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A Fond Farewell
by Kris Oden

Council members for 2002-2003

This will be my last column as president of the San Diego Chapter. Over the past two years, the San Diego Chapter council has accomplished quite a bit. I'd like to take a moment and recognize the people and teams that made it all happen.

Thanks to Bonnie Blackfield, our Membership VP. Bonnie maintains the chapter membership list and works constantly with Pat Ray to make sure email addresses stay current so that you all stay current with our events. In addition, she organized the New Member Orientation Dinner held in October—to much acclaim from our new members.

Thanks to Rick Bradshaw and his award-winning newsletter team, we moved from a print newsletter to an online newsletter, saving production time and bulk mail and printing costs. In addition, the newsletter now generates income from advertising. Rick has successfully recruited many of you to write articles for the newsletter, making this newsletter truly a chapter newsletter. Finally, by offering space in the newsletter to those of you looking for jobs, he has increased networking opportunities for members in the chapter. I know of at least two instances when members have obtained positions because of advertising themselves in the newsletter.

Thanks to Carla Coleman and Elaine Tsang, both of whom have served as VP of Programs, for organizing a wide variety of monthly meetings, arranging for food and accommodations with the hotel, and taking reservations.

Thanks to Walter Hanig and his team of greeters for their able check-in of members at the chapter meetings. Walter introduced preprinted nametags and receipts to streamline the check-in process, and he worked with Suzy Hosie and Elaine Tsang to develop the online reservation form. I would also like to acknowledge Walter for the idea for our new library service and Suzy Hosie for buying the books and setting up the check-out process.

Thanks to Suzy Hosie and her Web team, we have continued the tradition started by Mike McGraw and Bill Sullivan of having a Web site that consistently meets members' needs. It is easy to use and is constantly updated and maintained. I particularly want to acknowledge Suzy and her team for their collaboration with Walter Hanig and Elaine Tsang on creation of an online reservation form for chapter meetings.

Thanks to Mary Larkin and her team for organizing and offering an extensive list of professional development workshops. Mary was very creative and teamed up with local training centers to offer low-cost workshops for members and the technical writing community.

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Tom Lorr, Judy Keene, and Ken Wilson and the Employment team. Tom, Judy, and Ken have all taken their turn as VP of Employment during my tenure as president. Because of their efforts, the Employer Database is more current and useful for searches. Judy Keene was particularly enthusiastic and made sure that every technical communication position advertised in the media was represented in JobMail or presented at meetings.

In addition, thanks to Tiffany Gerstmar, JobMail is now hosted as a listserve and is distributed twice a month.

This is my opportunity to thank the council publicly for their efforts and accomplishments. I'm sure I've missed someone or something, and for that I apologize in advance. We couldn't do all we accomplished without the help of volunteers. Be sure to attend our June 12 meeting where we recognize all of our volunteers for their individual efforts.

Have a great summer!