The members of the Executive Council of the Indy Chapter of the DINFOS Alumni Association met at 11:00 am on Saturday, January 27, 2007, at The Garrison Restaurant at Ft. Benjamin Harrison State Park.

Present were:

The President opened the meeting.

Bob Foster distributed copies of job openings at DINFOS, Ft. Meade, that had been posted on the Alumni Association’s website.  Bob suggested that MPRI, who furnished this listing, might be considered for a corporate sponsor for our website.

Discussion then began on including the new DINFOS Crest on our Membership Cards.  Bob Foster asked that we contact someone at DINFOS to see if this can be done.  Dr. Rubak said he has been in contact with Keith Oliver, the PAO at DINFOS who is willing to work with us on matters pertaining to the Alumni Association.

Rubak further stated that in August, he had mailed a comprehensive letter to the new DINFOS Commandant, Captain Warren C. Graham III, explaining the Alumni Association and enclosing a copy of the Constitution and Bylaws.  After that letter, a call was received from Keith Oliver stating that Captain Graham is aware that the Alumni Association is alive and well.  Keith is our point-of-contact on Alumni Association matters.

Also, Rubak mentioned he had been in contact with S. Stephen (Spike) Karalekas, a former faculty member and former Chairman of the DINFOS Board of Visitors.  He has been a very successful lawyer and a retired Navy Captain.  Karalekas expressed his willingness to work with us and to help us in any way he can to promote the DINFOS Alumni Association at the school.  The outcome of this meeting will give us the go ahead to do what is needed.

Mike Scott was then introduced as our new Membership Chairman and was asked to bring us up-to-date on what he has done and plans to do regarding soliciting new members:

Mike then explained that Dave Mossbarger turned the membership records over to him and he transferred them to and Excel Program that is compatible with his computer.  The records show the last time members paid and when their memberships are due.  He will check the records to see when the most recent members paid and when they should be billed again.  In addition, he will try to sort out the membership numbers assigned to new members by Dave Mossbarger.  He gave a listing of all of the members from his computer records to Jack Rubak and Helen Stritt to solicit their help in deleting those we have lost contact with and whose addresses are obsolete.  Mike said he also intends to work with Bob Foster and the website.

Bob Foster mentioned that if a large mailing is to be done, the US Post Office has a discount way to do mailing.  We can update our letter and a brochure, and the Post Office can crank these out and give us a good rate.  It is not as cheap as not-for-profit, but would be much less than first-class postage.  Also, we can meld the mailing with the DINFOS website.  

Rubak said the new brochure should include the current mission aspects of the school and what the Alumni Association stands for.  Originally, the old brochure addressed only the public affairs aspect.  Tom Conrad said he would be willing to work on putting together the new brochure when we get all of the information needed.  Captain Warren will be contacted to review the new brochure once it is completed.

Rubak stated that he had met earlier with Mike Scott and came up with a suggested proposal to offer a free, one-year membership to all graduates who are interested in becoming a member of the DINFOS Alumni Association.  All interested students would have to fill out an application as to what their address will be upon graduation, and at the end of one year, they will be contacted about becoming regular members.  This proposal will be presented to the Commandant through Keith Oliver.

Another agenda item was discussion on a request Bob Foster had received from Dave Phillips, an instructor in the DINFOS Public Affairs Department and a DINFOS Ft. Slocum graduate.  He said he is currently working with the Commandant in planning for a Defense Communications Museum at DINFOS, and he thought this would be a good place to promote the DINFOS Alumni Association.  Dr. Rubak responded to his e-mail message asking him what the five disciplines taught at the school are and saying that the Alumni Association would be most interesting in participating and supplying information.  Also, he will suggest to Dave that he check out the DINFOS Hall of Fame Plaque and the listing of all those journalists who have died in the line of duty as part of the Museum.  Also, we will solicit from our members any memorabilia they may have such as handbooks, photographs, Military Journalist magazines, etc., to be sent to DINFOS as a part of the Museum.  Mike Davis said if we press ahead with our proposal for free, one-year student memberships that we put this on our website.  Tom Conrad sees it as a vehicle to advertise the Alumni Association and should include links on everything that pertains to us.  Mike Scott will promote it with the organizations he knows about such as Stars and Stripes.

The next order of business was on Hall of Fame nominations.  Rubak said one nomination form has been received on LTC Charles Murphy.  Mike Scott said he would like to nominate Major Donald Blake and will work on submitting a nomination form for him.  It was decided that we should wait a year before holding another Hall of Fame Celebration, and we should use September 2007 as the cutoff date for submission of nominees for the year.  Before a Hall of Fame Nominating Committee convenes, at least three applications should be received.

A date for the next Alumni Association meeting and a proposal for a guest speaker were discussed.  The next meeting will be held in May or June of this year, and it was consensus that the ideal guest speaker would be a PAO that has been in Iraq.  Rubak will see if the Commandant can propose someone to do this, and he will also ask Captain Graham if he could come and give us an update on the school.  Mike Davis said he would also contact Reserve and Guard people from the state to see if they can come up with names of some PAOs that have served in Iraq.

A request was issued again for a Treasurer for the DINFOS Alumni Association.  Mike Scott said he would check with his DINFOS friends to see if any of them would be interested in serving in this position.

The meeting adjourned at 1:15 PM.