State Board Meeting Attendees

Laurie Shaw, branch member and AAUW Georgia Co-President took to the front of the room this year as the new Co-President with Debbie Karvey. Four branch members carpooled to the meeting at the Atlanta Shorter Campus. Evelyn Merk, Chair of the Bylaws Committee walked the group through the numerous proposed changes in the working policies and procedures. Ann MacKay, State webmanager submitted a proposal to change the hosting of the website to the new AAUW platform. Marlene Humphry reported on AAUW Funds as the state chair. Marty Scarborough, past HP President also attended.

BR: Marty Scarborough, Ann MacKay, Laurie Shaw, Wilhemina Sibley, FR: Evelyn Merk, Marlene Humphrey

Several members attended the State Meeting in Cartersville, GA. Audrey Sal­gado, AAUW Leadership Corps, served as facilitator. Two projects were discussed. One is to develop a lobby corp for Georgia and  the other is to encourage women to run for office.

Sharon Dawson, Marlene Humphry, Diane Lester, Jane Winston, Winnie Ross

The Houston Peach Branch Board were installed at the May meeting. Returning board members are:

Marlene Humphry, President
Jane Winston, Program Vice President
Sharon Dawson, Recording Secretary
Stephanie Hayes, Corresponding Secretary

New board members are:

Winnie Ross, Treasurer and
Diane Lester, Vice President, Membership

Evelyn Merk conducted the installation ceremony. Lib Barnhart and Carrie Smith were recognized for their years as Treasurer and Vice President, Membership.

The new program year will start at the September meeting. The board will meet in August at the annual pool party and potluck at Marlene Humphry’s home.

Laurie Shaw, Branch member and Georgia AAUW Co-President [effective July 1], gives her impressions of the AAUW National Convention.

The AAUW National convention held June 16-19 in Washington, DC was an energizing experience!  Comparing this convention with the national one I attended in 2005, also in Washington, DC, has me armed with considerably more information than I previously received. With the new “one member, one vote”, both electronic and paper balloting began before the convention for electing AAUW Board of Directors, proposed bylaws amendments and proposed changes to the Public Policy Program.  The election results were announced at Saturday’s luncheon, with Carolyn Garfein (GA) re-elected as President and Patricia Ho (MA) elected Vice-President.  Those who attended the State Convention in April will recall Patricia Ho was our Director at Large representative from the AAUW National Board.  You can view other election results at the AAUW website.  The major change I noted between the 2005 convention and the 2011 convention was that there were more panel discussions on major topical issues as well as more workshops and special interest group meetings.  Because legal requirements for notice of business preclude amendments and voting from the floor at convention, no time is now taken up with issues that could produce much time-consuming debate over wording, amendments, etc.

There were ten of us there from Georgia but since President Carolyn Garfein and Board of Director Marcia Capriotti had some official duties to attend to, the remaining 8 of us tried to sit together as a group for meals and panel discussions.  This allowed us to share ideas to take to our respective Branches and further discussion on topics such as AAUW Public Policy, Safe Schools: Bullying and Sexual Harassment, Why So Few? In STEM, and Women and Men in the 21^st Century Workplace. Since there were many opportunities to attend workshops and briefings on a wide range of topics, the Georgia attendees tried to split up to gather as much information as possible.  Some of the topics were Sharing successful recruitment & retention stories, Branch fundraising, Mission-based programming, College/university partners, and Social media.

Attending a national convention with 800 attendees is a great experience. I would strongly encourage everyone to consider it in the future.  The next AAUW National Convention will be June 9-12, 2013 in New Orleans.  Hope to see you there!

Eleanor Granum and Ada Lee

Ada Lee, long-time community activist, is the 2011 Eleanor Granum Award Winner. Ms. Lee was born and raised in what is now Warner Robins. She was born and grew up as a child of sharecroppers on the planation which is now Robins Air Force Base.

She grew up in the Jim Crow south with separate schools and all that it entailed. She knew she did not want her children to suffer the indignities that she did. She was active during the peak of the civil rights movement in the 1960s watching both her children get arrested because of their non-violence protests at the drug counter and the board of education. She marched and picketed at every opportunity and lost one job because of her activities.

She went on to serve as the Director of the Warner Robins Day Care which is now Cherished Children. Eleanor was a volunteer there during Ms. Lee’s time as director. Now 87, Ada Lee continues active participation in her church, in the Middled Georgia Democratic Women’s Club and can still be found protesting when justice needs to be served. She was on the picket line last year when the North Davis post office was threatened with closure. It was a privilege to see Ms. Granum, the founding president of the branch, standing with another esteemed elder who received the award named after her.

It’s that time of year to head to the Georgia AAUW Summer Leadership Meeting in Cartersville, GA July 16,  The Cartersville-Bartow Branch is hosting at the Clarence Brown Convention Center right off of the I-75 exit 290. Audrey Salgado with the Leadership Corp will be the guest speaker and facilitator. There is a list of motels close by if you want to drive up the night before.

Cartersville has the excellent Booth Western Art Museum in town. This meeting is open to all members.

Registration is only $15 for the meeting and lunch. The registration form can be downloaded here.