January 2004 Newsletter

Ken Adams, CDP
2003-2004 Region 5 President

O.K. So I am a day late in preparing the January Newsletter. I want to congratulate all of the new chapter officers on their election victories although if your election was like ours in Capitol chapter there was not a lot of competition for the offices. Never the less I congratulate you and wish you success in 2004.

AITP Dues Increased

I hope many of your members took advantage of the opportunity to renew your 2004 membership at the 2003 rate. This topic has been very controversial with many members against the rate increase; however it has passed and we must live with it. In reality the dues increase was necessary due to increasing overhead and a reducing membership. AITP has not had a dues increase since 19 . On the bright side, the AITP Board of Directors has voted to return $5.00 of the increase back to the chapters. For many of the chapters in Region 5 this is a significant increase in revenues and will hopefully help in running the chapters. Capitol chapter is going to use a portion of this increased revenue to conduct a membership drive contest for the year.

COPA and PCS2000

This is the time of the year to begin preparing to file for COPA and/or PCS2000 for the 2003 calendar year. I encourage all chapters to complete the COPA spreadsheet even if you don’t think you have achieved COPA. You may still be eligible for PCS 2000 incentive money and we all can use extra dollars. Also this is the time to begin planning for filing for COPA for 2004. It is much easier to complete the spreadsheet if you gather the required information on a monthly basis than to try to gather it at the end of the year. I suggest that all chapters get several people involved in gathering information as it will generate interest of these people.

NCC-2004

The 2004 National Collegiate Conference is scheduled for April 1-3 in Omaha Nebraska. Information and registration forms are currently available on the AITP Portal at AITP.org. Region 5 will be awarding $300.00 to up to 5 student chapters to help with expenses to attend the conference. Applications forms to apply for the region assistance will be sent to the faculty advisors in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to inform your student chapters to complete their NCC registration forms, as copies of these forms are required to apply for the region assistance.

Western Michigan Chapter Joins Region 5

The officers of West Michigan Chapter AITP have voted to join Region 5 and it has been approved by the AITP Board of Directors. Listed below are the officers of West Michigan Chapter and other pertinent information sent to me by Bill Riter.

Bryan Blackburn - President
Jim Woolen - Executive Vice-President
William Riter - Treasurer and Chapter Liaison
Doug Lindhout - Secretary
David Hart - Past President
Amie Harpe - Program Chair

Jim Woolen is the Chapter Liaison to the Ferris State University Student Chapter (our only student chapter).

Our web master is Rob Bonnell
Our web site is http://www.wmaitp.org
The Ferris State University Student Web site is http://aitp.ferris.edu

AITP Web Portal Report

I have attached to the e-mail with this newsletter a AITP Web Portal Report authored by Mark Kleine. Please take the time to read this report for the latest information regarding the Portal.