MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA
August 22, 2025
MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH: Our MAPOR Spotlight of the Month is for Beth, Erik and Ben. First, thanks
for Beth and Erik’s work on releasing the call of abstracts and circulating it widely in July; and then for Beth’s
staying on top of the planning and tracking the submission progress in August. Second, kudos to Ben’s work on
setting up the new listserv. Last but not least, I want to thank Erik again for volunteering to be one of the
student mentors! Thanks to all for your dedication and 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:
I. Secretary Treasurer’s Report (Semilla)
a. Financial updates
- Checkings: $34,064. in August (from $30,427.79 in July)
- Savings: $42,223.46 in August (from $42,223.46 in July)
b. Membership list updates - 419 in August (July: 416 total members (not including AAPOR sheet))
- 349 non-students, 70 students
- (July: 346 non-students, 70 students)
- Will reach out to Leah re: sponsorship
- Will be on call to make sure that the individual sponsor link is set
II. 2025 Conference and contract renewal (Beth/Jenny/all)
a. Updates on contract renewal
b. Update on Conference support/50th committee
c. Release of call for abstracts?
- As of yesterday, we have 54 abstracts submitted, and additional ~15 submissions that look like they have
been started but not completed. At least 1-2 duplicates. - Beth is going to prompt mid next week.
- Usual submissions are at about 200 but have been decreasing – good aim is for 120-140. Early
submissions hard to read. - Extend President’s Reception, working on that. Do we want to get any swag approved?
- Idea for swag = button, stickers
- Coffee mug, too expensive?
- 2 types of swag – 1 nice 50th anniversary give away item (coffee mug, tumbler, etc.), and some
smaller swag for moving forward (stickers, buttons, can bring to AAPOR) - What is the budget for swag?
- How many do we need – 200-250
- 1 nice gift, then fill in cheap
- 1 mug, some stickers and some pens, some notepads
- Patrick asked about $5,000 budget, Lindsey noted we should be closer to $2,000 realistically in
the budget - Goal is to make decision on swag by next meeting
III. Communications/Website (Benjamin/Patrick)
[Ben]:
a. Listserv updates
i. There’s a new listserv for MAPOR (mapor@simplelists.com). So far, it’s only received the
conference mailings. All current members are now part of this listhost. We’ll go in once a
month and remove bouncing emails, but that looks like all we can do.
ii. Consider doing individual outreach to members who have bouncing emails to confirm
that they’re no longer at the relevant professional position, and see if they want to use
personal emails.
iii. Friends of MAPOR still only exists in the admin outlook. We might consider
continuing our use of Cvent for this group especially if Cvent’s interface is better than
Outlook, or abandoning the list entirely.
iv. MAPOR’s Office365 does not cover Teams, sadly. We may consider asking
secretary/treasurer to own the meeting going forward
v. We’d like to send a newsletter ASAP via the new listserv with input from the council.
- Ben – integrate 2025 Friends of MAPOR into simplelists so we can send out abstract call early next week
- In September we will coordinate call for membership
IV. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Paul/Curtiss)
a. Updates on student fellowship program
- Getting ready to start collecting papers for student paper submission
- Curtiss will reach out to Beth once the abstract submission is closed
- Starting to think about for student support and early career grants. Last year spent $4,200. Need to start
thinking about the budget here and if we want to be more selective here if there is big influx. - The 2025 matches:
- Grace Desjardins, with Erik Nisbe
- Isaac Tagoe, with Mandy Sha
- Juniper Shelley, with Allyson Holbrook
- Sara Kay, with Tim Johnson
V. Sponsorship (Leah)
- We are at $12,350 pledged so far
- NORC did a lower amount than usual. RTI, WestStat, Fors March and some others all said they cannot
give this year – these account for missing $4,000 - NORC at least hoping it is a temporary decrease
- Leah is going to do another round of reachouts post Labor Day. And Leah going to reach out to Mia to
cross check lists of $$ received. - Need to get artwork from folks, tables finalized, sustaining sponsors – will check in closer to conference.
Gallup definitely wants a table. Leah out on PTO for 2 weeks and then will start this reach out process. - Lets make individual donor link live today, and Leah will reach out to folks after PTO.
VI. Online Learning Committee (Rebecca) - Goal for Fall series is a but of an upscaling series for folks since we are dealing with a lot of turmoil
- Our goal is 3 webinars
- Moderated panel of folks who have transitioned from one field to another. Have government
contracts to private sector, hoping to get a student, and private to public sector - More technical questionnaire design/development. Asking Dana if she is willing to do that, have
a couple of other folks in mind if not. - More technical Quarto overview – someone from Posit is going to present. Going to tailor to
more manuscript or report writing. Patrick asked about infographic/slide creation.
VII. Other business (Patrick)
Nomination for 2025-26 Executive Council
- Will prepare call for names and share with Ben to send around
- Daivd is going to forward last year’s solicitation to Patrick
- Erin just sent Patrick the email. It is in a google form
- Will try to get it out early next week – election has to occur at least 60 days before the meeting
Council members
President – Y. Patrick Hsieh
Vice President / President Elect – David Sterrett
Past President – Leah Dean
Conference Chair – Beth Fisher
Associate Conference Chair – Linsdey Witt-Swanson
Secretary-Treasurer – Semilla Stripp
Sponsorship Coordinator – Leah Dean
Student Liaison – Curtiss Engstrom
Communications & Website Chair – Benjamin Schapiro
Members at Large – Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook, Paul DiPerna, Brian Wells, Erik Nisbet
Alexandros Gkotinakos, Evgenia Kapousouz
Proposed Committees
50th/Conference Committee – Beth, Justine, Leah, Kevin
Online Learning Committee – Rebecca Powell (Chair), Erin Heiden, Jerry Timbrook
Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom
Secretary Treasurer Support – Semilla Stripp
Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Brian Wells