MINUTES OF CCSC BOARD MEETING October 17-18, 1996 Longmont, CO Call to order/Welcome: 4:10 p.m. MST Present: Cathy Bareiss, Ingrid Russell, Chuck Howerton, Sue Fitzgerald, Scott Sigmon, John Meinke, Becky Tidwell, Paul Haiduk, Bob Sloger, Bill Myers, Kevin Treu, Paul Myers Absent: Gail Miles, Dean Hendrix, Martha McCormick, Will Mitchell Call to Order: Duke reviewed the themes for the current year, and discussed the location of the annual meeting. Minutes of the last meeting (February 14, 1996) - approved unanimously REGIONAL REPORTS Note: Comprehensive reports from all regional representatives were circulated via e-mail prior to the meeting. The key points of these reports are summarized below. Midwest - Cathy Bareiss Workshops on C++ and HTML were well-received at the Midwest conference, as were undergrad papers. Next year's conference will be in a suburb of Chicago. The following year it will be near the Michigan, Indiana, Ohio border. Curt White (a member of the Midwest region, steering committee and highly involved in SIGCSE) is pursuing the details for establishing a relationship with SIGCSE for the Midwest conference. Formal by-laws haven't yet been written, but the content has been approved. Southeastern - Duke Haiduk for Gail Miles The next conference is scheduled for Nov. 8-9 at ETSU. In 1997 it will be at Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, NC. The tentative date is the second weekend of November, though an effort will be made not to clash with ACM Southeast. A programming contest is once again being planned by Kevin Treu, Dean Hendrix and Martha McCormick. The steering committee is to meet both at ETSU in November and at SIGCSE at San Jose in Feb. 1997. Two primary pieces of business are hashing out By-Laws for the region and electing a Southeastern Representative. Some of the by-laws of other regions will be used as a beginning place for discussion. Rocky Mountain - Chuck Howerton Distributed copies of a printed report. The conference met at Westminster in Salt Lake last year with very low attendance in spite of best efforts. It was moved back to Longmont as a result. Steering committee membership has fallen off. 50 attendees are projected for this year's conference (28 not in co-hosting school or Board members) No conference planned for 1997 at this point. Enthusiasm is dwindling, though there is a soft offer for a site at the Air Force Academy. Discussion: The issue of flagging interest in CCSC:RM was discussed at length. Suggestions included getting the Call for Papers out earlier, making it an "invitation only" symposium, and expanding the coverage to include academic computing topics. Overall, strong interest was expressed in keeping the conference going. It was agreed that Chuck would find someone to "pass the baton" to prior to the February Board meeting in San Jose. It was also agreed that the Board members would take every opportunity to talk up the conference. Northeastern - Ingrid Russell See Addendum #1. Discussion: A question was raised about the proposed use of the surplus money. There were differences of opinion about whether or not an "entrepeneurial spirit" should be adopted, in which regions are allows to keep surplus money as an inducement to success. One point that was made is that CCSC is registered as a non-profit organization in some regions. The discussion quickly turned to the fact that there is no official, published policy statement with regard to this issue, and many others. It was noted, for instance, that the rules about how to run a conference are not in the standing rules, and need to be. Conferences are now working on by-laws, which is a first step towards standardization. The consensus was that there needs to be a published archive of Standing Rules and other policies and procedures. The CCSC Web site would be a logical place for publication. A conclusion with regard to the use of surplus conference money was postponed to the Treasurer's Report. Central Plains - Scott Sigmon The 1996 CCSC Central Plains Conference was held on April 19-20, 1996 at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. There were 92 people in attendance--an increase of about 30 over the previous conference. The increase is due in part to the conference location near Kansas City and to student participation in the conference. April 19-20 at William Jewell College; 92 registrants (up from 52); 27 students in attendance; went smoothly The 1997 CCSC Central Plains Conference will be held on April 18-19, 1997 at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri. Conference chair is Daryl George from Rockhurst College. Submission by e-mail is to be allowed this year (Dec. 2 deadline) Students are being encouraged to submit projects to a Project Fair which will be held during the conference. A gender friendly model, similar to one Sue Fitzgerald helped to organize for students in the Kansas City public school system, will be employed for the fair. A conference Web site is in preparation. Regional by-laws are being worked on, to be circulated by e-mail and to be voted on in January and submitted for approval at the conference in April. South Central - Bob Sloger The 1994 regional conference was held in Amarillo, Texas. This was the first conference that was conducted with all concurrent sessions, breakouts, the banquet, and other activities held at the hotel. The 1995 regional conference was held in Shreveport, Louisiana. The conference committee decided to follow suit and hold the conference at the hotel which worked out successful as the prior year. This year's regional conference was held in Wichita Falls, Texas. One note that is encouraging is the number of student registrations (up to 16). This figure year after year has increased dramatically. A conference chair's handbook has been developed, containing a step-by-step procedure of what needs to be accomplished and dates those items or issues need to be accomplished. It also contacts and information on key board officers who are either involved with or can assist with the successful facilitation of a regional conference. The next conference on April 11-12 at Trinity in San Antonio (11/1 deadline). Commitments for conference sites have been made six years in advance. The conference proceedings were published locally. There is discussion about having submissions by e-mail. The steering committee is also working on conference by-laws. OTHER REPORTS Membership Report - Bill Myers The membership report was distributed. (See Addendum #2.) Good news: 420 regular members and more to come. This is an increase from last year. Associate members are up, and institutional memberships are down. Treasurer's Report - Becky Tidwell An end-of-fiscal year report (July 31) instead of a time-of-Board-meeting report was made for the first time. It was noted that the South Central journal expense will have to be adjusted higher. A significant point is that 96-97 dues were separated out by request. Revisiting an earlier discussion, it was noted that one-half of excess money from profitable conferences is to go back to CCSC. Other questions were to be postponed until the following day. Editor's Report - John Meinke A report was distributed via e-mail. (See Addendum #3.) A summary of page totals from the journals was given, with the suggestion that they be used to guide decisions about combinations of proceedings. Duplicating weekends for conferences should be avoided. Spring Membership and Board Meeting at San Jose (2/26-3/1) - Paul Myers Computing Week is a thing of the past; SIGCSE will continue to have its meeting, with others SIGs tacked on. Two meetings are planned: The CCSC Membership meeting will be after the SIGCSE business meeting on 2/27, at roughly 6 p.m.. The CCSC Board meeting sometime on Wednesday, 2/26, 3-10 p.m.(specifics to be sent by e-mail). The dates for 1998 are 2/19-2/22. SIGCSE Grant Status - Paul Myers A grant renewal has been prepared and submitted. It will no longer cover travel to SIGCSE; it is solely for exporting panels to CCSC conferences for two years. Additional information has been requested. The status is in limbo right now. SIGCSE "in cooperation with" - Paul Myers A report from the SIGCSE Board meeting couldn't be made because doesn't take place until two months from now. From now on it should be a routine agenda item. The Midwest Conference was supposed to pursue "in cooperation with" status with SIGCSE. As reported earlier, it is being worked on. Discussion: After some discussion of the benefits (the SIGCSE logo, prestige, calls for papers in CACM) it was decided that all three spring conferences would request "in cooperation" status with SIGCSE. The three regional representatives will do this directly via Boots Cassell. The conversation turned to the question of publicizing our conferences via the publication of calls for papers/participation. Different suggestions for standard places to send publications (e.g., other conferences) were discussed. The conclusion was that there needs to be a standardized, written procedure for publicizing conferences. Break for dinner at 6:10 p.m. Reconvened at 6:35 p.m. NECC - Sue Fitzgerald for Gail Miles Discussed potential society session topics for Seattle. Kevin Treu agreed to be moderator of the panel. Discussion: There was some discussion of the benefits to CCSC of continued participation in NECC. Since Gail was not present, it was agreed that the Board members would think about the issue, with it becoming an agenda item for the San Jose Board meeting. Student representation on the Board - Sue Fitzgerald Sue appointed a "Student Activities Coordinator" last year. He put together Web page and e-mail list for student participation, and is interested in promoting at other conferences and establishing a national network. He's been integrated into Central Plains steering committee to organize events for the conference. This led to the idea of a project competition, peer judged. Discussion: Some time was spent discussing the issue of encouraging greater student involvement in CCSC. The conclusions were that students should not be made full members of CCSC, and that there should not be student representation on the Board. Finally, it was concluded that this topic should be discussed on the regional level, with ideas implemented and stories of success and failure shared with the Board. Conference Coordinator's Report - DH for Will Mitchell Since our last meeting we presented the three Spring confernces and one Fall Conference. Concerns were expressed about the health of the various regional organizations. They have each been encouraged to work on regional by-laws. No new conferences are planned. Having 3 Spring and 3 Fall is a nice balance, and we need to figure out how to handle the before we further complicate matters. The need for a west coast conference was briefly discussed. The following MOTION was made by Sue Fitgerald and seconded by Scott Sigmon: "The CCSC Board will ask Will Mitchell to seek to determine whether or not there is interest in the development of a west coast conference." The motion passed unanimously. Finance Committee's Report - Martha McCormick Absent due to sickness Getting on the Same Page: Conference terminology Just a reminder: allowable terms to use are "Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges South Central Conference," "CCSC South Central Conference," and "CCSC:SC" Regional representatives need to be reminded to keep their committees on the same page. Impact of New By-laws on Governance Discussion: The question was raised of whether or not we at present have any standing rules. The answer was yes. They were appended to the by-laws sent out for vote. Both were passed. Only the by-laws went to the membership for a vote because members don't vote on standing rules. Only the by-laws were printed in the newsletter. The standing rules should also be published. It was noted that it is the job of the President-Elect to publish the official by-laws and standing rules in the first issue of each year's journal. This comes from the by-laws themselves. These by-laws will go into effect with the next election. The following MOTION was made by Bill Myers and seconded by Cathy Bareiss: "The secretary will be delegated to accumulate the official copy of the standing rules and present them to the Board at the spring meeting." The following FRIENDLY AMENDMENT was then made by Sue Fitzgerals and accepted by Bill Myers: The new by-laws, standing rules and policies should all be collected. The motion passed unanimously. Article IV of the by-laws was brought into question. With regions writing their own by-laws, some are nominating and electing their own regional Board representatives, which was not the original intent of the by-laws. The need for clarification on how regional representatives are selected was raised. It was suggested that the region can nominate individuals for election, but nominations cannot be restricted by the region. There was considerable debate over whether the Board or the regions should decide what a "qualified" nomination is. It was noted that standing rules are needed for this, but don't presently exist. The rules should cover the nomination process, how people select their affiliated region, and who gets elected for how many years. The discussion then turned to the issue of whether or not regional by-laws have to be approved by the Board. The following MOTION was made by Bill Myers and seconded by Cathy Bareiss: "The Board will establish a policy directing that each region adopt policies (or by-laws) that address two issues: How the Board recognizes who is the official steering committee and how it perpetuates itself, and the development of a mechanism to go through and nominate a regional representative (involving more than just the steering committee)." After several friendly amendments were accepted, the MOTION became: "Each region shall adopt a form of governance which specifies: how the Board will recognize the members of its steering committee, and how the committee membership is selected, and a mechanism for the nomination of a regional representative which involves the membership of the region." Before voting on the original motion, the following MOTION was made by Paul Myers and seconded by John Meinke: "The phrase 'involves the membership of the region' shall be omitted from the pending motion." The motion passed with one "nay" vote. The amended motion then passed unanimously. Discussion turned to the first election under new by-laws and the staggering scheme. The following MOTION was made by Bill Myers and seconded by Cathy Bareiss: "The Southeastern and South Central representatives will be elected for 3 years, the Midwest and Central Plains representatives will be elected for 2 years, and the Rocky Mountain and Northeastern representatives will be electes for 1 year." The motion passed unanimously. The following MOTION was made by Sue Fitgerald and seconded by Cathy Bareiss: "In the first election under the new by-laws, members will select a region based upon the region of the candidate for whom they vote." After discussion, the motion was withdrawn. Publications: Paper and Electronic - Kevin Treu A report on the activities of the Ad Hoc Publications Subcommittee was distributed. Discussion: The issue of whether the Journal should be freely available electronically was discussed, and the consensus was that it should not. Subsequent discussion involved the electronic indexing of the Journal. The following MOTION was made by Paul Myers: "The Publications Subcommittee is charged with the development of Web site which indexes titles and authors of JCSC papers, beginning the process of setting up procedures by which abstracts and keywords will also be indexed, and studying the feasibility of making the paper text available in a secure manner." Bill Myers made the following FRIENDLY AMENDMENT which was accepted by Paul Myers: "Start with Volume 13 of the Journal for the abstracts." The new motion was seconded by Bill Myers. The motion passed unanimously. In further discussion, it was agreed that the proposed CCSC flyer would be developed for the Web rather than for publication on paper. It was also agreed that the Publications Committee would begin development on a new CCSC logo, perhaps utilizing a contest (for which a small cash prize was approved). Adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Reconvened 9:15 a.m., October 18 (Chuck Howerton absent) Spring Conference Dates for '97-'98 This is an issue with regard to the combination of proceedings, in that we want the "combined" conferences to be near each other chronologically. In general, South Central will be the first available week in April, with Central Plains the following weekend, and Northeastern the fourth weekend (working around Easter) It is okay for NE to double up on a date with one of the others if necessary, but SC and CP should not be on the same weekend. Publications: Paper and Electronic (Continued) Discussion: Issues of local publishing, how many copies to print, which company to use, and whether or not to mail copies to people who got them at conferences too were discussed. Conclusions were: the Northeastern date is set; South Central & Central Plains will correspond. Publishing is okay as it currently is for this year. For following years, South Central will have to back up their deadlines for the benefit of combined proceedings issues. John Meinke summarized: For '97, SC&CP will be a joint issue (#4, March '97). It will be bulk mailed from Amarillo as soon as possible. The NE issue will be done by John Meinke in conjunction with NE contacts (#5, May '97). The dates are to be worked out. Bill Myers suggested that issue #4 be April of the year beginning with volume #12. The following MOTION was made by Sue Fitgerald and seconded by John Meinke: " Associate Editor George Benjamin will be given complementary consortium membership for as long as he holds that position." The motion was passed unanimously. Duke Haiduk will notify him. Issues of "look and feel" were next discussed. It was suggested that the Journal should have the title and relevant information on the spine. John Meinke state that that is the goal, and it was a mistake when it didn't happen. It was also pointed out that there is an inconsistency over whether the Journal or Proceedings title is listed first. We should be consistent with the Journal title coming first. It was concluded that a new logo will add consistency and "pizzazz," and that the use of variations in color is fine. The issue of how to increase paper submissions for the Journal and the Conferences was taken up next. It was suggested that marginal papers are being accepted because there is not a large enough pool. Some viewed this as a situation that will improve on its own as the consortium becomes more visible and prestigious (perhaps via "in cooperation with" status with SIGCSE). Paul Myers volunteered to write to NSF to find the list of journals in which grant announcements/reports can be published, see if JCSC is on it and get it on if not. It was suggested that papers in the first Journal issue of the year should be refereed in order to boost prestige and help with promotion and tenure for the authors. This led to a discussion of why there exists a first issue, not containing proceedings. The suggestion was made that the by-laws, conference calendar, etc. -- which are typically published in the first issue -- could be placed in one of the other issues which could then include the phrase "includes the proceedings of" on the cover. The idea of forming a review board leading to Journal issues that are not just conference proceedings was proposed. The objective is to make the Journal very prestigious. Publishing percentage acceptance rates was also discussed. It was decided that these issues would become agenda items for the San Jose meeting, and would be discussed via the CCSC on-line discussion group before then. OLD BUSINESS Consistency in Conference Registration Forms, etc. The following MOTION was made by Bill Myers and seconded by Paul Myers: "Bill Myers will create two registration form templates, one for presenters and one for other members, the content of which will be used by all conferences in a reasonable format." The motion passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS Finance Discussion: Dues for '97-'98 were discussed. The dues for the consortium are $35. Regions should not be allowed to lower that (and they are not). The difference in the registration rates for members and non-members should always be $35. The question was asked: Why not separate the issues of joining and conference registration? Make the dues due at one time during the year only. It was pointed out that some schools will pay the membership fee when it's part of the registration fee. Bill Myers called attention to the standing rule stating that for all conferences, on-site registrants pay the non-member rate, with a refund coming if necessary. He also noted that the membership year for everybody is Sept. 1-Aug.31. There was some following discussion about the confusion wrought by the current system. The conclusion was that the previously cited standing rule will cover on-site registrants paying the non-member rate. Other registrants will be covered by the new forms that Bill is writing. The travel policy was next discussed. Duke stated the essence of the policy: all Board members will be funded at the rate of $600 per year, a max of $400 per trip, unless there is some exception, not including meals and registration (travel and lodging only). He also noted that if all money is to be used on a single trip, it goes to the president who makes an appeal to the Board for a vote. Exceptions beyond that (for more than $600) are rarely granted. Becky Tidwell made the following point: CCSC doesn't pay registration fees. The host of a conference decides whether Board will have to pay the registration fee. The following MOTION was made by Becky Tidwell and seconded by Bill Myers: " Wherever the Board meeting is held, if you are traveling outside your region, the CCSC will pay the registration fee to the conference. (The conference should not absorb the cost as it does now.)" Bill Myers then proposed the following AMENDMENT: "CCSC doesn't pay the registration fee, but does pay the other costs." There was no second to the amendment. After discussion of the inequity between Board members in the region holding a conference and those outside the region, John Meinke offered the following FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: "CCSC will pay the registration fee uniformly for the Board." This was not accepted by Becky, and this it was made as an AMENDMENT, seconded by Irene Russell. After discussion, this amendment failed by voice vote. The question was called and the original motion: passed 7-3. This new policy takes effect immediately. Budgeting was the next issue to be discussed. Due to the absence of Martha McCormick this could not be discussed. Bill Myers agreed to serve in the development of a proposal to break the budget up into non-recurring costs (one-time), fixed costs (annual) and variable costs due to membership. The MOTION to adjourn was made by Chuck Howerton and seconded by Becky Tidwell. Before the motion could be voted upon, the following MOTION was made by Sue Fitzgerald and was seconded: "John Meinke's request for a $600 lump sum reimbursement for this trip should be granted." The motion passed unanimously. Motion to adjourn passed unanimously. (11:30 a.m.) Respectfully submitted, Kevin Treu ********** ADDENDUM #1 ********** NORTHEASTERN REGION REPORT Submitted by Ingrid Russell, October 10, 1996 The First Annual Northeastern Conference was held April 19-20, 1996 in West Hartford, CT and was hosted by the University of Hartford. We had 150+ attendees. Eight book vendors were present and a representative from Apple gave a presentation. The book vendors were charged $150 each, whereas Apple was charged $200. Total vendor income was: $1400. We received 150 complimentary copies of Ada CDs to distribute to conference attendees. Some software was also donated by Apple for a raffle. We had four parallel sessions. Two workshops were funded by an NSF/SIGCSE grant. The University of Hartford covered the cost of most of the copying, mailing, etc. associated with the conference. The university also provided lunches at the various meetings of the regional board. We had money left over from the vendors. We plan to use them in two areas, until we run out of the money: 1. Make available some funds to cover the registration fee for student presenters. 2. Pay up to $50 toward a night stay for any regional board member or conference committee member who has to drive 1.5 hours or more, one way, to any of the August and January meeting and whose college does not cover the expense. 3. Cover the cost of the regional representative's trip to the Fall meeting of CCSC's board of directors meeting beyond the $400 that is currently covered by the national organization. --------- CCSCNE-97 CCSCNE-97 will be hosted by Northeastern University in Boston, MA April 25-26, 1997. The conference committee consists of: Viera Proulx (Conference Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Ingrid Russell (Papers Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science University of Hartford Ralph Morelli (Papers Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science Trinity College Patrick Wang (Undergraduate Papers Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Hoyt Warner (Panels and Tutorials Co-Chair) Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Western New England College Scott McElfresh (Panels and Tutorials Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science Saint Lawrence University Canton, NY 13617 Margaret Menzin (Speakers Chair) Department of Computer Science Simmons College Michael Anderson (Publicity Chair) Department of Computer Science University of Hartford John Casey (Local Arrangements Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Franklyn Turbak (Vendors Chair) Department of Computer Science Wellesley College DEADLINES Papers November 30, 1996 Panels/Tutorials December 15, 1996 Undergraduate Papers November 30, 1996 WORLD WIDE WEB Information about CCSCNE-97 is available on the web at http://www.wheatonma.edu/temp/CCSCNE97/cfp.html ------------- CCSCNE-98 The 1998 Northeastern Conference will be hosted by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. The tentative 1998 program committee consists of: Frances Grodzinsky, Scared Heart University, Conference Chair Domenick Pinto, Sacred Heart University, Local Arrangements Co-Chair Sandra Honda, Sacred Heart University, Local Arrangements Co-Chair Venu Dasigi, Sacred Heart University, Papers Co-Chair Takis Metaxas, Wellesley College, Papers Co-Chair Michael Anderson, University of Hartford, Publicity Chair Scott McElfresh, St Lawrence University, Panels/Tutorials Chair Mary Ann Robbert, Bentley College, Undergraduate Papers Chair Effim Kimber, Sacred Heart University, Speakers Chair ------------- TENTATIVE FUTURE CCSCNE HOSTS 1998 Sacred Heart University, CT. Fran Grodzinsky as Conference Chair 1999 Wellesley College, MA. Takis Metaxas as Conference Chair 2000 Ramapo College, NJ. Amruth Kumar as Conference Chair ------------ REGIONAL BYLAWS Attached is a copy of the regional bylaws. We plan to vote on this at the January meeting after some issues are cleared up at the Fall national meeting. Thanks to members of the national board who gave feedback on an earlier draft. ********** ADDENDUM #2 ********** THE CONSORTIUM FOR COMPUTING IN SMALL COLLEGES REPORT FROM MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY October 4, 1996 Membership Information 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 (as of today) Regular Members 342 374(*) 394 Associate Members 8 6 10 Institutional Members 26 22 12 Conference Information Central Plains 1995 1996 Regular Registrations 47 63 Students 1 27 Others in Attendance 4 2 (Speakers, Local Faculty Receiving Discount, Vendors, Etc.) Total 52 92 South Central 1994 1995 1996 Regular Registrations 76 83 69 Student Registrations 1 13 16 Others in Attendance 3 3 5 Total 80 99 90 Northeast 1996 Regular Registrations 116 Student Registrations 22 Others in Attendence 2 Total 140 Midwest 1994 1995 1996(pre.) Regular Registrations 59 62 49 Student Registrations 4 1 3 Others in Attendance 4 3 20 Total 67 66 72 Rocky Mountain 1994 1995 1996(pre.) Regular 50 35 25 Student 5 4 0 Other 5 2 11 Total 60 41 36 Southeastern 1994 1995 1995(Pre.) Regular 84 60(*) 28 Student 11 4 3 Other 13 6 21 Total 108 70 52 * - Corrected Figure William Myers Membership Secretary Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges Belmont Abbey College Belmont, NC 28012-1802 (704)825-6823 FAX: (704)825-6670 myers@crusader.bac.edu ********** ADDENDUM #3 ********** OFFICER'S REPORT NEWSLETTER EDITOR John G. Meinke University of Maryland System Graduate Programs -- Europe As Newsletter Editor, this report will concentrate on the five editions of the Journal of Computing in Small Colleges that are published by the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges. Other Publications issues will be deferred to the Ad Hoc Committee on Publications report. The September 1996 (Volume 12, Number 1) issue went to press with the usual contents -- the President's Message, the Editor's Message, membership renewal information, the membership application form, the Connections column, several papers, and, most importantly, the by-laws of the Consortium. I say most importantly since this is the opportunity to insure that each member of the Consortium receives a current copy of the by-laws. Comparing the 1995 issue (Volume 11, Number 1) with the 1996 issue, the length of the issue in 1995 was 84 pages, the 1996 issue was 35 pages. Both contained one refereed paper, the 1995 issue was a late conference submission and the 1996 issue was a reprint of a paper in which there were a number of misprints in the original. To date I cannot account for the misprints -- the copy used in the September issue was the same file with no changes made. The 1995 issue contained five contributed papers, the 1996 issue contained two. The number of contributed papers was minimal -- I would attribute this to the fact that contributed papers do not carry the weight of refereed papers for Rank and Tenure purposes. The status of refereeing was clarified in the Editor's Message in the 1996 issue. Hopefully, that will provide authors with a citation to use when submitting evidence for Rank and Tenure decisions. The November 1995 and 1996 issues (Volume 11/12, Number 2) were/will be a joint publication of the Proceedings for the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain conferences. The 1995 issue was 237 pages, the 1996 issue 322 pages. (The breakdown of page counts for individual conferences will be given later.) The January 1996 and 1997 issues (Volume 11/1, Number 3) were/will be publication of the Proceedings for Southeastern. The 1995 page count was 116 pages, the 1996 page count will be 167 pages. I would also note that for the 1997 issue the type font was increased in size by one point. After photo reduction by the printer, the difference will be approximately 85% of the one point. This is an experiment to see if there are any reactions to the slight increase. As we all become older we depend more and more on reading glasses. Ten years ago I was criticized that the type font was too small, but was very concerned with page count. I am interested in whether there is any reaction to the slight increase in font size -- the page count was not increased that dramatically. I find the current font size too small. I am interested in finding an optimal font size so that the Journal maintains a professional image, experiences maximal readership, and is able to be published and distributed at "reasonable" cost. The March 1996 issue (Volume 11, Number 4) was a joint publication of the Proceedings of the Northeastern and Central Plains Conference and was 395 pages. For the first time we ran into major problems with mailing -- the issue exceeded the maximum allowed for bulk mailing. Apparently the maximum allowed for bulk mail is one pound and this issue was about 17 ounces -- I weighed the issue and it came out at about 500 grams, 454 grams is one pound, so it was about 10% over. Based on the fact that there are approximately 10 leader pages in each issue, plus the cover is a heavier stock, we need to look at limiting the issues to some number less than 350 pages. The May issue (Volume 11, Number 5) was the first one edited, printed, and posted outside of the normal process. The Proceedings of the South Central conference were accomplished by Bob Sloger and Jennifer Pickle of Amarillo College, Amarillo, Texas. While there were some logistical difficulties (including the fact that the issue number was incorrect -- 7) the issue was accomplished, and thanks are due to Bob Sloger for an excellent job. The following is a summary of the page counts for the various conferences where MW denotes Midwestern, RM denotes Rocky Mountain, SE denotes Southeastern, CP denotes Central Plains, SC denotes South Central, and NE denotes Northeastern: MW RM SE CP SC NE 1996-7 95 226 167 1995-6 96 140 115 81 186 312 1994-5 84 170 111 97 177 1993-4 174 105 173 The Board needs to address joint Proceedings issues. Midwestern appears to be somewhat stable in size at a little less than 100 pages of text. Rocky Mountain has experienced some fluctuation in the last two years. The dramatic increase in this year's issue can be attributed to the Board meeting occurring in conjunction with Rocky Mountain. In addition, Rocky Mountain contains the paper included for the Banquet address, the first time there has been a separate entry for the either the Opening Address or the Banquet Address, 31 pages of text. Southeastern has been relatively stable. While the statistics above indicate three lean years, that is exactly what they were. The 1993 conference was held in a corner of the region and resulted in a significant drop in both paper submissions and number of conference attendees. The current conference should be back to expected levels. I would anticipate that Central Plains would remain at the level that it currently is. Northeastern is the one conference that must be watched. The Steering Committee for that conference did an excellent job in promoting the conference which resulted in a record program -- a much more extensive conference than we are able to accomplish in the other regions. Northeastern experiences a relatively small region (compared to the other conferences) with a large constituency. My recommendation would be that Northeastern be a separate Proceedings issue. A continuing problem is receipt of calls for participation. The September issue of the Journal should contain calls for all conferences -- including fall conferences for the following year. This September's issue contained calls for Northeastern and Central Plains only. Conference success needs publicity and if we are unable to publicize our conferences enough ahead of time in our own publications we will have problems with conference success. As I close this report, it is essential that my associate editor be recognized. George Benjamin, Muhlenberg College, has been literally my right hand over the last three years. Without Dr. Benjamin, it would be virtually impossible for me to continue as Newsletter Editor. Using FTP and the World Wide Web, George and I have been able to transmit copy of the Journal back and forth. George accomplishes final editing of all copy of Proceedings, and acts as the go-between with Montrose Publishing which has been printing our Proceedings for many years. (While neither George nor I have ever met any of the people at Montrose Publishing, they have become regular friends via telephone and mail -- both of us have celebrated major events in the lives of the "folks"at Montrose Publishing, as well as mourned the loss of colleagues in the publishing business.) George has also been the one that actually gets the Journal to the membership -- he applies the mailing stickers, sorts in zip code order and bundles, and delivers the bulk mailing to the post. George forfeited a grant a couple years ago to meet his commitments to the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges and his duties as Associate Editor. A highlight for me when I return to the States is a meeting with George -- either at his office or at my Stateside address -- and resolving how we are going to handle the next few months. I would like to express my sincere thanks to George for his continued support of the Consortium over many years. ********** ADDENDUM #1 ********** NORTHEASTERN REGION REPORT Submitted by Ingrid Russell, October 10, 1996 The First Annual Northeastern Conference was held April 19-20, 1996 in West Hartford, CT and was hosted by the University of Hartford. We had 150+ attendees. Eight book vendors were present and a representative from Apple gave a presentation. The book vendors were charged $150 each, whereas Apple was charged $200. Total vendor income was: $1400. We received 150 complimentary copies of Ada CDs to distribute to conference attendees. Some software was also donated by Apple for a raffle. We had four parallel sessions. Two workshops were funded by an NSF/SIGCSE grant. The University of Hartford covered the cost of most of the copying, mailing, etc. associated with the conference. The university also provided lunches at the various meetings of the regional board. We had money left over from the vendors. We plan to use them in two areas, until we run out of the money: 1. Make available some funds to cover the registration fee for student presenters. 2. Pay up to $50 toward a night stay for any regional board member or conference committee member who has to drive 1.5 hours or more, one way, to any of the August and January meeting and whose college does not cover the expense. 3. Cover the cost of the regional representative's trip to the Fall meeting of CCSC's board of directors meeting beyond the $400 that is currently covered by the national organization. --------- CCSCNE-97 CCSCNE-97 will be hosted by Northeastern University in Boston, MA April 25-26, 1997. The conference committee consists of: Viera Proulx (Conference Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Ingrid Russell (Papers Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science University of Hartford Ralph Morelli (Papers Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science Trinity College Patrick Wang (Undergraduate Papers Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Hoyt Warner (Panels and Tutorials Co-Chair) Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Western New England College Scott McElfresh (Panels and Tutorials Co-Chair) Department of Computer Science Saint Lawrence University Canton, NY 13617 Margaret Menzin (Speakers Chair) Department of Computer Science Simmons College Michael Anderson (Publicity Chair) Department of Computer Science University of Hartford John Casey (Local Arrangements Chair) College of Computer Science Northeastern University Franklyn Turbak (Vendors Chair) Department of Computer Science Wellesley College DEADLINES Papers November 30, 1996 Panels/Tutorials December 15, 1996 Undergraduate Papers November 30, 1996 WORLD WIDE WEB Information about CCSCNE-97 is available on the web at http://www.wheatonma.edu/temp/CCSCNE97/cfp.html ------------- CCSCNE-98 The 1998 Northeastern Conference will be hosted by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. The tentative 1998 program committee consists of: Frances Grodzinsky, Scared Heart University, Conference Chair Domenick Pinto, Sacred Heart University, Local Arrangements Co-Chair Sandra Honda, Sacred Heart University, Local Arrangements Co-Chair Venu Dasigi, Sacred Heart University, Papers Co-Chair Takis Metaxas, Wellesley College, Papers Co-Chair Michael Anderson, University of Hartford, Publicity Chair Scott McElfresh, St Lawrence University, Panels/Tutorials Chair Mary Ann Robbert, Bentley College, Undergraduate Papers Chair Effim Kimber, Sacred Heart University, Speakers Chair ------------- TENTATIVE FUTURE CCSCNE HOSTS 1998 Sacred Heart University, CT. Fran Grodzinsky as Conference Chair 1999 Wellesley College, MA. Takis Metaxas as Conference Chair 2000 Ramapo College, NJ. Amruth Kumar as Conference Chair ------------ REGIONAL BYLAWS Attached is a copy of the regional bylaws. We plan to vote on this at the January meeting after some issues are cleared up at the Fall national meeting. Thanks to members of the national board who gave feedback on an earlier draft. ********** ADDENDUM #2 ********** THE CONSORTIUM FOR COMPUTING IN SMALL COLLEGES REPORT FROM MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY October 4, 1996 Membership Information 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 (as of today) Regular Members 342 374(*) 394 Associate Members 8 6 10 Institutional Members 26 22 12 Conference Information Central Plains 1995 1996 Regular Registrations 47 63 Students 1 27 Others in Attendance 4 2 (Speakers, Local Faculty Receiving Discount, Vendors, Etc.) Total 52 92 South Central 1994 1995 1996 Regular Registrations 76 83 69 Student Registrations 1 13 16 Others in Attendance 3 3 5 Total 80 99 90 Northeast 1996 Regular Registrations 116 Student Registrations 22 Others in Attendence 2 Total 140 Midwest 1994 1995 1996(pre.) Regular Registrations 59 62 49 Student Registrations 4 1 3 Others in Attendance 4 3 20 Total 67 66 72 Rocky Mountain 1994 1995 1996(pre.) Regular 50 35 25 Student 5 4 0 Other 5 2 11 Total 60 41 36 Southeastern 1994 1995 1995(Pre.) Regular 84 60(*) 28 Student 11 4 3 Other 13 6 21 Total 108 70 52 * - Corrected Figure William Myers Membership Secretary Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges Belmont Abbey College Belmont, NC 28012-1802 (704)825-6823 FAX: (704)825-6670 myers@crusader.bac.edu ********** ADDENDUM #3 ********** OFFICER'S REPORT NEWSLETTER EDITOR John G. Meinke University of Maryland System Graduate Programs -- Europe As Newsletter Editor, this report will concentrate on the five editions of the Journal of Computing in Small Colleges that are published by the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges. Other Publications issues will be deferred to the Ad Hoc Committee on Publications report. The September 1996 (Volume 12, Number 1) issue went to press with the usual contents -- the President's Message, the Editor's Message, membership renewal information, the membership application form, the Connections column, several papers, and, most importantly, the by-laws of the Consortium. I say most importantly since this is the opportunity to insure that each member of the Consortium receives a current copy of the by-laws. Comparing the 1995 issue (Volume 11, Number 1) with the 1996 issue, the length of the issue in 1995 was 84 pages, the 1996 issue was 35 pages. Both contained one refereed paper, the 1995 issue was a late conference submission and the 1996 issue was a reprint of a paper in which there were a number of misprints in the original. To date I cannot account for the misprints -- the copy used in the September issue was the same file with no changes made. The 1995 issue contained five contributed papers, the 1996 issue contained two. The number of contributed papers was minimal -- I would attribute this to the fact that contributed papers do not carry the weight of refereed papers for Rank and Tenure purposes. The status of refereeing was clarified in the Editor's Message in the 1996 issue. Hopefully, that will provide authors with a citation to use when submitting evidence for Rank and Tenure decisions. The November 1995 and 1996 issues (Volume 11/12, Number 2) were/will be a joint publication of the Proceedings for the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain conferences. The 1995 issue was 237 pages, the 1996 issue 322 pages. (The breakdown of page counts for individual conferences will be given later.) The January 1996 and 1997 issues (Volume 11/1, Number 3) were/will be publication of the Proceedings for Southeastern. The 1995 page count was 116 pages, the 1996 page count will be 167 pages. I would also note that for the 1997 issue the type font was increased in size by one point. After photo reduction by the printer, the difference will be approximately 85% of the one point. This is an experiment to see if there are any reactions to the slight increase. As we all become older we depend more and more on reading glasses. Ten years ago I was criticized that the type font was too small, but was very concerned with page count. I am interested in whether there is any reaction to the slight increase in font size -- the page count was not increased that dramatically. I find the current font size too small. I am interested in finding an optimal font size so that the Journal maintains a professional image, experiences maximal readership, and is able to be published and distributed at "reasonable" cost. The March 1996 issue (Volume 11, Number 4) was a joint publication of the Proceedings of the Northeastern and Central Plains Conference and was 395 pages. For the first time we ran into major problems with mailing -- the issue exceeded the maximum allowed for bulk mailing. Apparently the maximum allowed for bulk mail is one pound and this issue was about 17 ounces -- I weighed the issue and it came out at about 500 grams, 454 grams is one pound, so it was about 10% over. Based on the fact that there are approximately 10 leader pages in each issue, plus the cover is a heavier stock, we need to look at limiting the issues to some number less than 350 pages. The May issue (Volume 11, Number 5) was the first one edited, printed, and posted outside of the normal process. The Proceedings of the South Central conference were accomplished by Bob Sloger and Jennifer Pickle of Amarillo College, Amarillo, Texas. While there were some logistical difficulties (including the fact that the issue number was incorrect -- 7) the issue was accomplished, and thanks are due to Bob Sloger for an excellent job. The following is a summary of the page counts for the various conferences where MW denotes Midwestern, RM denotes Rocky Mountain, SE denotes Southeastern, CP denotes Central Plains, SC denotes South Central, and NE denotes Northeastern: MW RM SE CP SC NE 1996-7 95 226 167 1995-6 96 140 115 81 186 312 1994-5 84 170 111 97 177 1993-4 174 105 173 The Board needs to address joint Proceedings issues. Midwestern appears to be somewhat stable in size at a little less than 100 pages of text. Rocky Mountain has experienced some fluctuation in the last two years. The dramatic increase in this year's issue can be attributed to the Board meeting occurring in conjunction with Rocky Mountain. In addition, Rocky Mountain contains the paper included for the Banquet address, the first time there has been a separate entry for the either the Opening Address or the Banquet Address, 31 pages of text. Southeastern has been relatively stable. While the statistics above indicate three lean years, that is exactly what they were. The 1993 conference was held in a corner of the region and resulted in a significant drop in both paper submissions and number of conference attendees. The current conference should be back to expected levels. I would anticipate that Central Plains would remain at the level that it currently is. Northeastern is the one conference that must be watched. The Steering Committee for that conference did an excellent job in promoting the conference which resulted in a record program -- a much more extensive conference than we are able to accomplish in the other regions. Northeastern experiences a relatively small region (compared to the other conferences) with a large constituency. My recommendation would be that Northeastern be a separate Proceedings issue. A continuing problem is receipt of calls for participation. The September issue of the Journal should contain calls for all conferences -- including fall conferences for the following year. This September's issue contained calls for Northeastern and Central Plains only. Conference success needs publicity and if we are unable to publicize our conferences enough ahead of time in our own publications we will have problems with conference success. As I close this report, it is essential that my associate editor be recognized. George Benjamin, Muhlenberg College, has been literally my right hand over the last three years. Without Dr. Benjamin, it would be virtually impossible for me to continue as Newsletter Editor. Using FTP and the World Wide Web, George and I have been able to transmit copy of the Journal back and forth. George accomplishes final editing of all copy of Proceedings, and acts as the go-between with Montrose Publishing which has been printing our Proceedings for many years. (While neither George nor I have ever met any of the people at Montrose Publishing, they have become regular friends via telephone and mail -- both of us have celebrated major events in the lives of the "folks"at Montrose Publishing, as well as mourned the loss of colleagues in the publishing business.) George has also been the one that actually gets the Journal to the membership -- he applies the mailing stickers, sorts in zip code order and bundles, and delivers the bulk mailing to the post. George forfeited a grant a couple years ago to meet his commitments to the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges and his duties as Associate Editor. A highlight for me when I return to the States is a meeting with George -- either at his office or at my Stateside address -- and resolving how we are going to handle the next few months. I would like to express my sincere thanks to George for his continued support of the Consortium over many years.