Page 2 - 2021-2022 Year End Report

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Anne Jarvis
As this year's President of ARCS Foundation Oregon, I am delighted to report that our Chapter had an extremely successful year, thanks to the collective efforts of the Board, our active committees, engaged members and our terrific staff. The following committee reports reflect many of this year’s accomplishments.
The past two years also highlight that ARCS’s mission of supporting STEM PhD scientists remains more relevant than ever. Many of the challenges we face today are existential and require the best and most talented minds to develop solutions to pressing needs. Since our Chapter’s founding eighteen years ago, we have been blessed with strong, enthusiastic, and dedicated founders, leaders, and members. We continue to attract talented new members from a broad array of backgrounds including strong Portland membership and growing membership in Corvallis, Eugene, Bend, and outside of Oregon. We are among the fastest growing chapters of ARCS National, currently led by our Oregon Past President, Caron Ogg. In addition, we are the first chapter in ARCS National to hire an Executive Director to provide professional full-time leadership to continue the growth and impact of our chapter.
In late August 2021, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust approved a $248,000 capacity building grant to help support the hiring of a full-time Executive Director. Our Search and Screen Committee immediately began an active search for candidates for this key role. Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Committee received Board approval to hire Lori Slaughter who joined the Chapter as Executive Director in mid-January. Board members and others who have worked with Lori since her arrival have been impressed with her breadth of knowledge, professional skills and extensive fundraising and development background.
Lori’s early efforts have focused on improving technology and systems and on defining roles and responsibilities between staff and members so that we can manage Chapter activities more efficiently. The Board and Lori seek to strengthen our culture of volunteerism and to achieve greater fundraising success for deserving scholars while increasing members’ satisfaction and interaction with our scholars, our partner universities, and each other.
Oregon Chapter members have also increased our leadership presence in the activities of ARCS National this year. Caron Ogg has appointed a number Oregon members to key leadership roles including the DEI Task Force, Governance, and Communications. Chapter members have also benefited from increased collaboration with other chapters to address shared concerns and opportunities.
We have also maintained our strong level of financial and personal commitment to our scholars. We will support twenty-nine first-year scholars for the academic year starting in the Fall of 2022. In addition, we have added three more University-Matched Endowments (UME), which will support scholar awards in perpetuity starting in the Fall of 2023.
I extend my personal thanks and gratitude to each of you. Your curiosity, dedication, and generosity are inspiring. We are also grateful for the continuing support of Lee Ann Verboort, our amazing and unflappable Administrative Manager. Finally, we are thrilled to have Lori on board as Executive Director. She is excited to help our Chapter strengthen our legacy. Thanks to all of you who have made this year so wonderful and rewarding!
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