The Zoom 2021 ASURA Annual Meeting went off with only a few small glitches. The meeting was recorded and can be viewed (see link to the right). The following write-up gives a brief overview of what each section of the meeting contained. The starting time for each section is shown in the write-up.

Opening The Meeting (2:35)

Carl opened the meeting with a nice overview of the major accomplishment for the year, and yes there were accomplishments:

• Board meetings continued to be held
• Four Zoom seminars were held and were very popular
• ASURA membership grew during the pandemic
• The Celebrating a Third Decade of Success book was completed and is now available on the ASURA website in the Publication menu.
• The Annual Report was prepared, published, and is also available in the Publication menu

Guest Speaker Professor Joshua LaBaer, Execuative Director of the Biodesign Institute (9:06)

 Professor LaBaer gave a great overview of COVID-19 and the major role that ASU has played in testing and vaccinating Arizonians. It was another talk that made you feel proud to be part of ASU. Q & A (31:15) had a number of questions ranging from Why did we not go into isolation like New Zealand to How dangerous are bats in spreading the virus.

ASURA Schoarlship Recipient Monique Rodriquez (54:00)

ASURA Scholarship recipient, Monique Rodriquez, was introduced by Joy Shearman. She is a mother of six and told us about how she got started going to college.

Video History Project Clips (1:01:44)

Carl then introduced Barry McNeill to present the annual colleague of video clips taken from the Video History Project interviews. This year the clips had a common theme:  the view of ASU toward its community. The clips covered the time from the late 60’s (Chuck Backus) to the early 2000’s (Kristine Valentine and showed ASU’s gradual realization that it was important to take advantage of what the Phoenix area had to offer and to think seriously about what ASU had to offer to the community. The clip is available in the ASU Digital Repository.

 Changine of the Guard (1:24:00)

That brought the meeting to its final phase, the virtual handing over of the leadership gavel by Carl to Larry Edmonds. Larry thanked Carl for his leadership during trying times and then proceeded to tell a wonderful story about his relationship to Carl Hayden. The meeting wound down with the presentation of next year’s Officers:

• President – Larry Edmonds
• Vice President – Kathy Gunn
• Immediate Past President – Carl Cross
• Secretary – Jane Carey
• Treasurer – Barry McNeill

and the new Board members:

• Rojann Alpers
• Sue Henderson
• Barry McNeill
• Helene Ossipov
• Carol Taylor-Tassone

Story by Barry McNeill