Board of Directors

Kate Burke
U. of Virginia-Charlottesville

Marian Hampton
Past President
Illinois State University

Dudley Knight
UC-Irvine

BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange
President
Valparaiso University

Dorothy Runk Mennen
Founding President
Purdue University
Professor, Emerita

Janet Rodgers
President-Elect
Virginia Commonwealth U.

Sandra Shotwell
University of Utah

Officers

BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange

President
Department of Theatre and Television Arts
Valparaiso, IN 46383-9024
219-464-5514

Joan Melton

Secretary
California State U. - Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
800 North State College Boulevard
Fullerton, CA 9283
714-278-2164

Kate Ufema

Treasurer
U. of Minnesota - Duluth
1405 N. 8th Avenue E.
Duluth, MN 55805
218-724-2855

Sandra Shotwell

Newsletter Editor
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
801-581-6418

Craig Ferre

Associate Editor
Brigham Young U. - Hawaii
Laie, HI 96762
808-293-3903

The VASTA Newsletter is published tri-annually
(Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer) by the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.

Since there are not enough ways to thank Kate Ufema for her long service to VASTA as its Treasurer, this letter is here as a replacement for the President's Letter. Kate's work for VASTA, behind the scenes, has enabled the organization to flourish. I know she will continue to work for the voice profession and for and with VASTA to that end.

BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange

A MISSIVE FROM YOUR TREASURER

This August, after joyously serving for seven years, I will be passing the VASTA Treasury over to Judy Lehrhaupt. But before I do, I would like to inform the membership about our finances, how wonderfully solvent we are, and how proud we should be regarding all the accomplishments our dues have supported and will continue to support.

Over 12 years ago, I remember sitting in a room in NYC where we "passed the hat" collecting whatever pocket cash one could spare for a "dream" organization that didn't even have a name yet. Two years later VASTA not only had a name, but thanks to Dorothy Mennen, we became incorporated.

When Carolyn Combs passed the Treasury on to me in 1991, after only two years of VASTA's incorporated existence we had about 150 members and approximately $12,000 in the till. By that point in time we had a well-established Board of Directors, a well-thought-out constitution, a professional logo, a brochure, VASTA stationery, a newsletter, a printed VASTA Bibliography, and Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. Now we have Training Guidelines, Bibliography supplements, our book (VOCAL VISION), membership directories, the Clyde Vinson Fund, our VASTA website and VASTA VOX. All this through the committed volunteer work of our members and the judicious use of our dues which supplies 99% of our operating funds.

Always looking ahead, it was my job not only to allocate to the present, but to save for the future; a future that would soon embark upon a second decade and a new millennium. In anticipation of both, the VASTA Board of Directors was several years in planning for the VASTA Board Retreat which took place this past November in Plano, Texas. My charge over a six-year period, in addition to the usual, was to save approximately $10,000 that would be ear-marked exclusively for our future and this much needed and anticipated retreat.

We did even better. By October '97 we had over $38,000 total assets. Not only did we meet the organization's operating expenses and afford the retreat, but we also invested in a $10,000 CD (now amounting to over $13,000). And following the Retreat we still had over $12,000 in our checking account, totalling $23,000 in assets not including the $5000 in the Clyde Vinson Fund. Our finances are indeed stable, and I am proud to have facilitated such with the guidance of the Board. In only six years we have more than tripled our financial assets while increasing our membership benefits hundreds of times over.

I sincerely hope you are all taking advantage of our publications, most of which are free with membership. And beyond, I wish with all my heart that after reading this newsletter issue, maybe YOU will volunteer to do some of the work that will propel VASTA and all its members into the new millennium. VASTA "is" because of its membership; all those who have participated on the many committees through the years creating our outreach and defining for others who we are and what we do. As a result, VASTA is now an international organization of over 270 members in over 9 nations. So continue to spread the word that VASTA exists. Encourage interested parties to join. Check out the VASTA website and subscribe to VASTAVOX. It's all free! And volunteer some of your time; not only to a good cause, but for a truly great group of people.

In closing I would like to thank you all for entrusting your $55.00 to me year after year. And a special smile to those who would sometimes enclose a little note with your dues. It has brought me great joy to hear from you and to note your new jobs with your change of addresses, and the additions to your families when I became privileged to know. Come August, please warmly welcome Judy Lehrhaupt to the ranks. May her term be as "rich" as mine. Thank you ALL.

Onward to 2000.

Kate Ufema / Treasurer

© Copyright 1987-99 Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.