Mortar Board INK: the membership selection edition

Membership selection is one of the most important tasks any chapter will undertake.  Selection may seem overwhelming and distant, but it is important to take the time to understand the process early, and later follow the required steps in order to maintain the integrity of the process. 

In this issue, you will find tips for success in your selection process, links to membership resources, ideas on where to start, basic guidelines and requirements for the process.  After reading this issue and its supplemental resources, we hope that you will feel confident in selecting and tapping your new members. More detailed information about membership selection can be found in the Membership Selection Handbook. Download it and read thoroughly.

Your section coordinator and the National Office are always available to answer questions and help guide you.  More information about orientation, initiation and chapter transition will be included in a future edition of the INK. We look forward to your help in welcoming a great class of new members to Mortar Board in 2011!

Megan Stevens
Assistant Executive Director for Chapter Development

Please be sure to print, share and keep this edition of the INK e-newsletter for reference throughout the year. 

Why is membership selection so important?

Each chapter is held responsible for the important tasks of recruiting, selecting, tapping, orienting and initiating new members. By selecting a strong new class for the upcoming year and holding proper transitions, a chapter is securing its own future success. Poor procedures, however, can lead to the downfall of a chapter.

Due to Mortar Board's nature as an honor society for college seniors, most members participate for only one year. Therefore, if any membership or selection tasks fall short, your chapter's longstanding legacy and rich traditions can easily be lost as a new class quickly drifts downhill. Please help prevent this by working with your chapter to ensure the right procedures are followed.

Steps in the selection process

Here is a brief overview of the steps that should take place as your chapter executes membership selection.

• Learn about the process - Thoroughly read and share the Membership Selection Handbook.
• Review what has been done in the past - Talk to your advisor to find out how the selection process has worked on your campus in previous years and if improvements need to be made.
• Develop a plan - Use a selection process that works well on your campus or use one of the sample processes outlined in the Membership Selection Handbook. Tip: Use the sample membership timeline and the Membership Recruitment and Selection Plan (MRSP), due December 15, to ensure that you factor all of the important elements of membership selection into your plan. You will receive a response from the National Office offering feedback on your plan.
• Set a GPA standard - Mortar Board's national GPA standard is 3.0 (if using a 4.0 scale) or the top 35 percent of the class, whichever is higher. Work with your registrar to determine your chapter's grade standard and report it on the Membership Recruitment and Selection Plan (MRSP).
• Practice the process - Hold a practice selection meeting to ensure the selection process goes smoothly when the time comes. All chapter members must be involved in selecting the new class.
• Start recruiting - Develop your membership application or nomination form, being sure to give candidates at least one month between the date the application becomes available and the due date. Publicize the application deadline heavily, using posters, letters, e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, and announcements at student organization meetings. Recruitment is most effective when started early, even in the fall.
• Select new members - Hold the formal selection meeting you planned using the Membership Selection Handbook and the MRSP to select new members.
• Submit the Official Membership Report (OMR) - Before new members may be tapped, they must be approved by the Mortar Board National Office. Complete the Official Membership Report (OMR) and submit it promptly after selection, typically two weeks prior to tapping.
• Tap new members - Tapping is a rich tradition that dates back to the 1800s and is often a member's most memorable moment in Mortar Board. Tapping is not the same as initiation, but is a step that occurs after a candidate applies and has been selected and before being formally initiated. It is simply a way to publicly (and memorably) let candidates know that they have been chosen to become Mortar Board members. The phrase “tapping” comes from literally tapping a new member with a mortarboard to signify selection for membership. 
• Collect dues - Notify members of the national and local membership fees in their tapping packet and collect dues prior to initiation.
• Hold orientation - Inform selected candidates about Mortar Board involvement by holding an orientation to inspire, motivate and celebrate.
• Initiate new members - Hold a special, traditional initiation ceremony with members and guests including families, administrators and faculty. According to the Bylaws Section 1.16, initiation must occur at least four weeks before the end of classes.
• Make good transitions - Hold officer and chapter transition meetings to pass your chapter’s legacy on for another fantastic year.
• Wrap things up - By the middle of April, confirm that all members have been reported, membership fees have been paid, and all national fees have been submitted (including the required $225 conference fee).

How to get in touch with eligible candidates

Candidates must be in the top 35 percent of their class and have at least junior standing (they must have at least one semester/term to serve as an active member prior to graduation).  By December 15, ask your school’s registrar to provide you with names of eligible students. If they can not provide you with these names, they may be able to send out an e-mail message to these students on your behalf.

Fliers, chalking, banners and information sessions are all important parts of publicizing Mortar Board to the general student body.  Information about eligibility must be made available to each student in the top 35 percent of the junior class.  The easiest and most cost-effective way to contact prospective members is via e-mail.

Selection: qualities to consider

The following descriptions of the Mortar Board ideals are intended to provide a starting point for conversation about the ideals and are not exhaustive. Please see extended details beginning on page 4 of the Membership Selection Handbook.

Scholarship - A discussion of this area should be aimed at examining qualities of scholarly value beyond the grade point average. Grades alone do not present the quality of depth of “education” a candidate has received.

Leadership - The distinction between office-holding and leadership should be examined in this area. It is important to look beyond leadership in prestigious activities and to seek out those other leadership areas not so evident on the campus or in the community.

Service - The desire to serve is laudable, but can be hard to judge. One chapter has defined service as cooperation, generosity and res

ponsibility.

Reporting your selected candidates for national approval

All selected candidates must be reported to the Mortar Board National Office via the Official Membership Report (OMR). In most cases, this should be done by the end of February. You must receive approval on your candidates from the National Office before you can tap any selected members.

The OMR is a macro-enabled Microsoft Excel form that uses three worksheets stored within one document to analyze chapter and member data. Please be sure to save this workbook and always submit it to the National Office as one complete document. Complete instructions for properly completing the form are available online. The worksheets included are:

• Form I worksheet (due two weeks prior to tapping) - Form I collects data on your chapter's membership standards, as well as planned tapping and orientation dates so that materials can be shipped in a timely manner.
• Form II worksheet (due two works prior to tapping) - All information except Column M must be completed in Form II so that the National Office can approve your chapter's selected candidates. Column M should be completed immediately following initiation along with Form III.
• Form III worksheet (due within one week following initiation) - This form uses the information completed in Form II, including Column M, to automatically calculate the amount your chapter must submit to the National Office.

Following the submission of Forms I and II and national approval, a National Office staff member will send an e-mail approval message to the chapter president and advisor(s). At this time, a package containing membership pins, certificates and introductory booklets will be shipped to the address provided in Form I.

All membership fees and the $225 conference fee must to be submitted to the National Office as soon as possible following initiation with a print-out of Form III.

Valuable resources

Reading the Membership Selection Handbook from cover to cover is essential for success.  Additionally, your chapter may benefit from the numerous samples and templates available online, such as an example call for nominations to a letter for non-selected applicants. Please visit www.mortarboard.org/membership to download or view the samples.

Need an all-in-one tool to manage your chapter? Try Wiggio.

Wiggio is an impressive (yet simple) online application for managing calendars, documents, schedules, conference calls, to-do lists and more - a perfect (and free!) program that Mortar Board chapters and the endlessly busy students and advisors who lead them can benefit from.

Some of the coolest features?

• Sending a text-message reminder about meetings or a change in location to chapter members
• Creating polls for anything you want – from when or where to meet to which fundraiser is most popular among members
• Managing a to-do list so that specific members have tasks that they can check off as they complete them (such as posting minutes or submitting national reports)
• Housing documents and saving EVERY version, along with who updated it and when, in the “folder” section

Want to learn more?

1. Watch this video
2. Sign up for one of the upcoming Webinars offered exclusively to Mortar Board members with Wiggio Founder and CEO Dana Lampert on Wednesday, November 17 (Noon Eastern) or Friday, November 19 (1:30 p.m. Eastern).

Just weeks remain in the Virtual Book Drive

Your chapter can work with other Mortar Board members to promote literacy with the Society's national project, "Reading is Leading," by participating in the Virtual Book Drive by November 12.

Nationally, Mortar Board hopes to raise $30,000 to give children across the country access to books. A donation of just $2 can help to provide a child from a low-income family with his or her very first brand-new book.

Detailed information can be found in the Virtual Book Drive packet.

The Agathai chapter took home top honors from the 2010 Mortar Board National Conference, including the Golden Torch Award and Excellence in Advising Award (for advisor Pamela R. Cysner), and was named a finalist for the Ruth Weimer Mount Chapter Excellence Award. These honors might be because of the work of the 2009-2010 members, but with the way things have started at UCLA this year, that group has nothing on the class of 2011! The chapter has an ambitious mission to take Mortar Board to new heights, as chapter president Vincent Palladino explains, “We are devoted to raising the bar of chapter excellence by developing innovative projects, amplifying our chapter’s visibility, refurbishing existing programs, and ensuring our chapter’s continuity in the years to come.”

UCLA chapter members jump for joy at the September 19 member retreat held at Dockweiler State Beach.

Before classes even started, the chapter held a fantastic member retreat at Dockweiler State Beach. Spirits were high when every member received a Mortar Board tote bag filled with a custom-made Mortar Board t-shirt, member resource binder and more. Throughout the daylong retreat, members participated in teambuilding activities, relay races and committee planning.

Even though classes didn't start until the last week in September, the chapter has made its start to the year monumental. The year started by continuing a project that has gone on for more than two decades, selling thousands of the widely popular Academic Planner and Calendar of UCLA Events just for students and faculty, with proceeds funding the chapter’s scholarship program. (Fun fact: the publisher, Kathe Stewart of RedKat Press, Inc., is an alumna of the Agathai chapter.) Busy chapter members have also raised more than $1,000 for the nationwide Virtual Book Drive; volunteered with grassroots nonprofit “Reading to Kids;” participated in Heal the Bay by cleaning Venice Beach to help keep the area safe and clean; and viewed the limited-release documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” about the status of public education in the U.S., which moved members to donate funds, much-needed scientific calculators and biology books to a local public school. The chapter seems to have an endless list of events for the rest of the year.

Even alumni relations have been kicked up a notch with the creation of a new annual award for alumni, the Pamela R. Cysner Award of Excellence, named for the chapter's award-winning advisor. Vincent explains, “Pam is a shining example of how one continues to exemplify scholarship, leadership and service, after graduation and throughout a career, and we would like to recognize [an alumna or alumnus] for their continual devotion to the three ideals after graduation.”

Chapter members couldn’t do all this by themselves, though. Vincent explains, “Furthermore, our advisor, Pam Cysner, and our section coordinator, Mohammed Hill, each serve as an invaluable resource of support and guidance while demonstrating a steadfast commitment to our chapter’s goals and overall success.”

When asked if he had one piece of advice for other chapter leaders, Vincent responded, “As a leader among leaders, it is important to create teamwork throughout the chapter. Good leaders can’t do everything, so they have to take a group that is usually unformed and wield it into a team that is tightly focused on accomplishing a specific goal. Teams are orderly and disciplined; groups are not. So building team spirit is crucial if leaders are to succeed in helping a group achieve its goals.  Conversely, in order for a vision to succeed, the team must know that the chapter leaders are enthusiastic about their efforts and that their persistence will be rewarded. Recognize both team efforts and individual achievements.”

Deadlines and reminders

Check your chapter files or contact the National Office to ensure that all reports from last year have been submitted to reports@mortarboard.org!

PAST DUE (Due October 15)

• Chapter Planning Calendar

November 12

• Virtual Book Drive ends

Due December 15

• Membership Recruitment and Selection Plan (MRSP)
• Mortar Board Week Visibility Grant application

Due January 31

• Applications for national Mortar Board postgraduate fellowships

• Mortar Board Week

FEATURED DOWNLOADS

Order free Mortar Board brochures for your chapter today

Mortar Board brochures are available to each chapter at no charge. These are great for displaying at informational tables or passing out at recruitment events.

To request your brochures, simply e-mail mortarboard@mortarboard.org with the following information:

• School name
• Mailing address
• Quantity requested
• Name of chapter representative requesting brochures

Don’t have time to request the shipment?  Print a high-resolution version yourself or take a peek at what you’re ordering online today. 

Icebreaker of the month:
Who am I?

Write the name of a famous person on a note card and tape it to each member's back. As people socialize, they can ask for clues about their famous person. The first person to guess the name on his or her back wins a prize. For added campus value, select university celebrities and well-known alumni.

Tip: Large groups may choose to separate into teams, with one member having a famous identity and 3-5 other team members to help provide clues. The first team to guess correctly wins!

Recruitment tip of the month

Review all of the information found at mortarboard.org/membership and complete your Membership Recruitment and Selection Plan (MRSP).  Note that this form is due to the National Office on December 15, and you will likely need to gather information from your university registrar and other sources in order to complete it.

"Buzz" tip of the month

Pitch a story to your university's student newspaper or even the local newspaper. The chapters at Occidental College and the University of Colorado have gotten great "buzz" as a result of the stories that appeared in their local newspapers, and you can too!

Don't know how to pitch? Learn more here and here.

Having problems viewing this e-mail? View it as a Web site or download a printer-friendly version.

You are being sent this e-newsletter because you have been reported as an officer or advisor for your chapter of Mortar Board. If you are no longer a chapter officer or advisor and have already reported this to your local chapter, you may unsubscribe from this newsletter.

Mortar Board | 1200 Chambers Road, Suite 201 | Columbus, OH 43212 | 800-989-6266
mortarboard@mortarboard.org | www.mortarboard.org
© Mortar Board