MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH: Our MAPOR Spotlight of the Month is for Conference Chairs Patrick
and Jenny and the entire supporting crew who made the Conference a successful event! Thanks to all
for your hard work and your service to MAPOR.
MAPOR Mission Statement
We provide high-quality educational and conference programs to encourage scholarly exchanges across
disciplines and geographies, broaden member access to mentors and resources, and bolster
opportunities for leadership and innovations. We join forces with AAPOR, academic institutions, and
government and industry employers to develop a thriving community that supports all MAPOR
members, including students, scholars, and professionals in every stage of their career.
MAPOR Vision Statement
MAPOR is a leading voice in public opinion, survey, and social science scholarship, methods, and practice
among regional professional associations. We are an inclusive and supportive community that enables
our diverse members to achieve their educational, professional development, and networking goals.
Agenda:
Attendees: Curtiss, Lindsey, Benjamin, Justine, Mia, Leah, David, Beth, Evgenia, Paul, Jerry, Erin, Patrick,
and Rebecca
I. Welcome Executive Council!
a. New members: Semilla Stripp, Beth Fisher, Evgenia Kapousouz
b. Introductions
II. MAPOR documents and procedures
a. Vision and Mission Statements: https://www.mapor.org/about/mapor-mission-vision/
b. Bylaws: https://www.mapor.org/bylaws-as-amended-august-10-2018/
c. Robert’s Rules of Order: https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/roberts-rules-of-order-cheat-
sheet/
III. 2023-2024 Council Transition (Leah/All)
IV. 2023 Conference Debrief
(Patrick/Jenny/All)
a. General Discussion
b. All expenses paid?
i. Hotel
ii. Tech rental
iii. Speakers
iv. Student award winners
v. Student grants
c. Thank you notes to sponsors
d. Business meeting items?
Patrick thinks we should couple the Industry Idea Exchange and sponsorship. He also suggests
bringing in more academic speakers to the conference per some feedback received at the
business meeting. Then, we can advertise that we have funds for these support opportunities
and possible sponsorship opportunities. David suggested showing grad students how many
presented at MAPOR as grad students who then became faculty. A junior academic/faculty
outreach list was deemed a need. Curtiss suggested looking at data science departments.
Paul suggested a MAPOR working paper series leading to the conference be one way to
incentivize early-career and junior folks. Justine also suggested going after undergraduate
students. Rebecca suggested we have something very defined.
Evgenia suggested reaching out to junior faculty to bring other junior faculty with them. Some
also suggested we ask the fellows to tackle this issue either by identifying faculty and/or
reaching out to them.
Jerry suggested an academic-specific colleague fund, like the AAPOR Roper fellows fund, to come
to MAPOR. He also suggested looking into academic programs that we could reach out to.
Justine suggested a set budget for student and colleague support grants and other travel
expenses.
We are getting a number of responses from the conference survey. Leah will send results in
January.
Everything is paid except for a student award winner. Lindsey is still waiting for payment
information from her but will send her a check if she does not hear back soon.
Justine will make sure 2023 Sponsors were thanked.
V. 2024 Conference (Jenny)
a. Conference support committee
VI. Secretary Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)
a. Financial updates
b. Membership list updates.
Checking: $42,902.87 (hotel and Press America payments still to post)
Savings: $42,216.90
Will create 2024 membership list once conference and end of the year tasks are completed.
VII. Communications/Website (Benjamin)
a. Engagement plan/strategy
b. Spring newsletter
c. Updates with new members
d. Website security certificate
The security certificate for the website should now be updated. Anyone new to council, please
send Ben your headshot so he can update the website.
Lindsey suggested moving away from sending communications through the listserv and Cvent
because of issues with those communications being successfully received by all. Instead, she
suggested sending out using a MAPOR email address with outbound abilities. Then, we will have
consistency in the email address we use to communicate with MAPOR members and friends from
year to year (as opposed to communications coming from the president or conference chair at
the time).
Regularly update the website and focus on a handful of non-conference emails a year. Ben has a
draft of what we will send and when that he will share when finalized. Archive anything older
than six months. Ben suggested doing a regular check with members to make sure they are
getting our communications.
We discussed doing a post-conference newsletter, including photos and course of action for the
items at the business meeting, conference survey results, new council member headshots, and
socialize people to the MAPOR 50 th anniversary. Ben suggested updating the MAPOR logo for the
50th anniversary. Justine mentioned that we are only four years into our existing logo. We do
need new swag, a new step and repeat, and other items. The 50 th would be a great time to
refresh. Ben suggested a 50 th anniversary logo that we can step in and out of. There was also talk
about adding a “50 th Anniversary banner” to the logo. Leah suggested we learn about costs
before we make any decisions. Jerry said that AAPOR just did a logo refresh. Leah will reach out
to the AAPOR contact.
VIII. BOSR 60th Anniversary (Lindsey)
The council is supportive of potentially having a MAPOR mixer as part of BOSR’s 60 th Anniversary.
Lindsey will reach out to BOSR to see if this is something they would like to include in the 60 th
anniversary schedule.
IX. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee
a. Set meeting and goals for 2024
b. Tentative tasks for 2024
i. Review Conference Feedback
ii. Evaluate Student Fellowship Program
iii. Evaluate Student Grants Program
The committee received feedback on the student paper award competition. One suggestion was
to tell students about the competition earlier in the year. Curtiss and Paul will work through
eligibility criteria as well in hopes of increasing the number of paper submissions. They are also
working to match fellows with new students in the fellow mentoring program. We need to
update dates on the website page too.
X. Sponsorship (Justine)
XI. Online Learning Committee (Rebecca)
a. Set meeting to discuss goals for 2024
b. Webinars
c. Other events?
i. Resume review?
ii. Speed networking?
The committee is sending out emails to student winners of the resume review from the fall
webinar series. They are trying to come up with a new format/structure to overcome the low
student attendance in the webinar format. They are looking at new ways to meet our members
needs. One idea is an online contest. Rebecca asked to have this as a priority in an upcoming
council meeting. They are also welcoming to new members-at-large, council members joining the
sub-committee.
XII. Other business
a. Mixers in 2024 (single date mixer across multiple cities?)
i. Lincoln
ii. Ann Arbor
iii. Chicago
iv. Madison
b. List of organizations and universities for additional outreach
We can move to this once we know if BOSR is open to including a MAPOR mixer as part of the
BOSR 60 th .
Council members
President – Leah Dean
Vice President / President Elect – Patrick Hsieh
Past President – Justine Bulgar-Medina
Conference Chair – Jenny Marlar
Associate Conference Chair – Beth Fisher
Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson
Associate Secretary-Treasurer – Semilla Stripp
Sponsorship Coordinator –Justine Bulgar-Medina
Student Liaison – Curtiss Engstrom
Communications & Website Chair – Benjamin Schapiro
Members at Large – Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook, Paul DiPerna
Proposed Committees
Conference Committee – Jenny, Beth, Justine
Online Learning Committee – Rebecca Powell (Chair), Erin Heiden, Jerry Timbrook
Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom
Secretary Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Semilla Stripp
Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Curtiss Engstrom, Leah Dean
50th Anniversary Committee – Leah (chair), Beth, additional fellows