Reminders:

• NC Women United Women’s Advocacy Day, June 18. Organize a carload to come to Raleigh!
• Women’s Agenda Assemblies around the state this fall. Organize one in your community!

July 25-26, 2008
Salisbury, North Carolina
Holiday Inn (704-637-3100)
Take exit 75 off of I-85; travel ½ mile north and the hotel is on the right.

Carolyn Garfein of Georgia, member of the Association board and an announced candidate for AAUW president for 2009-2011, will be attending to share information about the changes in AAUW and what’s in store for the future. The agenda will include strategic planning as well as more segments from the Association leadership training curriculum. Watch for an updated agenda to be posted closer to the meeting.

The AAUW rate at the Holiday Inn is $98.76 (including tax and free hot breakfasts for up to two guests). This rate will be available until June 15 after which reservations will be made at the regular rate of $99.99 + tax per room. Luncheon arrangements include a deli buffet; however, an attempt will be made to honor any special dietary requests and these should be made at this time along with your meeting registration. The Holiday Inn restaurant is no longer open for lunch on a regular basis but will open at 5:30 for dinner Friday.

The registration fee for the meeting is $15.00 and reservations should be made by July 12, 2008. Please make your checks out to AAUW-Salisbury Branch and send your check to:

Harriett Murphy
152 South Milford Drive
Salisbury, NC, 28144.

For any future questions or assistance with this meeting you may contact Harriett at 704-630-1153 or write info@aauwnc.org.

If there’s something in your branch newsletter that’s of general interest, please do mail it separately — or post it! — to be sure it’s considered for the state newsletter.

Thanks to the Wilmington Branch for a great invitation to the 2009 Convention — complete with a song!

Save the date: Friday, March 27, 2009!

This event will include a gala banquet celebrating 100 years of AAUW in North Carolina! Spread the word!

1. You should have received a message last week about using the Member Services Database (MSD) to report your branch’s 2008-2009 officers. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you do send in this information so that there is continuity of communication from the Association to your branch. Please do be sure you’ve reported the 2008-2009 president and that she knows how to get into the MSD. You’ll find that your treasurer and membership vp will be able make good use of the MSD to check Association records — please encourage them to register and use the system. Entering the other officers (you’ll find it’s a quick point and click to choose the folks in your branch — no need to enter contact information) will ensure that they, too, get appropriate mailings from the Association.

If you’d like me to give a “virtual tour” of the system, let me know and we’ll schedule one or two sessions during May.

2. Last year we tried to use the national information to populate the AAUW NC branch/state officer listing. For several reasons, that didn’t work so well, and for this year, I’m asking you to fill out the simple AAUW NC form that we used in 2006 and 2007. You’ll find that at

http://www.aauwnc.org/08-09/bof.php

You don’t need to enter member id’s or contact information — we’ll get that from the national listing — and send it to you for proofing.

3. That, then, brings me to the importance of all of your members having correct information on file at AAUW. Again, the Member Services Database helps with this. Each member can register, login and correct any errors in her or his information. Your branch treasurer can make updates to all the branch member records — and every member can see the information for all the others (an instant “yearbook directory” if you will). If your branch treasurer isn’t the person who’s the best one to do these updates, please do name someone else as “co-treasurer” to help out with this specific task. And if the branch president doesn’t want to handle the maintenance of the online officer information, note that any other member can be granted those rights.

Again, let me know if you’d like a demo of the system – we can set that up so that we’re “connected” over the ‘net and you can watch me use the system, then I can watch you …

Thanks so much for helping us get the 2008-2009 year off to a good start.

-Nancy

cc: Other AAUW NC Leaders

The workshop was presented to juniors and seniors at Brevard College. The goal was to prepare young women for their first “professional” job interviews. The scenario included an interviewer and three candidates for a job. The attendees rated each candidate on their answers to typical interview questions. This prompted discussions on what to expect at an interview, how to prepare for the interview, types of questions that cannot be asked, and how to respond to illegal questions in a positive manner.

JoAnn Hall
Jacksonville Regional

Ms. Light began as an activist for neighborhoods in Winston-Salem. Eventually the neighborhood alliance supported her run for city council. She recommends getting on boards and commissions. Look in the newspaper or on city and county web sites for notices of openings.

Mary Peterson, a long-time public policy activist herself, moderated the workshop and inspired the attendees to get involved.

• AAUW Brevard Voter Guide - candidates for US Senate, governor, and more
• State Board of Elections Voter Guide (judicial and council of state races)
• Find your sample ballot - find what primaries are contested in your area

Here are the handouts for that meeting:

• Overview
  • The branch as a bookshelf
  • Picture of the mission
• Samples of mission in action — see more at www.aauw.org
  • Advocacy: Pay Equity ideas (more at www.aauw.org)
  • Education: National Girls Collaborative Project - see ngcproject.org and and the Science House
  • National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (more at nccwsl.org)
  • Research: History of Eleanor Roosevelt Fund publications
• Other handouts
  • Executive Summary of “Title IX at 35″ (full report)
  • NC Women United report card on 2007 legislative session (more at ncwu.org)
• Staying in the loop
  • Comparing AAUW NC and AAUW Asheville web sites (www.aauwnc.org, asheville.aauwnc.org)
  • Sample AAUW NC e-newsletters: state, national (current editions)

• Jacksonville Regional
• Sandhills/Southern Pines
• Statesville
• Winston-Salem

Don’t forget the sample news release that you can still use to discuss your branch’s participation in Convention! Get a head start on next year’s Wall of Success!

Click a picture for a larger version