Happy New Year everyone!! Traditionally, this is the time of year when people make their New Year’s resolutions about what they want to change or improve in their lives. In a more general sense, it’s a good time to reflect on the past year and see how we’ve been doing and where we are going. Since I’ve never really been big on New Year’s resolutions, I’m not going to offer any here. But I would like to examine some of the goals I set at the beginning of the Chapter’s fiscal year and comment on how we are doing.

Back in May I talked about the variety of Chapter monthly programs. Christopher Perego and the Programs Committee have done an excellent job so far this year with interesting programs that have certainly ranged in topic. Attendance has been great at all of them. Each month I hear wonderful feedback from members on the presenters and topics.  Expect more of the same for the rest of the year.

The Professional Development Committee (formerly the Education Committee) and the Certification Committee are both gearing up for many quality programs and learning opportunities this winter to help you advance your professional growth and career. In addition, the ad hoc 50th Anniversary Party Committee is well under way planning a grand celebration this May which will include part of the annual Awards ceremony.

One of my big goals for this year was to improve communication. This happens on several levels which I would like to highlight.

• Communication to the members. Most of this happens through Chapter emails, the Chapter newsletter specifics, and the Chapter website. These formats are working well. But if you have suggestions for improvement, feel free to contact me or the Communications Committee.
• Communication between the Board and the Committees. This basically happens behind the scenes for most members. The committees typically communicate with the Board through committee minutes or a liaison from the Board to a committee. These minutes are also posted on the Chapter website for the general membership to read. I also send out emails to the committee chairs on a some what regular basis. I believe that we have made some improvement s over last year.
• Communication to the construction industry and general public. This relates to some comments that I offered at the awards ceremony last May about our Mission Statement “To lead the construction industry through knowledge and education on the built environment.” We can create all the great seminars, programs, and certification offerings we want, but if people don’t hear about them, or understand who and what CSI is, they probably won’t come. We have worked hard to reach other organizations with our offerings. But I ask all of you to join the Chapter in this effort. Talk up CSI when you interact with others in the industry. Wear your CSI pin to non-CSI events – hopefully someone will ask you about it. Promote Chapter programs and seminars to non-members.

One final note – Dean McCarty is trying to reactivate the Student Membership Committee. Not only are students the future members of our industry, they relate directly to our mission statement I mentioned above regarding education. Dean could use some help with these efforts. Please consider this valuable area of involvement – it doesn’t need to be huge time commitment. Even an hour or two a month is beneficial. Look for a separate announcement in this month’s specifics from Dean.

I hope your year has started out great and wish you all the best in 2008.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Chapter meeting.

Jon Rao Papke, CSI, CCS, AIA
President, Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter CSI