Midwest Section 2006 Meeting Recap

To everyone that did not make The Midwest Section meeting “Motor city: Driving Research into the Future” that took place April 21 through 25, 2006 in Detroit Michigan at the Marriott Renaissance, you missed a great rally.  In spite a few unforeseen glitches (speakers’ flights cancelled, family emergencies, etc), there seemed to be a good time had by all!  The 196 attendees drove research administration into the future by participating in pre-conference workshops as well as sessions and various group activities.   Our thanks goes out to the many volunteer pit-crew that helped organize the conference, work the registration desk and arrange for the many fun activities.

Sunday’s lunch honored two of our faithful Midwest section volunteer motorists:  Rene Hearns received the Founders Award and Dara Little received the Newcomers award. After the meal, Joe Caruso of the Caruso Leadership Institute provided a wonderful inspirational plenary session to start the meeting.  Following a full day of learning we made a pit stop at the buffet tables for good food, acquainted ourselves with old and new colleagues and relaxed to the tunes of Avy Schreiber during the opening reception.

Monday’s business lunch meeting included section and chapter updates, raffle winners, as well as the election results.  Our new president-elect is Bruce Steinert of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and our treasurer is Dara Little of Northern Illinois University.  The checkered flag of the business meeting is to bestow a souvenir to our current president (now immediate past president) Frances DeVos.  Jim Barbret, president-elect (now president), presented the keepsakes in an “I survived conference planning” bag that highlights her devoted efforts to section meeting planning since 2003.

The section attendees determined by majority vote that the destination of the 2009 meeting will be Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The next section meeting will be in Kansas City, Missouri (2007), followed by a joint meeting with the southern section at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (2008).

Once again the meeting would not be successful without the team support of our sponsors and vendors.  In turn, we would like to dispatch a special thank you to: Cayuse, Inc., Cleveland State University, Click Commerce, Clinical Financial Services, ERA Software Systems, Henry Ford Health System, Huron Consulting Group, IT Works, RACC (Research Administrators Certification Council), RAMS (Research and Management Systems), Washington University, and Wayne State University for their commitment to drive research into the future.

We hope to see everyone in Kansas City, until then keep on “cruising”!