Ann MacKay and Evelyn Merk attended the AAUW Convention in St. Louis. Evelyn has been attending conventions since 1981 while it was the first time for Ann. It was a historic meeting with new bylaws being adopted and new leadership elected. North Fulton branch member, Carolyn Garfein was elected AAUW President, the first time in many years that AAUW elected President. The new AAUW is a 501(c)(3) organization merging membership and the educational foundation. The voter education and lobbying arm is the smaller AAUW Action Fund a 501(c)(4) organization.
After a long two year period to craft bylaws for the new AAUW, the committee recommendations were adopted with some changes. The one member, one vote passed, membership qualifications were amended to keep the degree requirement, and the composition of the board of directors was changed to add more elected members and reduce appointed members.
Marcia Capriotti, Cobb Country Branch member, was appointed to the new AAUW Board of Directors.
The next convention takes place in Washington, DC June 17 – 19, 2011.
The national convention will be June 26-28, and the hot topic of discussion will be the proposals for major changes in the association bylaws. There is sure to be plenty of up-to-date information about the proceedings on the AAUW web site, http://www.aauw.org.
You might also want to check the AAUW blog at http://blog-aauw.org
and discussions on the AAUW’s Facebook site, or the separate Facebook group for the convention. There is another group on Facebook to discuss the proposed elimination of the degree requirement for AAUW membership. You do need to have a Facebook account to see the postings.
If you like fast short bits of information, sign up for a free Twitter account. Members will be “tweeting” using #AAUW09. Do a Twitter search for #AAUW09 and you will get all the posts from the convention. If you don’t understand what Twitter is all about try this video Twitter in Plain English.
Ann MacKay (Warner Robins) and Carol Stephens (Cobb County) received the Georgia AAUW Achievement Award for their work for their branches and for the state. MacKay redid the Georgia website as well as the branch website.

Ann MacKay
Margaret Mathews prepared this PowerPoint presentation for the Georgia convention Membership Showcase. Marty Scarborough did the presentation. It includes our history and current community and branch activities.
The AAUW convention is fast approaching. Evelyn Merk is the elected branch delegate to the AAUW national convention. Ann MacKay will also attend as a state appointed delegate. Ann will also be presenting her experience revamping the state website as a panel member with Peggy Woods-Clark, AAUW Website Manager, and Nancy Shoemaker, North Carolina AAUW web manager. The panel presentation is scheduled for Friday morning during the technology presentations.

Misty Holtz, (left) Eleanor Granum (right)
The AAUW WR branch chose Misty Bryant Holtz as the Eleanor Granum Volunteer of the Year winner. Misty works on base as a contractor, lives in Warner Robins with her husband, Derick, and willingly—without recognition—gives of her time and talents to young and old in the community. Misty serves as a mentor for young women in the county, helps tirelessly with Salvation Army Safe House, volunteers hours for Relay for Life and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Research concern, as well as working full-time and supporting her branch in raising scholarship money, donating to Safe House at Christmas and just being, in general, a caring, giving young woman! Congratulations, Misty Bryant Holtz.
Now’s the time to clean out your bookcases. The blue book barrels are now ready to collect your old books at the entrance to the Houston Mall and at Happy Hour Recycling Center. Tell everyone you know that we need clean used books for the November sale.
The Warner Robins Branch is in charge of registration for the Georgia state convention. Eyelyn Merk will be handling credentials and Marty Scarborough will be showing the PowerPoint presentation of the branch activities prepared by Margaret Matthews.
Marlene Humphy, Varie Rustin and Laurie Shaw have active roles in their state leadership roles. Ann MacKay designed the revised Georgia website which will be shown at the meting.
Marie Claire (April 2009)
The magazine, which has a readership of nearly one million, turned to AAUW to determine how long it would take to reach pay equity in an article titled, “Salary Report: We’re Still Getting Shortchanged.” AAUW’s research department did the calculation. If salaries continue to increase at the current rate, pay equity would be reached in 2040.
Welcome to the revamped Warner Robins, GA website. After several years of a traditional website, we are moving to the Wordpress platform to allow more flexibiilty and the opportunity for other members to post information.
We own Marilyn Doyon our thanks for your yeoman work in setting up the website and the updating she has done over the years. We would not have a web presence without her. Marilyn lives in North Carolina and has done all the work from a distance. Her mother, Linda Horky, is a long time member in Warner Robins.