INDIANA CHAPTER
DINFOS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 26925
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46226-9001

A meeting of the Executive Council of the Indy Chapter of the DINFOS Alumni Association was held on
February 21 at 11:30 at The Garrison at Ft. Harrison State Park.
Those present were:

Jack Rubak, President
Bob Dittmer
Tom Conrad
John Brady
Mike Davis
Craig Ito
Marina Griner
Helen Stritt, Secretary

The President opened the meeting.  He gave an update on what is happening in Building #400 where the Defense Information School was housed:

- IVY Tech's School of Nursing has been moved to the second and third floors of the building.
- The name of the building will be changed to the Fairbanks Building.
- IVY Tech will establish their own library and bookstore.
- The building has been totally renovated.
- Caryn Smola is the administrator of the Ft. Harrison campus of the Community College of Indiana.

Dr. Rubak then mentioned he had sent a letter to Life Members of the DINFOS Alumni Association bringing them up-to-date on the Association's status.  Calls and letters were received saying it was great to hear from us.

A complaint from some of our Life Members was that on their visits to DINFOS at Ft. Meade, there were no souvenirs available to purchase.

Jack Pulwers, one of our AFRTS alumni and a former speaker at the school, has written a book entitled, "The Press of Battle."  A news release on the book has been sent to Bob Foster for posting on the web.  Also, on behalf of the DINFOS Alumni Association, two books were purchased and sent to Colonel Bell to add to the DINFOS' library collection.

The Alumni Association has issued a $250 contribution to IUPUI for Pat McKeand's Scholarship Fund.  Pat, a former DINFOS instructor, retired from IUPUI this past December. 

In reviewing the e-mail addresses and information furnished by our alumni members on the website, an entry was found on Dean Sprague, a former Ft. Harrison Post PAO, indicating he would be interested in helping form an alumni chapter in the DC area (see attached copy).  He will be contacted about his interest.

The next item of business was the nomination of alumni officers to serve for the next two years Executive Council of the DINFOS Alumni Association.  Individual nominations were made, with motions to approve and the motions seconded.  The slate is as follows:

Jack Rubak, President
Bob Dittmer, Vice President in charge of Public Affairs
Craig Ito, Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs
Tom Conrad, Vice President in charge of Programs
Dave Mossbarger, Vice Present in charge of Memberships
Mike Davis, Historian
Helen Stritt, Secretary

The Treasurer's position is currently open.  Several nominations were made to include Dean Farr.  He was asked about accepting the position, and he will give us his answer shortly.

Also, the President mentioned a need to re-apply for a not-for-profit status from the State of Indiana.  Several attempts have been made to do this have failed.  Bob Dittmer said he would discuss this with his accountant to try to resolve this.

The President then solicited names for future guest speakers at our Alumni Association meeting.  The following names were suggested:

Jack Pulwers to discuss his book, "The Press of Battle."
Don Lundy, Manager of Channel WRTV
Geroge Hobbs who works for the Indy 500
A TV Announcer
A National Guard or Reserve PAO who has recently returned from Iraq.
Colonel Larry Icenogle
Tom Cochrun

Tom Conrad volunteered to contact the National Guard and Reserves to see if he can come up with names of PAOs that we could invite as guest speaker(s).

The proposal made by Bob Dittmer to give free memberships to all DINFOS graduates surfaced again.  Bob will work on preparing the letter to be given to them.

Dr. Rubak asked for suggestions on memorializing the deceased members of the DINFOS Alumni Association by money contributions.  These proposals were made:
- Establish a scholarship fund at a university.
- Helping enlisted DINFOS instructors by sending them to professional development conferences.
- Send DINFOS PAOs to national PRSA "Military in Government" public affairs courses.
- Establish a DINFOS Alumni Association book collection in the schools library listing deceased members.

The above suggestions will be an agenda for the next Alumni Association meeting.

Dr. Rubak brought up the issue of what we can give to new Life Members.  All present felt a nice quality certificate would be appreciated.  Tom Conrad will e-mail Dr. Rubak with some suggested wording.  Dave Mossbarger will be contacted about issuing these Certificates.

The establishment of an Alumni Association Chapter at Ft. Meade is at a standstill, but Bob Dittmer will contact Mike Gannon soon to discuss a free first year membership in the DINFOS Alumni Association for all current course graduates.

The date for the next meeting was established.  It will be held on April 17 at The Garrison with a luncheon at 11:30.

This meeting adjourned at 1:20 pm.

Respectfully submitted,


                                                                        Jack Rubak
                                                                        President


                                                                       Helen Stritt
                                                                       Secretary

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