President's Letter
Dear Members,
It has been an amazing two years as your president. Thank you for allowing me to serve in this wonderful position. As most of you know, I will be turning over the reins in May to Ann Laramee who is a remarkable leader. I know that Kappa Tau is in good hands with her as President.
I will be busy in the upcoming years as Regional Coordinator for our Region 15. I started this new role in November, in which one of my new charges was to interview all the chapters within the region. This really opened my eyes to see how magnificent our chapter really is has grown over the years.
Our chapter is one of the most active in our region, with the most events out of 35 chapters! Last year we had 10 programs, how incredible! We now have a fall Research Symposium, which started in 2009 and well attended. We have more volunteer programs with the Walk for Suicide Prevention in which we supported a local mother who lost her son. We coordinated an event with Northern Vermont Oncology Nursing Society and cooked a dinner at Hope Lodge. Other programs included Mentoring Program, Global Leadership, A Night at the Theater, Heart of Leadership, Induction and our Annual Meeting. This year we won the International Award for Chapter Communications.
All of these accomplishments could not have happened without the work of our board members. They continue to give back to our society and our communities by donating their time and efforts to make these events happen. Please make sure you take the time out and thank the board members.
Here is your 2009-2010 board: Ann Laramee, President-Elect Sally Kerschner, Vice President Chris Kasprisin, Treasurer Alexis Ressler, Secretary Mari Cordes, Newsletter Editor Annie Parker, Leadership Succession Chair Christina Melvin, Faculty Counselor Chair Cathy Muskus, Faculty Counselor Jean Beatson, Governance Committee Chair Rycki Maltby, Leadership Succession Louise Moon-Rosales, Leadership Succession Mary Botter, Leadership Succession Ruby Merali, Governance Committee Vicki Torsch, Awards Committee Chair Gene Hicks, Membership Taskforce Chair
We also have supported out community by financial support by giving out small grants to nursing students for them to travel abroad and serve other countries like Bangladesh and Australia. We have given supported new inductees to attend the Biennial Convention so we can develop more leaders in our communities. We also give out grants for Research every year at our Annual Meeting. Every year we give back to the society by donating money to Sigma Theta Tau International to support nurses around the world. We support local organizations like Vermont State Nurses Association. Last year our financial support totaled more than $1700.
Projects that we have accomplished over my presidency include:
- Quarterly Newsletter
- Kappa Tau Facebook Page
- Regional Excellence Award
- Pizza Party for New Inductees
- Member survey to see how we are doing as chapter
- Increased Programming by 50%
- Increased Volunteer Programs to give back to our community
- Financial Support of Local Programs
- Members speaking at Sigma Theta Tau Events:
o Leadership Summit 2009
o Biennial Convention 2010
- Board Members serving on the Regional Committee
o Technology Taskforce
o Global Initiative
o Communications
- Board Members being featured in Chapter Leader Emphasis-
Published Board Member Newsletter from STTI
o Julie Jones, September 2008
o Mari Cordes, Spring 2010
- Update of Website
- New Committees for 2010:
o Awards-Committee Chair: Vicki Torsch
o Programming-Committee Chair: Empty
o Communications-Committee Chair: Mari Cordes
o Global Initiative-Committee Chair: Rycki Maltby
o Membership Involvement-Committee Chair: Gene Hicks
I will still be involved with Kappa Tau at the Board Level, helping out as past president. But I will be focusing my efforts as Region 15 Coordinator, in which I have already volunteered for many taskforces for STTI. One of them includes the Technology Taskforce. It has been an incredible journey for me over the years and I have learned a lot. I would like to formally thank my mentors over the years, Louise Moon-Rosales and Chris Kasprisin. Without the both of them, I would not be where I am today.
Respectfully Yours,
Julie Jones, Kappa Tau President