From the President, June 2002
Last Call...

The Awards Banquet has become The Event of our chapter year, an enjoyable evening with good friends. The Awards Committee once again put on a great show, combining a professional program with an interesting location. The program featured a few new twists, including multiple projection screens, music during the program, and a procession to the auditorium - led by a bagpiper!

The Awards Committee has a difficult task, trying to select those achievements that deserve special recognition. They must avoid the temptation to give awards for everything; doing so would diminish their value to zero. The Chapter also makes public notice of contributions throughout the year by formal Acknowledgements in the newsletter.

Even so, a lot of important work sometimes seems to be overlooked. The problem is that no single person knows everything that happens. During the coming year, please take the time to let the Awards Committee know about the work that is done for our chapter.

A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into each meeting, education or certification class, newsletter, and numerous other activities. As president, I have seen a lot of work that is unknown to most members. I'll take this opportunity to mention a few of the people who have made significant contributions during the past year.

• Bob Saumur, long an active member of our chapter, has been loafing. All he has done lately is serve as a member of our Certification Committee - while also serving as chair of the Institute Certification Committee, and as treasurer of the North Dakota chapter. Recently, when the North Dakota chapter president resigned, he agreed to fill out his term.
• Audrey Brucker remains active as our Social Director. She is our keeper of albums and pictures; she reminds the president to send cards and flowers when needed; and she makes sure we get our election material mailed on time, then helps tally the votes.
• Larry Nichols is starting to organize our photographs, and will have them converted to digital format. This will be a major project, but I'm sure it will have its lighter moments. Larry, along with Jim Schnack, have been taking pictures, giving us a pictorial record of our activities.
• During my time as newsletter editor I worked closely with Rebecca Foss and Diana Nguyen. Both of them render yeoman's service each month, coaxing articles from contributors, editing, arranging, and getting the newsletter out the door - on time! For those who have complaints, all I can say is "You try it for a while!"

Finally, I thank the Board, committee chairs, and Synergy for their efforts, and for making this year enjoyable. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun! Let's review some of what happened.

a quick look back

Looking through the last year's newsletters, I keep saying, "It was that long ago? It seems like it just happened!"

The Programs Committee sets the tempo for the year, and they came through once again with a great combination of times and locations, seminars and tours. We had visits by famous people - Frank Lloyd Wright, Gregory Balestrero; and we had a series of excellent, nationally known speakers.

Despite a few minor technical glitches, my favorite meeting was the November "Future of Specifications" program. Running from 2 to 9:30 p.m., we had a full house of 150 attendees. The attempt to provide the first chapter webconference may have been less than successful, but we will try again.

We paid a return visit to the Depot for our Construction Showcase, and we're going to go back again next year. The Showcase was unbelievably professional; when I walked in, my first thought was "I'm at the Institute Convention!"

Our student members will again send representatives to the annual convention, and many of them have attended chapter activities through the year.

We are now sharing information and resources with other construction industry organizations; look for cooperative efforts in the coming year.

Our motto, "The Construction Educators", is being put into practice. Next year we will have at least one stand-alone educational program; the subject will be the National CAD Standard, which includes CSI's Uniform Drawing System and AIA's CAD Layering Guidelines. And we will continue to offer educational programs for members and potential members in our area.

In just a few weeks, Kermit Duncan will take over as our new president. Other new Board members will be Harold Kiewel, president-elect, Jim Schnack, secretary, design professional vice president Terry Olsen, and industry professional vice president Eric Johnson. It's a good group, and we can all expect another good year.

I thank you for your confidence and support; it has been an honor to serve as president.

Sheldon Wolfe, President
Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter, CSI
swolfe@bwbr.com