The Northern Illinois University Public Administration Student Association Executive Committee met on October 2, 2009. They approved the organization's bylaws and appointed a new member to the committee. The president outlined responsibilities for the year, including developing binders to maintain institutional knowledge as officers graduate. The committee also discussed fulfilling commitments to participate in highway cleanup through an Adopt-A-Highway program and attending a required diversity training. They set the next meeting for October 15th.

1. Northern Illinois University
Public Administration Student Association
Executive Committee Meeting
October 2, 2009
Minutes
Cal to Order
President Jarret Byrne called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.
Present: President Jarrett Byrne, Vice President Alex Barkley, Treasurer Melissa
Steirer, Secretary Inga Jacobson, and Faculty Advisor Dr. Kim Nelson.
Also present: MPA Coordinator Samantha Fisher and Christina Collison
Approve the By-laws (attachment):
J. Byrne stated the by-laws should be voted on by the entire student body since they
say to allow MPA students to have a vote if there are any revisions.
J. Byrne called for a vote to approve the bylaws as presented. Motion carried
unanimously.
Approve Appointments:
J. Byrne called for a vote to approve the appointment of Christina Collison to the
Executive Committee. Motion carried unanimously.
Introductions:
All members introduced themselves briefly.
Responsibilities/Expectations:
J. Byrne stated he wanted the association to be more relevant. He also stated I.
Jacobson will act as a communications director for the organization in addition to the
listed secretarial duties in the bylaws. She will coordinate mailings, notifications to
students, etc.
J. Byrne also stated he was concerned about the loss of knowledge when second year
students leave the organization upon graduation. He explained an idea C. Collison had
to require those involved in extra duties beyond those listed in the bylaws to write a
summary about how it went, what the person did, etc. There would then be a binder
developed for each year with tips for each activity.
C. Collison suggested having a separate binder for the president, treasurer, secretary,
and vice president. Discussion followed.

2. PA Student Association October 2, 2009
M. Steirer stated general information should be in each binder like how to reserve a
room. K. Nelson suggested developing an electronic binder. I. Jacobson suggested
having one general binder and position specific binders for each officer. J. Byrne said
the general binder could be housed in the MPA office.
S. Fisher recommended sending the electronic version to her to maintain in her files.
Discussion followed.
It was decided that I. Jacobson would maintain the electronic document and send
revised copies to S. Fisher whenever updates occurred. New versions would also be
sent to the officers. J. Byrne will write up a procedure for the write ups and then e-mail
it to the officers.
S. Fisher said she can post minutes on the MPA E-Community.
K. Nelson stated she needs to speak with other faculty about how the flow of feedback
will work between the association and faculty. K. Nelson and J. Byrne explained the
past practice.
Adopt-A-Highway & Student Senate Obligations:
S. Fisher explained that last year the student organizations decided to participate in the
Adopt-A-Highway project. The reasons they decided to participate were to 1) give
something back to the community and 2) eventually be funded. At NIU, you can only be
funded if you give back to the community in some way.
The association is contractually obligated to fulfill this commitment. There are supposed
to be two clean ups by the end of the fall semester. There is a mandatory training to
teach about hazardous materials. There needs to be a group of at least 5 students to
go to the training and a do a clean up. The clean up and training can be on the same
day. It would take about 3 hours. S. Fisher suggested doing the project and then
coordinating a social event for after.
S. Fisher also stated that all student organizations at NIU are required to participate in a
diversity training. She is looking into alternative dates since the one that was
announced is for next week. A. Barkley asked if everyone had to attend the training
together or if they could split up? S. Fisher said she would check, and she will forward
more information on to J. Byrne to disseminate to the rest of the officers.
S. Fisher stated the organization’s budget is due by October 12, 2009. She will look for
sample budgets to work off of and then work with the officers on finalization.
Organizations start out receiving $500.00. She stated it’s difficult to get funding, but it’s
not hard to increase funding after the first year.
Discussion followed about the highway contract. J. Byrne stated during future
considerations, it will be important to consider future generations of students. Officers
will e-mail possible dates for the highway training and clean up to other members.

3. PA Student Association October 2, 2009
Spring Colloquium:
J. Byrne stated all officers need to start thinking about the event. The committee will
discuss this more at their next meeting.
Next Meeting:
Executive Committee meetings are open to the public. J. Byrne wants to make sure the
committee meets fairly regularly.
The next meeting will be on October 15, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. Location will be determined
at a later date. The meeting will be a conference call so M. Sierer can participate.
Open Discussion:
No Discussion.
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 1:53 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Inga Jacobson
Secretary