2 President’s Message think this message should be an apology to the RAPS membership for the organization’s failure to provide the responsiveness that you deserve. When you asked RAPS to do something, too often nothing happened. Requests for address changes languished. Maintaining access to your Odin account required extraordinary diligence and activity. Receiving the RAPS Sheet via e-mail was chancy. There were long delays before checks were deposited. We had a delightful Holiday party, a wonderful spring President’s Event, and we had great programs—including an extra program in January—but the behind-the-scenes work wasn’t being done. In short, our little organization became a big organization, our office help was inadequate, and our supervisory activity was also inadequate. But it is spring now—I am writing this on our first day that feels like summer. We have hired a very competent new office manager, Sara Loreno. MiMi Bernal Graves, whom many of you remember, returned to us for several weekends to sort out what had happened in the office and to teach Sara about us and our organizational procedures. Board members have also taken stock of their roles in failing to insure that office tasks were completed. With a more complex organization, we have to implement more systematic supervision. And we shall do so. There is a lot of catching up to do, and things may not happen as quickly as you wish, but we are certainly putting things back in order. What does this mean for you? You may get a letter reminding you that your membership has expired. You may get an inquiry asking the status of an invoice or whether your Odin account was renewed. You will get your RAPS sheet by snail-mail for a month or two until we get the email list verified, but then I think we can promise you more reliable delivery. As we process address changes, you should receive the RAPS Sheet and any other RAPS material. And by the end of the summer, we hope there will be a new RAPS directory. Stop by the RAPS office and get acquainted with Sara—you will enjoy getting to know her. She is there Mondays and Thursdays this quarter. And enjoy the changing season, as winter turns toward summer. We have an ice-cream social coming up in May, a true marker of the end of winter. --Joan Shireman Sue Poulsen, Brian Lewis join RAPS Board . . . usan Poulsen, professor emerita of communication, is the new President-elect of RAPS, and Brian Lewis, retired from the Office of Human Resources, is the newest Member-at-Large. Susan Jackson, who has been serving as a Member-atLarge, was elected Treasurer. Results of the RAPS elections were announced at the April 12 President’s Annual Gathering for Faculty and Staff. The new Board members take their posts this fall, when current President-elect Dave Krug assumes the presidency. . . . and Sara Loreno joins RAPS team APS extends a warm welcome to its new Office Manager and Graduate Assistant Sara Loreno. Sara spends most of her time in the fourth floor of Cramer Hall and calls the Geography Department home base. Wrapping up her first year as a graduate student this spring term, Sara has at least one more year to go in her studies and hopes that her thesis will cooperate with her intention to graduate next spring. She is interested in spatial analysis and is happy to expand on that topic when prompted. After spending over five years as Shop Manager for the Community Cycling Center, a local non-profit Sara Loreno organization, Sara has gained administrative work experience that she is ready to put to good use during her time with RAPS. She invites RAPS members to stop in during office hours to say hello. I S R
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