Feb. 15, 2022 – Held via Zoom

Meeting started at 6:35 pm.

Approximately 28 alumni participated.

Robert Tan (CUAA President) opened the meeting. Robert Tan noted that the past few months were spent proposing edits to the By Laws among the Executive Committee and the Constitution Committee.

Anna Brook (CUAA Secretary) presented the December 14, 2021 Meeting Minutes. Edits were addressed and incorporated. The December 14, 2021 Meeting Minutes were approved by general consent.

Mary Lynch (Nominating Committee Chair) presented the slate of candidates for the Spring Election.

Alumni Trustee: James Haywood Rolling Jr., A’88; Anthony Ianno, EE’85; Rachel Whitlow, A’94

VP Alumni Activities: Kelly Occhiuzzo Zack, A’90

VP Student/Faculty Liaison: Julian LaVerdiere A’93; Margaret Matz A’83

Secretary: Anna Brook, BSE’04

Treasurer: Ron Vogel, ChE’01

2022-2025 Council:

Taesha Aurora AR’21Claudia Giordano A’76Jessie Reiser AR’81
Alex Barmas EE’05Allan Ho CE’09Shiori Taylor Sasaki AR’14
Daphne Binder AR’11Andrew Keane CE’17Doug Sharrott, BSE’83
Katherine Borowczak A’10Standish Lee AR’11Kristopher Steele AR’13
Frank Cantelmi ME’93Ciera Lowe ChE ’10Theo Stewart-Stand A’99
Harry Donas ChE ’83Peter Lynch AR’83Nanako Umemoto AR’83
Alfred Dudley III A’18Chris Mignano ME’21August Ventura AR’81
David Ellison AR’83Sascha Mombartz A’09Felicia Zusman EE’98

Mary Lynch moved for Council to accept the slate of candidates. Anna Brook seconded the motion.

Scott Lyne mentioned Linda Farber-Strong, A’92 was inadvertently left off the candidates list and is on the slate.

The slate was approved by general consent.

Mary Lynch called for nominations for the 2023 Nominating Committee. The following were nominated:

  1. Yvette Francis
  2. Omar Walker
  3. Scott Lyne
  4. Sean Cusack
  5. Michelle Lederer
  6. Ciera Lowe
  7. Brendan Fernes
  8. Dennis Kong
  9. Claudia Giordano
  10. Yvette Francis
  11. Omar Walker
  12. Scott Lyne
  13. Sean Cusack
  14. Michelle Lederer
  15. Ciera Lowe
  16. Brendan Fernes
  17. Dennis Kong
  18. Claudia Giordano
  19. Michael Brathwaite
  20. Jenny Lee (professor at Pratt, Art alum)
  21. Yuri Birchwood Fuentes
  22. Nadia Jarrett
  23. Timothy Collins
  24. Steven Keith

Barry Drogin moved for Council to direct that the Nominating Committee reach out to the nominees to confirm whether they will run for a position on the Nominating Committee. Mariam Cantelmi seconded the motion. The motion was approved by general consent.

Mariam Cantelmi (Annual Fund Committee Chair) provided an update on fundraising for the fiscal year to date. As of December 31, 2021, alumni donated approximately $1,688,000 to the Annual Fund out of approximately $2,163,000 (or 78%). There are about 200 donors above the same time last year. Mariam encouraged Council members to donate to achieve 100% participation. She highlighted that giving increased as a result of personalized outreach.

Laura Spinner (Awards Committee Chair) noted that attendance at the awards ceremony was down from the previous year. Laura terms off of council this year so we are seeking a council member to chair next year. Robert Tan thanked Laura Spinner for chairing the Awards Committee.

Claudia Giordano (VP Faculty/Student Liaison) presented updates for the Faculty/Student Liaison Committee. She asked Lou Manzione to provide an update on a meeting with Dean Shoop. Lou reported that alumni are welcome to his faculty meetings. Claudia reported that the Alumni Student Committee planned to meet next month. One of the committee’s projects is the Peter Cooper Doodle where students submit doodles of Peter Cooper. Claudia mentioned the goals of improving communications and outreach between alumni and all the schools. Lou added that Dean Chamberlain has reestablished a mentoring program and the engineering school has approximately 45 mentoring pairs.

Shannon Pultz (Communications Committee Chair) reported that the February newsletter went out and thanked the team that made it possible. Shannon is having meetings with Annual Fund and Membership Chairs, as well as group meetings with CU OoAA. There are ongoing projects to develop new graphics and the Cooper Doodle project that could lead for new merchandise. Shannon said content for the April newsletter will be due March 11. The next meeting will be March 8 at 6:30pm. Mariam Cantelmi added that Peter Cooper Doodles can be used for thank you cards.

Robert Tan suggested that CUAA work out a way to provide students with an email at CUAA.com.

Patty Reddington reported that she and Edwin DeLeon (Events Committee Chair) met to brainstorm Zoom events.

Discussion was had regarding scheduling elections and the announcement of the results. It was proposed to start the election on March 15, 2022 and close on April 30, 2022. Mary Lynch noted that the CUAA needs to have a registration drive.

Barry Drogin (Constitution Committee Chair) addressed proposed edits to the By Laws. The Constitution Committee met on February 5, 2022.

Barry presented the following general edits:

  • Tellers fix was approved by general consent (Sec. VI.E)
  • Minutes preparation by the Secretary was approved by general consent (Sec. VII.L.3)
  • Awards committees conformity was approved by general consent (Sec. VII.F, IX.A, IX.B, IX.C)
  • Fixes to reference to the alumni relations office, alumni communications, consent decree, and Awards Committee were approved by general consent (VI.J.6.d, VII.I, XI.A, XI.B, VII.A)
  • Expansions to the description of the Elections Committee’s role, the process for calling an emergency council meeting, and role of the Membership Committee were approved by general consent (Sec. VII.O, II.E, VII.J)
  • Clarifications regarding former alumni trustees running for office, and clarifying that awards are for living alumni were approved by general consent (Sec. XI.G, VII.D-G)
    • Scott Lyne requested adding the requirement that an award recipient be present in person to receive the award
  • The edit to remove the petitions process was approved by general consent (Sec. VI.B)
  • Budget loop-back removal and the obsolete archives committee removal were approved by general consent (Sec. X.B, VII)
  • Requirements for monetary approvals were approved by general consent (Sec. V.C)
  • Edits to language regarding regional candidates was approved by general consent (Sec. VI.C.6)

Barry mentioned that the Constitution mentions certain sections of the By Laws by number, and so Sec. III of the By Laws needs to be preserved.

Barry proposed on behalf of the Constitution Committee that the term Alumni Representative of the Council to refer to the 36 non-officer Council members.

The Constitution Committee suggested that an officer vacancy should be filled by an Alumni Representative, as opposed to anyone from the CUAA membership.

The Constitution Committee suggested “2/3 vote of at least a quorum of the Council” instead of “2/3 vote of the Council.” He noted that that is likely implied in the Executive Committee’s suggestion.

  • Anna Brook noted that a 2/3 vote of the full Council as defined now (including all past alumni trustees and presidents) is not possible even electronically due to a lack of response.
  • Robert Tan said that the language will be edited to 2/3 vote of at least a quorum of the Council.

Barry turned to more major edits to the By Laws

  • Deletions of reference to the annual dinner, young alumni committee, and student ambassadors liaisons committee
  • There was discussion regarding removing Council from approval of Committee discussions. It was determined to remove the Council.
  • Formalizing that proxy voting is not allowed
  • Discussion was had regarding whether the CUAA would develop a Code of Conduct. Robert Tan said the CUAA would develop a Code of Conduct. Barry Drogin provided the Constitution Committee’s suggestion that Sec. III be filled with reference to the Code of Conduct and proposed language
  • Barry Drogin noted that he thinks that the proposed addition of language that ad hoc committees expire at the end of each year is problematic (for example if the committee wants to continue working through the summer).
    • Scott Lyne suggested adding that the Executive Committee would review the ad hoc committees at the first meeting of the year
    • Robert Tan suggested removing the word “shall” from “shall expire”
    • Mary Lynch said that the committees should expire with the president’s term
  • Anna Brook clarified language regarding approving expenses above $100
  • Barry noted language regarding the Faculty Student Liaison Committee
  • Barry suggested clarifying that 3 year term limits apply to running for the same Officer position, so someone can run for another position after 3 terms
  • Barry addressed term limits for past Presidents and alumni trustees which are being revised to 4 years on Council after their term as president or trustee ends.
    • Mary Lynch clarified that this is only for the roll-over term, they can still run for council or other officer position
  • The Nominating Committee composition was changed from two past presidents to one past president due to waning participation by the second past presidents
    • Laura Spinner suggested reducing the years of service for the past presidents and past alumni trustees to two years
    • It was noted that the edits did not reflect the Executive Committee’s intent to have the past president serve for one year after their term expires

Further discussion was postponed due to loss of quorum at the meeting.

Robert Tan moved to adjourn. Margaret Matz seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:49 pm.