Board Meeting Summary

by Ellie Young
Executive Director
<[email protected]>

Here is a summary of the actions taken at the regular meeting of the USENIX Board of Directors held on February 21, 1999, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Attendance: USENIX Board: Rose, Geer, Hall, Honeyman, Zwicky, Pomeranz. USENIX Staff: Young, Berkowitz, Deno, DesHarnais. SAGE Executive Committee members: Wilson, Miller, Gittler, Gassaway, Dijker.

Budget 1999
The 1999 revised Budget was presented, reflecting the actions of the Board at its November meeting, the SAGE Executive Committee changes, and other adjustments. The Board voted to adopt the 1999 Budget.

Proposals for Funding Good Works
The Board agreed to develop a policy describing the types of activities and projects that should be funded under our Good Works program.

Student Programming Contest: A proposal from Evi Nemeth of the University of Colorado for $1000 to sponsor their team to attend the annual ACM programming contest in Eindhoven was approved.

Polytechnic University/UNH Proposal: A proposal to continue funding the Polytechnic University's efforts with the United Neighborhood Houses of New York for $65,000 was approved. In the coming year, the project may expand to several neighborhoods in the Boston area.

Future City Competition: A proposal from Polytechnic University for $36,000 to sponsor and host the Future City Competition was approved. The competition attracts under-served students, a high proportion of whom are female, and it is based on the SIM City software program.

OpenBSD Sponsorship: A proposal from Pomeranz that USENIX sponsor the OpenBSD 2.5 release was approved. This will allow the project to master, assemble, and shrinkwrap the next release run, and CD sets will be distributed free of charge to USENIX conference attendees at the annual USENIX technical conference in Monterey (see p. 82 for more news). It was also agreed that we would welcome similar proposals from other projects that need assistance.

Investment Policy
A new guidelines and investment policy, which was drafted by a committee, was approved by the Board and will be included in the USENIX Association Policy Document.

USENIX Standards Activities
The Board reviewed the report from Stoughton's standards activities for January through March. It was agreed to supply extra funds if appropriate representatives from the Linux community can be found to attend the meetings.

OSDI 2000
It was agreed that Mike Jones and Frans Kaashoek will serve as co-chairs and Honeyman will serve as board liaison.

USENIX 2000 Technical Conference
The proposal from Christopher Small to serve as program chair was accepted.

Extreme Linux Workshop
It was formally agreed that we would sponsor the second Extreme Linux Workshop at the Monterey conference.

Atlanta Linux Showcase
It was agreed that we should move forward on discussions with the Atlanta Linux Showcase representatives, including a plan to sponsor the first conference this fall and proceed with a second one. The staff was given funds in order to come up with a budget and proposal to supply logistical and other support for the ALS '99 conference. (See p. 78 for an announcement.)

Next Meeting
Will take place at the USENIX Conference in Monterey, California, on June 7. The Annual Meeting with the Membership will also take place there, on June 8.