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From the President, September 2002
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Welcome: The summer season never seems quite long enough to fit in all the family tasks, travel, and events that we strive to complete between the start and finish line holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day. In the midst of, and partly responsible for some of the summer fun and frolic, your Chapter Board and Committees have been working and planning for an exciting season of programs and events that will inform us about construction industry issues and local projects. Even though the Chapter Roster and the Desktop Reference will soon be available, I will briefly introduce our new Chapter board members. Our new and continuing board members are Harold Kiewel, president-elect; Jim Schnack, secretary; Andrew Miller, treasurer; Dean McCarty and Terry Olsen, design professional vice presidents; Matt Strand and Eric Johnson, industry professional vice presidents; and Sheldon Wolfe, immediate past president. Our North Central Region Director is John “Grif” Griffith, and our Region Director-Elect is Dean McCarty. The Board has given Audrey Brucker the title of “Member Affairs Liaison” in an attempt to name the role that Audrey performs with sensitivity and care by providing Chapter acknowledgement to members and their families in their times of need. As we continue with the programs, classes, and other events this year, you may feel the need to show your appreciation for the quality of these events to the current Board and Committee Chairs. To be “correct” and “complete”, this show of appreciation should also be extended to our outgoing board members, John “Grif” Griffith, past president; Marthe Sandvik, secretary; Mike Buchner, industry professional vice president; and Jerry DeZelar, design professional vice president, for their efforts. The past year’s board and chairs, with Sheldon Wolfe at the helm as president, are responsible for the initial planning for this year’s programs and events that we are about to enjoy. All of this was made possible with a little less blood, sweat, and tears with the assistance of our Administrator, Jaime Nolan, Synergy Resource Inc., and our Publisher, Diana Nguyen, MediaQuest Graphics. The CSI Show in Las Vegas was loaded with informative educational programs and a wealth of information on new and existing construction products. For all those who were betting on gaining continuing education credits from this show, everyone was a winner. Several of these events were presented by our own Chapter members or members of our neighboring chapters. Of the more notable events at The CSI Show, our Chapter received the “Outstanding Chapter” award from the Institute and our past president, Sheldon Wolfe, was elevated to Fellowship at the Convention President’s Banquet. Our student members from Dunwoody Institute were involved in the student competition at the Convention. They demonstrated their creative problem solving and teamwork skills by taking multiple awards in this event in competition with other students from architectural schools from around the country. Congratulations to all award winning Chapter members. The North Central Region Conference was held in St. Louis the first weekend in August. Not only was this an excellent opportunity for our Chapter leaders to attend training sessions to help them with their leadership roles, it was also an opportunity to meet with chapter leaders from the other twenty-one chapters in our region to share ideas and collaborate on ways to better serve the membership. Our September program promises to be an informative and insightful review of the planning and design of the new Walker Art Center facility. Upcoming Chapter programs, classes, and events for the fall include a presentation and tour of the Light Rail/ Tunnel system (Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport) in October, and a November program on the Minneapolis Convention Center Expansion. Education classes for the Manual of Practice will begin in October. As indicated by the list of Chapter activities, our committee chairs and their committee members are very busy with the work of creating the programs and events that make our Chapter so successful. If you are not an active member of a committee, I encourage you to contact a committee and join to get the full value of your CSI membership. Please contact any of the committee chairs to get information on their respective committees. In five short years, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter will reach its 50th year anniversary as a chapter in CSI. Ours is the largest of CSI's chapters, and our chapter is one of the most active. To continue our role as a leader in education of the construction industry, we must continue to expand our membership and tap into the wealth of knowledge gained by those members. Increased committee involvement by our members will ensure success in our role as “The Construction Educators” for the next 50 years and beyond. Kermit Duncan, CSI, CCCA, AIA |
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