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Tary Time
Kay Calley-Martin and Jan Van Gasse, AAUWMI Co-Secretaries
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We would like to invite 2023-2024 returning branch secretaries, as well as new ones to the position to “Tary Time.” Please join us for Q&A Time with the AAUW of Michigan Board Secretaries. Kay Calley-Martin and Jan Van Gasse welcome the opportunity for questions such as:
• Is there a job description for the secretary position?
• Where do I find the new branch logo?
• What should minutes include?
• What needs to be saved in your archives?
• How do I navigate the Community Hub?
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We aim to take care of any confusion you might have in your secretary position.
We envision “Tary Time” as a group email. Just email us if you are interesting in being included. We will then answer any questions you might have and will share with the entire group.
We look forward to your questions!
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Update from AAUWMI co-VPs for Programs
Barb Duran and Linda Kevorkian
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We have a number of upcoming programs to highlight!
We are working closely with the Women’s Equality Day Planning Committee. The date for this year's event is August 26th and the program starts at 11:30 a.m. ET. The venue is St. Mary's Cultural Center at 18100 Merriman Road in Livonia.
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• Registration information will be distributed in mid-June.
• The Keynote speaker will be Lori Pohutsky of Livonia or possibly Governor Whitmer. She has a full Calendar so this is not confirmed.
• The main focus of our day will be the passage of Equal Rights Amendment and Equal Pay Initiatives.
• Woman’s Rights and Safety in Michigan will also be emphasized.
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Attracting Younger Members Panel Discussion
On June 5th, a Zoom Presentation will be held with 3 engaged younger members from the state. These woman’s experiences and perspectives will provide food for thought for branches as they develop member recruitment and retention plans. Panelists include:
- Judy Cox was recipient of AAUWMI's Young Leader Award at the 2022 Convention.
- N’Kenge Gonzalez is the Diversity Director of AAUW of Michigan.
- Julia Heck is the Past President of the AAUW-Ann Arbor Branch.
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State Convention 2024
The next State Convention has a home! It is official! The Plymouth-Canton branch has agreed to host the 2024 convention. The two of us will both be part of the 2024 State Convention Planning Team.
Enjoy Spring!
Linda and Barb
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Public Policy Director's Message
Ruth Brown
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Greetings AAUW of Michigan members,
Today I write an article that will reach you in the summer of 2023. Summer is a special time in Michigan partly due to the fact that it is a short season that passes by very quickly. Remember the 1963 Nat King Cole hit song "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer?" The days of reading books and sipping lemonade while exploring the pleasant peninsulas of our great state of Michigan provide wonderful memories. While those carefree fun times when living was easy are no more and only exist in our past, we have much to celebrate and be grateful for as the seasons change in our AAUW lives.
The votes have been tallied in the recent AAUW National Election. Thank you to each member who took the time to vote. The Public Policy Priority revisions were approved by 96.3% of voters. The newly updated 2023-2025 Public Policy Priorities can be viewed on the AAUW website.
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Meghan Kissell has recently been hired as AAUW's new Senior Director of Policy and Member Advocacy. While Meghan is not new to AAUW because she has worked with our organization before, her goals in her new position focus on working with members, women's issues, and facilitating information sharing among the states, as well as, developing member advocacy, which has been included as part of her new title and job responsibilities. Meghan has posed a series of questions for State Public Policy Chairs that would be good for branch counterparts to ponder as well. Whether you are continuing in your role or are new as your branch Public Policy Chairperson, please be thinking about these questions and be prepared to share your responses with your counterparts when we meet again later this summer.
- What does success look like in your branch, as it relates to Public Policy?
- What information would enable the AAUW members in your branch to have more of an impact on Public Policy?
- Are there resources or training areas that would support your work as your branch Public Policy Chair?
Summer signals change in many branches as new officers plan programs and set goals including that every branch have a Public Policy chairperson, either the same person that is continuing on or a new person that is taking on the role. Please be in touch to advise me who the Public Policy chairperson in your branch is going to be in the 2023-2024 program year.
Your AAUWMI State Board will be meeting this summer in a weekend long retreat in Northern Michigan to re-energize, update a forward-thinking Strategic Plan, and to brainstorm visionary new ideas. Being together and meeting face to face is refreshing since post-pandemic most of our meetings are held virtually. We leave with a renewed sense of common purpose that focuses on and revolves around AAUW's mission statement: "To advance gender equity for women and girls through education, advocacy, and research." In these changing times of our lives, the core of AAUW, our mission statement, remains the same, relevant and worth fighting for, now, more than ever.
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Finally, please take time to join the Lobby Corps Zoom calls that will continue through the summer typically on the third Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m. EST hosted by Mary Pollock, AAUWMI Government Relations Coordinator. All AAUWMI members can join the Virtual Lobby Corps by emailing pollockm@comcast.net to get on the mailing list for meeting reminders and late-breaking news.
Thank you for your dedication and commitment to AAUW and for keeping a focus on Public Policy matters continuing through the summer months. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you or your branch needs assistance or has questions.
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AAUWMI's Public Policy Priorities in Lansing
Mary Pollock, Government Relations Coordinator
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AAUW is non-partisan, meaning we do not endorse or support political candidates or political parties. However, we are not values-neutral nor are we passive. We advocate for or oppose legislative measures based on our values as expressed in the national AAUW and AAUWMI Public Policy Priorities (PPP).
The 102nd Michigan Legislature elected in November 2022 has produced an astounding number of measures that line up with AAUW’s PPP. Of the non-appropriation bills Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed into law at this writing, over 60 percent concern issues supported in AAUW’s PPP. Additionally, bills are moving on some of AAUWMI’s high priority issues like ending child marriage in Michigan.
Read AAUWMI’s Government Relations Coordinator Mary Pollock’s Capitol Report about all these matters and more here.
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Introducing the Membership Team Playbook
Leah Monger
Membership Vice President
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This is my final newsletter article as Membership Vice President as I've reached the end of my term and Eva Habib from the Grosse Pointe Branch was elected at the annual meeting as the incoming Membership VP. The Membership Committee has worked on two projects over my time in this position. I'm happy to announce the completion of the new Membership Team Playbook created by a subcommittee that included Sally Doty, Harriet Sawyer, Jan Van Gasse, Corinne Vincent, Karen Zyczynski, and me. | |
The Playbook includes a main document outlining best practices for branch member recruitment and retention plus a collection of supplemental materials we hope to crowdsource from Michigan branches. If your branch would like to contribute sample membership documents (e.g., brochures, membership forms, descriptions of how to hold a recruitment event), please forward your submissions to stateservices@aauwmi.org. I recently received a request for an example of a branch member survey to determine what members think is working well and what could be improved. If your branch has recently conducted a survey that you think would be a good example for other branches, please share!
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Membership Committee Members
Suzanne Sorkin, Traverse City branch
Corinne Vincent, Northville-Novi branch
Harriet Sawyer, Northville-Novi branch
Jan Van Gasse, Iron Mountain-Kingsford branch, AAUWMI Bylaws Director and co-Secretary
Karen Zyczynski, Northville-Novi branch
Sally Doty, Birmingham branch, AAUWMI Finance Vice President
Leah Monger, Big Rapids branch, AAUWMI Membership Vice President
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A second subcommittee including Sally Doty, Suzanne Sorkin, Jan Van Gasse, and me, studied the possibility of creating a virtual, online branch in Michigan. We determined that now is not the right time to try to form such a branch, but we were very interested in creating an enhanced level of state membership for national members who live in Michigan but have no local branch. A logistical challenge for moving forward with this idea is the lack of a mechanism to keep track of national+state members who are not branch members. Once a means of tracking such members is available, we recommend moving forward with this idea. You can read more about our vision for an enhanced national+state category of membership in the AAUWMI Annual Report. | |
Bylaws Briefings
Jan Van Gasse, AAUWMI Bylaws Director
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Results of the AAUW 2023 National Election were announced on May 18th. 95.1% of voters approved AAUW’s bylaws revisions. More information about why these changes were proposed can be found here.
Given the nature of changes to the AAUW’s bylaws, all AAUW affiliates will be required to update their bylaws over the next three years. Branches can approve the required changes with a vote of the board. A full vote of the branch or state membership is not required to implement national-mandated changes to affiliate bylaws.
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Branches and states are required to adopt the first seven articles found here. The deadline for submitting revised bylaws to AAUW via connect@aauw.org is June 30, 2026. Please also send your revised bylaws to the AAUW of Michigan Bylaws Director (Jan Van Gasse) for AAUW of Michigan’s files. Amended branch bylaws are to be sent to the AAUWMI Bylaws Director within 90 days of amendment.
Please note that Article V, AAUW Affiliates, spells out that affiliates shall promote the purposes, programs, and policies of AAUW. Section 2.c discusses affiliate structure and states that affiliates may create such leadership structures as meet their needs. Designated contacts for administration and finance shall be provided to AAUW.
Affiliates are free to develop bylaws to meet their needs and to add other articles to their bylaws. However, all articles should comply with all state and local law requirements and can in no way conflict with AAUW national bylaws and/or policies. Please note that any proposed amendments to branch bylaws that are in addition to those mandated by AAUW must be sent to the AAUW of Michigan Bylaws Director for approval by the AAUW of Michigan Bylaws Committee before the call for the branch to vote.
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Please note that due to the bylaws changes to AAUW of Michigan’s bylaws that were approved at our annual meeting on April 29th, many branches will need to change their bylaws if they mention delegates to the annual meeting. We will no longer have delegates, but rather each member in good standing as of the official notice of the annual meeting is entitled to vote. All proposed amendments to AAUW of Michigan’s bylaws were approved at the annual meeting and can be found in the 2022-2023 Annual Report on pages 34-31.
Please contact Jan Van Gasse, Bylaws Director, via email (janicevangasse@gmail.com) or phone (906-396-2747), with questions or concerns.
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Fiscal Matters
Sally Doty, AAUWMI Finance Vice President
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As we finish up our fiscal year, the Finance officer is usually fairly busy. An examination of your monthly reports will be your guide to help determine your future budget. If your affiliate is planning on instituting any new programs for next year, you may have to analyze your expenditures to see where you may be able to find the necessary funding. At any rate this task helps in establishing your future budget.
The finance officer must keep track of the income and expenditures, of course. She must also keep track of the members’ dues payments. She may also be responsible for reporting new and renewing members. In some branches, a “dues treasurer” takes care of this last item.
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The new interface on the AAUW website designed for you is the AAUW Community Hub. There are recurring “Office Hours” sponsored by AAUW with Tremayne Parquet, Angela Cooper and Katrina Sun Breese on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m ET and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. ET. Many questions have been answered, and best of all, they listen to suggestions. Think about participating in a few of these. The link to register is: https://www.aauw.org/membership/new-systems-update/.
At the present time these things are of the utmost importance:
- Update your tax information – AAUW will file the 990N for you if you regularly have an income of less than $50,000. You can access this under “My Affiliation” on your home page of the Community Hub.
- Update your contact information and that of your members. You are able to update individual members’ information as long as the member has an email address. This is how AAUW is keeping track of your members. If she has changed her email, it MUST be updated in the HUB. The Finance Director, President, and Membership Director may do this as well as any individual member is able to update he information.
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Go to Tutorials: https://www.aauw.org/membership/new-systems-update/ for access to tutorials on your present tasks.
- Be sure that your finance officer’s information is correct and that it has been sent to AAUW, AAUWMI and me.
As you are probably aware members renewal dates have been reviewed. Most of your members’ dues are expected in July – this is the traditional time for most of us. But new this year, members who join during the program year will have due dates based on when they actually joined. AAUW will be sending out renewal reminders to your members if you did not opt out of that notification.
I have really enjoyed working with you this past year. I hope to continue this dialogue. Please, feel free to contact me either by phone or text 248-909-4583 or by email sallyaauw@gmail.com.
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Branch Giving to AAUW Funds
Ruth Briggs, AAUW Funds Director
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In 2022 Michigan Branches donated over $60,000 to national AAUW; good job branches! Most of it was given to the Greatest Needs Fund, which is as it should be since that gives AAUW the flexibility to use the money where it needs it the most. | |
The top 10 branches in total giving in order were: Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Midland, Battle Creek, Wyandotte/Downriver, Farmington, Plymouth/Canton, Port Huron, Rochester, Marquette.
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The top 10 branches in per capita giving were: Midland, Battle Creek, Birmingham, Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Wyandotte/Downriver, Romeo, Farmington, Plymouth/Canton, Port Huron.
Our members were very generous. The most frequent method of raising money by branches continues to be the used book sale.
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Joy, Love, & Happiness
N’Kenge Gonzalez, AAUWMI DEI Director
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Summer is the hottest season, but because of the heat and brightness it symbolizes Love, Joy, Happiness, Youth, and according to some literati, self-development. After reading some of the metaphors I began to reflect on my own feeling brought about by each season, and it’s true. I am a lot happier in summer, I spend more time outdoors breathing in fresh air, getting those much-needed doses of Vitamin D. It’s joyful to be able to move without encumbrances and go more places without concern of inclement weather.
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Summer is a time for outdoor festivals and activities. You wake up in the morning donning not too much more than a smile and you go out into the world, greeting strangers, visiting foreign places, staying out later. You have virtually let all your concerns go along with those heavy, burdensome winter coats, gloves, and boots. | |
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Summer is more than a season, it’s an encompassing feeling of happiness, an unconscious and at times deliberate time of self-development. We’re engaged in the physical and mental, but what about the spiritual and emotional? This is why DEI&B is so integral in our lives. Most are still learning the acronym, others are realizing that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is more than a movement, it’s a lifestyle.
Diversity has inadvertently allowed us to learn more things like the wonderful taste of barbacoa. Have we ever thanked Native Americans and Caribbeans for this cooking method, or have we taken for granted that it’s ours? Equity takes the place of attending a festival in which all genres of music and art are on full display for everyone to enjoy. Whereas superficially, equality allows me to go to a concert for free, but it doesn’t always have activities for me to take advantage of.
Inclusion happens at the most wonderful times during these outdoor activities, especially during music festivals and looking at art. Strangers regardless of differences are drawn together in dialogue and/or movement because of their entrancement or shared views. The funniest thing I’ve noticed is that no one is ever startled, at least at the time this moment of connection is occurring. Everyone belongs where they are, there is no question.
| In this season of Joy, Happiness, Love, and Self-Development, let’s be more intentional in allowing these feelings to take over our hearts in practicing the DEI&B lifestyle. Let the festivities continue all over the globe. | |
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Updating Branch Officers in the Community Hub
Leah Monger, State Services Manager
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AAUW has asked 2022-2023 branch presidents to enter 2023-2024 officers into the Community Hub before the end of the current fiscal year on June 30. You can download instructions below. Branch leaders should become familiar with Hub functionality, so please try to update your roster yourself before seeking help. If you run into problems (members with duplicate records is the most common issue I've seen), please contact me for assistance. | |
Escanaba Area Branch Celebrates 50th Birthday
Susan Hampton
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The AAUW Escanaba Area Branch celebrated their 50th Birthday on May 20, 2023 at the Island Resort and Casino Horizons Steakhouse Restaurant. About 35 members and former members attended the event in Harris, Michigan. After a social time and lunch, Susan Hampton presented a Power Point program, “A Glimpse into the Past: 1973-2023.” The Power Point featured the many activities of the branch over the years, including Lunch with Santa, Home Tours, Speech Trek, Children’s Plays, Candidates’ Forums, etc. The strong connection with Bay College as a college/university partner was also highlighted.
Beverly Ladin was recognized as the only Charter Member present. She was gifted a plant. New officers were also elected in a brief business meeting preceding lunch. The Branch welcomed and appreciated the presence of Jan Van Gasse, an AAUWMI Board Member, at the celebration.
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New Notecards by Meneese Wall at the
AAUWMI Online Store
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Don't forget that AAUW of Michigan is selling note cards featuring the work of American artist Meneese Wall. New this month are cards depicting Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. We feature a line of Wall's notecards depicting icons of the women's and civil rights movements. The 5" x 7" notecards are printed on high-quality stock and can be purchased individually or in sets. Each card includes a colorful print of Wall's original artwork on the front and a detailed description of the depicted individual or event on the back. | |
We also have Wall's award winning book, We Demand the Right to Vote. Support AAUW of Michigan and its programs by making a purchase either for yourself or as gifts!
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AAUW of Michigan
Important Dates 2022-2023
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June 2023
Thursday, June 1 – Affiliate Annual Reports due
Monday, June 5, 7:00 ET – Attracting Younger Members Panel Discussion via Zoom. Register here.
Thursday, June 15, 7:00 p.m. ET – Lobby Corps Meeting**
Wednesday, June 28, 7:00 p.m. ET – Branch Presidents’ Quarterly Zoom Meeting
July 2023
Friday, July 14 – Sunday, July 16 – AAUWMI Board Retreat
Thursday, July 20, 7:00 ET – Lobby Corps Meeting**
August 2023
Thursday, August 24, 7:00 p.m. ET – Lobby Corps Meeting** (Note that this month's meeting is the fourth Thursday of the month rather than the third)
Saturday, August 26, 11:30 a.m. ET – Women's Equality Day Luncheon, St. Mary's Cultural Center, 18100 Merriman Road, Livonia
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*Any member of AAUW of Michigan is welcome to attend Board meetings. Please send an email to Sheila Blair, AAUWMI President, sheilablairpmp@gmail.com if you would like to attend any meeting, and she will send you the details.
**All AAUWMI members are eligible to join the AAUW of Michigan’s Virtual Lobby Corps by emailing pollockm@comcast.net to get on the mailing list for meeting reminders and late-breaking news.
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AAUW Central States Regional Conference
October 19-21, 2023, St. Louis, Missouri
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AAUW of Michigan Leadership Team 2022-2023 | | |
Elected Officers/Executive Committee | |
AAUWMI Administrative Staff | | | | |
