be posted
d)
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Secretary (Diandra Russo)
Gathered personal contact information about SAAB members and compiled a directory to facilitate
communication among SAAB members
Facilitated conversation on social media sites, sharing news coverage and relevant music therapy information and
other conference related issues
Encouraged students to promote the Facebook & twitter page!
Compiled and sent out AMTAS Publications: Spring & Fall Newsletter & the Musette
Recorded Business Meeting Minutes and sent them out to the appropriate people
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e)
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Treasurer (Kayla Hamilton)
Worked on the new budget proposal, which will be proposed during the Friday business meeting and voted on
during the Saturday business meeting
Took on president-elect duties and recruited students on to the standing committees
f)
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Parliamentarian (Melissa Heffner)
Melissa reformatted the bylaws and attended to consistencies within the bylaws and fixed content issues
Bylaws is an organic document and always changing, according to the needs of the students
Updated the “Parliamentarian” folder on drop box to make a smooth transition for the next officer
g)
Advisor: Nicole Hahna
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AMTAS Executive meetings once a month
Coordinated the Gaston E. Thayer Award, encouraged students to apply for the Gaston award next year
SAAB Board is submitting a proposal for changes to the Gaston E. Thayer Award
Apply for scholarships
2.
AMTAS Regional Representatives
Great Lakes Region (Melissa Schumann)
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MY Musicians stands for Making Young Musicians. A grant
provides funding to a music program in need. One school in the GLR region will receive up to $400 in instruments
and equipment. A school may be nominated if it has grades K-12 and has not received money from the grant
from a previous year. All submissions will be reviewed by Executive Board members of the Great Lakes Region
American Music Therapy Association of Students (GLR AMTAS) and the recipient will be chosen upon group
consensus.
Reached out to all the colleges asking them to send in nominations
o 3 schools are applicants that will be considered
Passages:
o 50-60 students in attendance
o New board was elected entirely key note speaker
o 3 scholarship for next year’s conference
o they are also going to support music therapy organization at a university that promoted Music
Therapy among the region
Newsletter:
o GLR is planning to create one, so all the school’s presidents know what they are doing, which will
encourage higher participation during conference
Mid-Atlantic (Logan Everhart)
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Past president had to resign
9th annual conference was in October
Rock across the region: Asked each school to have advocacy project, incorporate Music Therapy back into
community
Midwestern (Andrew Knight & Rebecca Townsend)
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a)
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No changes in officer make up/contact information since their election in the spring.
We have had conference calls to discuss our main project goal, a mini-conference exclusively for students in
the region. This conference would be separate from Passages, the more scholarly event tied to the spring regional
conference, and would be an in-person event to facilitate communication from students across our large region!
Our board looks to finalize plans for this event soon, and be active in meeting and working in Jacksonville for the
AMTA conference.
Had passages during the regional conference
Doing the same project as last year
Fundraiser plans in order to send more students to conference
A goal is to improve communication among schools in the region
New England (Christine Routhier & Katie Olsen)
Region is taking part in a variety of projects including a service trip to the Cayman Islands in January.
Looking into sponsoring a number of local, short-term service projects, but these have not been finalized yet.
Passages conference was November 9th, with 15 student presentations.
The title for biggest 2013-2014 Project is Team Cayman’s Support Our Youth in which a group of six music therapy
students from the region will be going down to the island for a week during January, which is Cayman’s national
Support Our Youth month. There they will be working to support youth through a variety of programs through schools
and hospitals throughout that week.
A mentoring program, pairing students with professionals having similar professional interests, was developed by a
Lesley graduate student and began at last year’s Passages conference. A follow-up presentation on the program was
then offered at our annual NER conference in the spring.
At the annual NER conference, six students, one graduating and one returning, were offered scholarships. These
scholarships consisted of either a student or a professional membership to AMTA, depending on whether the student
was graduating or returning.
Changes in officers: President Elect was reelected, former president elect had to resign due to health issues
b)
South Eastern (Natalie Mullis & Freddy Perkins)
 Regional Project “drumSTRONG Challenge”, within the region every universities music therapy club will be encouraged
to fundraise money on the respective campuses to donate to drumSTRONG, an organization that raises awareness and
funds for cancer organizations globally through family friendly rhythm gatherings. This project will act as a fundraising
challenge to see which university within the region can raise the most money.
Implementation: In the beginning of January an email will go out to all the Southeastern music therapy club presidents
and advisors announcing the project. The actual project will begin on March 1st, 2014. The fundraising challenge will
end on November 1st, 2014. The music therapy clubs will be encouraged to develop creative fundraising ideas in order
to help raise money. Each club president will keep a roster of all the money that is collected and report each month to
the regional treasurer via email. At the end of each month emails will be sent out notifying each school of the progress
being made amongst the region. All money will be submitted to the regional treasurer. At the end of the challenge,
once the regional student executive board has calculated all funds shall be announced via email. The winning university
shall receive a drumSTRONG djembe for their music therapy program.
 Created a Regional Facebook page to promote and facilitate communication
c)
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Southwestern (Michelle Kennemer & Rebecca Cantrell)
3rd strong president in a row
Increased communication with less active schools
Internship directory from previous years is continued, which includes former students at the site
Scholarships: Award will help out with students attending regional conference
Fundraising: T-Shirts, rubber bracelets
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We have a joint regional conference with the Midwest region, and that went really well! Joint conference was
incredibly successful due to networking opportunities twice a year (regional and national conference)
Passages were part of the conference
This year we will be finishing up last year’s project of creating an Internship Directory for the internships in our region.
We have also decided to donate a portion of our proceeds from fundraising this year to a worthy group committed to
music therapy.
Internship Directory – we will compile the information for the last 3 interns at the internship sites in our region, so that
seniors looking into internships can contact the past interns as well as the internship director to learn more about
specific internships.
d)
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Western Region (Judice Pinkerton & Candice Bain)
Connections
Project Description: WRAMTAS started a project in 2012 titled “Connections”, which
aimed to forge connections between the students of the Western region. As the largest region of
AMTAS, this has been an enormous challenge. Thus, the 2013-2014 project is to start an “Internship
Spotlight” and to continue to establish the “Connections” project by increasing both interschool and
professional networking.
WRAMTAS has received approval to award a “First Time Attendee” conference registration
scholarship for the 2014 WRAMTA conference in Portland, OR.
3 Virtual Master Classes scheduled to take place this Fall, and they will continue in the spring. Virtual
Master presentation  anymeeting.com, distance learning, motivation for professionals they get
CMTE
Penpal Project  Facilitate more natural connections, encourage and promote socialization
The use of Instagram  Posting pictures from each school in order to connect the big region
3.
Unfinished Business
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No unfinished business
4.
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New Business
Ethan thanked previous executive board for being incredibly supportive in this difficult transition
Standing Committees: If you are elected. YOU MUST ATTEND!!!, you are the voice of the students,
Marcus Hughes: Master level asked students to submit their inputs via E-Mail, will be shared on Facebook page
a.
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Proposed By-law Changes: Melissa Heffner
There were a lot of things wrong,
Made two categories:
o 1. Grammar, Formatting, Consistencies
o 2. Content
Melissa called for a motion to present the proposal for changes to the bylaws in a block of the two groups
SWAMTAS motioned
MARAMTAS seconded
(Please refer to the following slides)
i.
First proposed change: Formatting, Grammar, Consistency
ii.
Second proposed change: Content
PROPOSED CHANGES
Part 1
Formatting, Grammar, Consistency
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
The…
AMTAS…
AMTAS….
AMTAS…
Proposed Change
Article II, Section 2
Section 2.
a.
b.
c.
Section 2.
The…
a.
AMTAS…
b.
AMTAS…
c.
AMTAS…
[to be like formatting in Article XII]
Article XI
Indented “Article XI.”
Delete indent to align with other titles
Article III, Section
1; Article XIII,
Section 1; Article
XIII, Section 3
“…AMTA bylaws”
“…AMTA Bylaws”
Article XI, Section
2
“…these by-laws, the AMTA by-laws,
…”
“…these Bylaws, the AMTA Bylaws,…”
Article III, Section
3
“The membership year coincides with “The membership year coincides with
the AMTA membership year, January the AMTA membership year, beginning
1 and ending December 31.”
January 1 and ending December 31.”
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV,
Section 1
“The Executive Officers of AMTAS
will be annually elected
according to the election
procedures presented in these
Bylaws, Article X.”
“The Executive Officers of AMTAS
will be annually elected according
to the election procedures
presented in Article X of these
Bylaws.”
Article IV, Section 4,
Section 5, Section 6,
Section 7, Section 8,
Section 9
“…first general meeting of AMTAS…”
“…first general business meeting of
AMTAS…”
Article IV, Section 7
“The Parliamentarian reviews the AMTAS
Bylaws and presents recommended
changes to be approved at the annual
meeting…”
“The Parliamentarian reviews the AMTAS
Bylaws and presents recommended
changes to be approved at the second
general business meeting…”
Article X, Section 1
“At the second AMTAS business meeting…”
“At the second AMTAS general business
meeting…”
“…second general meeting.”
Article XVII, Section 2
“…second general business meeting.”
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section
10
“The AMTAS Executive Officers will
act as a committee of whole to
transact business between annual
AMTAS meetings. All transactions of
the Executive Officers will be
reported in full at the next AMTAS
general business meeting.”
“The AMTAS Executive Officers will act
as a committee of whole to transact
business between general AMTAS
business meetings. All transactions of
the Executive Officers will be reported
in full at the following AMTAS general
business meeting.”
Article IV, Section
4, Section 5,
Section 6, Section
7, Section 8,
Section 9; Article
VI, Section 3;
Article VII, Section
4; Article XI,
Section 1; Article
XI, Section 4
“…at National Conference.”
“at the National Conference.”
Article XI, Section 4
“…at conference…”
“…at the National Conference…”
iii.
You have 24 hours to look at them. They will be voted on tomorrow night.
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section 4,
Section 6, Section 7,
Section 8, Section 9;
Article V, Section 4;
Article VI, Section 2;
Article IX, Section 1;
Article X, Section 1;
Article XI, Section 4,
Section 6; Article XII,
Section 2b
Extra space
Delete extra space
Article X, Section 2
Page break inserted
Delete unnecessary page break
Article IV, Section 4
Article IV, Section 5
Semicolon
No comma before last item in
list
No period
Capital letter after colon
Comma
No comma
Colon
Add comma before last item in list
Article IV, Section 8
Article IV, Section 9
Article XI, Section 4
Article XIII, Section 1
Add period at end of sentence
Make lowercase to be consistent
Delete unnecessary comma
Add comma to separate short phrase
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section President Elect
5; Article XI,
Section 4,
Section 6
President-Elect
Article IV, Section
2, Section 4,
Section 5, Section
6, Section 7,
Section 8, Section
9; Article VI,
Section 2; Article X,
Section 1; Article
XII, Section 1a
Vice President
Vice-President
Article IV, Section “A vacancy in the office of the
4
President is filled by the
President-Elect.”
A vacancy in the office of
President is filled by the
President-Elect.”
[delete “the” before “President”]
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section 5
“President-Elect attends all AMTAS
and SAAB meetings…”
“The President-Elect attends all
AMTAS and SAAB meetings…”
Article IV, Section 8
“Secretary keeps minutes…”
“The Secretary keeps minutes…”
Article X, Section 1
“An outgoing officer and SAAB
Advisor…”
“An outgoing officer and the SAAB
Advisor…”
Article IV, Section 7
“…as detailed in Article XVI of these
Bylaws.”
“…as detailed in Article XVII of these
Bylaws.”
Article VIII, Section
1
“The Student Affairs Advisory Board
(SAAB), as authorized in the AMTA
Bylaws, Article IX, Section 3,...”
“The Student Affairs Advisory Board
(SAAB), as authorized in the AMTA
Bylaws, Article IX, Section 4,…”
Parliamentary
Authority and
Bylaw Amendment
articles
Article XVI
--
Article XVI
Article XVII
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section
7, Section 8; Article
VI, Section 2,
Section 3; Article X,
Section 1, Section
2; Article XI,
Section 1, Section
5
“…the chair of the SAAB…”
“…the chair of SAAB…”
“…the SAAB Chair…”
“…the SAAB Advisor…”
“…the SAAB Chairperson…”
Article VI, Section 3
“Within three weeks…”
“Within three (3) weeks…”
Article VII, Section
1
“…each of the 13 AMTA Standing
Committees…”
“…each of the thirteen (13) AMTA
Standing Committees…”
Article IV, Section “…his or her…”
6; Article VI,
Section 3; Article
XI, Section 1,
Section 4
“…his/her…”
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article VII, Section
1
“There is at least one student
representative appointed to each of
the 13 AMTA Standing Committees:
Government Relations,…Association
Internship Approval, Continuing
Education Committees.”
“There is at least one Student
Representative appointed to each of
the thirteen (13) AMTA Standing
Committees: Government Relations,…
Association Internship Approval, and
Continuing Education.”
Article VII, Section
4
“…each Student Representative
reports to the AMTAS about the
issues…following his/her report to
the AMTAS…”
“each Student Representative reports
to AMTAS about the issues…following
his/her report to AMTAS…”
Article VIII, Section
1; Article XIII,
Section 2
“The SAAB serves…”
“AMTAS will support the SAAB…”
“SAAB serves…
“AMTAS will support SAAB…”
[delete “the” before acronym]
Article V, Section 5
Article VII, Section
4
Article XII, Section
1a
“…all members of the board.”
“…in the AMTAS newsletter.”
“…all members of the Board.”
“…in the AMTAS Newsletter.”
“…the AMTAS website.”
“…the AMTAS Website.”
PROPOSED CHANGES
FO R M ATT I N G, G R A M M A R , C O N S I S T E N CY
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article XI, Section “In the event that an officer is
2
found…”
“In the event that an Executive
Officer is found…”
Article XI, Section “When the new officers move
4
into their roles…”
“When the new Executive Officers
move into their roles…”
Article XI, Section “Whoever is elected for
4
President Elect…”
“Whoever is elected as PresidentElect…”
Article XIII,
Section 3
“AMTAS annually administers the
Regional Support Fund to a wellqualified region, whose process is
described in Article III, Section 4
of the AMTA Bylaws.”
[delete “as”]
“AMTAS annually administers
the Regional Support Fund to a
well-qualified region, whose
process is as described in Article
III, Section 4 of the AMTA
bylaws.”
PROPOSED CHANGES
Part 2
Content
PROPOSED CHANGES
CONTENT
Location
Current
Article IV, Section “The President-Elect is
5
responsible for assistance
relating to Board Members
email accounts…”
Article IV, Section
6, Section 7,
Section 8,
Section 9
Proposed Change
“The President-Elect is responsible
for assistance relating to
Executive Officer email
accounts…”
“The President-Elect acts as a
liaison between the Standing
Committee Student
Representative and Committee
Chair.”
“The President-Elect acts as a
liaison between all Standing
Committee Student
Representatives and Committee
Chairs.”
The Vice President/
Parliamentarian/Secretary/
Treasurer serves as liaison
among the…Regional
Representative(s) and the
AMTAS Board of Directors.
Removing this duty from VP,
Parliamentarian, Secretary, &
Treasurer – no longer applicable
PROPOSED CHANGES
CO NTE N T
Location
Current
Proposed Change
Article IV, Section “In the absence of the President, Removing sentence – not
6
the Vice President assumes all
applicable because of PresidentPresidential duties as outlined in Elect position
Article IV, Section 4 of these
Bylaws.”
Article IV, Section 9
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“The Treasurer is responsible for…
developing a budget for the following
membership year to be presented to
the members of AMTAS at the first
general business meeting and
approved by the members at the
second general business meeting.”
Non-existent
“The Treasurer is responsible for
bringing all AMTAS materials to the
National Conference to be given to the
newly-elected Treasurer.”
The issue was raised to make the articles gender neutral instead of his and her, the use of their, the individual
After a discussion, MWR motioned to leave this issue to the next board, since this seems, to be an important
issue.
SER seconded
Nicole suggested that the person running for the parliamentarian position should look into this and this might be
someone who has an interest in the gender community.
b.
I.
“The Treasurer is responsible for…
developing a budget for the
following membership year to be
approved by the members of AMTAS
at the second general business
meeting.”
Budget Proposal: Kalya Hamilton
Kayla proposed the budget:
a. Actuality: 10’437.27
b. Budgeted: $ 5,480.00
c. Surplus: $4,957,27
c.
New Officer Nominations
i. Nominations are opened tonight.
ii.
Each officer-included duty covered the duties of each role.
iii.
AMTAS Officers
1.
President
a. Sara Carney was nominated and accepts.
b. Grant Howarth was nominated and accepts.
c. Candice Bain was nominated and accepts
d. Melanie Brison self-nominated.
2.
President-Elect
a. Dawn Stewart was nominated and accepts.
b. Laura Wilson was nominated and accepts.
5.
Vice President
a. Cole Eisenmenger was nominated and accepts.
b. Vienna Sa was nominated and accepts.
4.
Parliamentarian
a. Julia Stevens was nominated and accepts.
b. Elizabeth Anstead was nominated and accepts.
c. Veronica Payne was nominated and accepts.
d. Melissa Heffner was nominated and declines.
5.
Secretary
a. Libbie Roberts was nominated and accepts.
6.
Treasurer
a. Audrey Manis was nominated and accepts.
Good and Welfare
a.
b.
6.
3.
2014 Executive Board must stay after tomorrow’s Business meeting
Tomorrow’s Meeting: 5:30-6:30 PM, River Terrace 3 – 3rd Floor
Adjournment
a. Ethan called for a motion to adjourn the meeting
b. MARAMTAS motioned to adjourn the meeting.
c. GLR Seconded
d. The meeting was adjourned at 7.49pm