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BEA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEGOALS AND EXPECTATIONSFOR 2003-2004Alan B. Albarran, BEA Presidentalbarran@unt.eduI’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as BEA President. We have a hardworkingBoard of Directors along with a dedicated Executive Director and herAdministrative Assistant who are all committed to strengthening and furtherdeveloping the BEA. In this article, I’d like to outline my goals and expectations forBEA for the next year.Improving BEA’s Financial Position—BEA@50. BEA must continue to controlcosts and develop additional revenue streams to ensure our financial stability. At thesame time, we must build our permanent asset base, which is why we are announcing athree-year capital campaign among the membership to raise at least $100,000 to ourendowment. This campaign actually began as a silent phase in November 2002, and asof mid-April has received pledges of approximately $26,000. You will hear more aboutBEA@50 via email news blasts and in Feedback. I hope each member of BEA willplease consider making a gift to BEA over the next three years to ensure the long-termfuture of BEA.Strategic Alliances. BEA needs to consider and expand potential alliances withother professional and non-profit associations to provide additional benefits andservices to our members. I’ve asked Dr. Joe Misiewicz, BEA Board Secretary-Treasurer,to Chair this important committee and provide a preliminary report to the Board atour October meeting.Council of Professionals. The Council of Professionals is being reactivated underthe leadership of two of our industry Board members, VP for Industry Relations GaryCorbitt, and Steve Cohen. The goal is to recruit 6-8 media professionals to join a newcouncil to provide support to the BEA Board in the areas of training and cooperationbetween academe and industry, fund raising, and helping develop convention panelsand programs.BEA Journals. The Board of Directors, working closely with the PublicationsCommittee, is considering the possibility of outsourcing the production, distributionand marketing of the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and the Journal ofRadio Studies. The Publications Committee began work on this issue over the pastyear under former Publications Committee Chair Lynne Gross, and will now be led bynew Chair Alan Rubin. BEA will only consider outsourcing our journals if BEAretains ownership and editorial control of our content, and it is a financially viableoption. You will be hearing more about this effort in the coming months.BEA Elections. Our election process to elect new members to the BEA Board issomewhat antiquated and cumbersome. I’ve asked District V Board Rep Dave Bylandto chair a Task Force to look at our election procedures and processes, and see if there86Feedback April 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 2)