College Relations (Heather Duval):

This is the end of the school year, so there was nothing new to report.

Community Involvement (Tracy Larsen - Steve Korby absent):

Diversity (Linda Olcott):

Inez Wildwood, from Minnesota Power, will be the presenter at the May 2009 meeting. HRCI certification has not been approved yet, but is expected.

HRCI Certification (Kathy Chalupsky):

The study group is organized and meetings have begun.

Membership (Terri McGillvrey):

• Terri received the SHRM at-large membership list and will send invitations to attend an NHRA meeting for free.
• Terri is the director of the 2010 state conference, which will be held in Duluth at the DECC. She'll be attending a meeting in Elk River to learn more about the event's organization and will be asking for our involvement as plans progress. The primary concerns will be selecting a theme and lining up speakers. Discussed the possibility of offering student internships for some of the work that will be involved with conference planning and production.

Legislative and Government Affairs (Wayne Lindberg):

Wayne didn't have any updates for the group.

Marketing (Patricia Stolee:

• Patricia was interviewed for an article in the Duluth News Tribune, has been answering Information Line inquiries, and distributed a press release about the award of our scholarship.
• The Website has been updated to include areas for Volunteer Opportunities as well as Internship Opportunities.

Professional Development (Laurie Pinther):

• June joint meeting with ASTD: The topic was to be Speed Networking, which is not a program we wish to participate in. They discussed other ideas and decided to present a session on learning how to network and use networked resources. It will start with a speaker, then follow up with a representative from each organization to offer information and networking opportunities within their respective groups.
• Laurie asked for volunteers to help plan the fall conference.
• Discussed developing a membership survey to capture ideas for meeting topics. We could also address other concerns such as how the NHRA can be more effective. It was suggested the SHRM website has sample surveys that could be used as starting points for developing our own. Discussed using Zoomerang to distribute the survey. Laurie and Terri will make a draft and bring it to the next board meeting for discussion. It should be done before the June meeting in order to get responses in time to plan for meetings in the fall.

Continuing Business:

• Fall Conference: Decided to hold it again at Inn on the Lake. We need to pick a date very soon. We were reminded that Labor Day is late this year, September 7th, and we need to plan around it.

Other Business:

• Heather Duvall presented a draft Scholarship Rating Form to be used to help in the selection process in the future. A few changes were suggested, which Heather will incorporate and bring to the next meeting for final approval.
• Decided to place feedback forms at each chair and ask attendees to fill them out at all meetings.
• State Council Meeting (Wayne Lindberg): SHRM is still offering scholarships for members planning to take the PHR/SPHR exam in December. SHRM has instituted a hiring freeze and is tightening up on their financial support of local chapters. Wayne said that he'll distribute the meeting's minutes when he gets them.