AAUW WI District 4

District 4 Coordinator Margot Bouchard
margotbouchard@yahoo.com

I was able to touch base with several branches inspite of everyone's very busy summers. River Falls has an exciting program set for the year. I was especially impressed with their opening meeting which is especially designed to attract new members. Dr. Nicole LaVoi, Associate Director of the Tucker Center for Research for Girls and Women in Sports from the University of Minnesota is their speaker. She will be talking on developing physically active girls and women. The branch is hoping to identify barriers and get ideas for action at the local level from her talk.

Eau Claire's opening meeting is designed to both invigorate and inform existing members and let prospective members get to know about AAUW. They use a "station" set up. There are usually three stations set in different rooms or areas of a home. One station involves the booksale (major fund raiser) that begins in August and culminates in October. A second station typically deals with our action network and how by being a member you can be abreast of what is happening in Washington and Madison and react effectively. It also touches on our legal advocacy work and our positions. The final station deals with the new year's program/events . Everyone attending divides between these three areas and every twenty minutes or so the "leader/leaders" move to a different group. This meeting begins with socializing and ends with us all coming together again for a few works about membership and our mission. This is their fourth year of organizing a membership kick off this way and it has been very successful.

The Wausau branch shared that they were using a six member leadership team approach and it was working very well. They have six leaders who rotate in chairing their meetings. They do wear some "hats" and their secretary sets agendas and creates continuity. If anyone is interested in talking with a branch that has opted for a nontraditional leadership model give Wausau a call. Their newsletter is out, their program is set and they have a great kick off meeting in place . Their District Attorney will be speaking about legal isues affecting girls and women in Marathon County.

1) Chippewa Falls
2) Eau Claire
3) Menomonie Area (inactive)
4) Rhinelander
5) River Falls
6) Wausau
7) Wisconsin Rapids
8) Lake Superior-South Shore (inactive)

last modified 2008-11-19