Wednesday, June 10, 2015

PIER Newsletter : June 9, 2015

In This Issue:

Announcements
PIER Chair Announcements
PIER Vice-Chair Announcements
PIER Announcement


PIER Chair Announcements
Dear PIER Members,

We look forward to our meeting June 17, 2015 at the University of San Diego at 2:00 pm. Please arrive early to allow time to find parking and locate the building. We will provide many important announcements at our final meeting of the membership year and hope you can attend. USD parking enforcement has the current PIER Member list to ensure parking spaces are available. We suggest you carpool or arrive early to insure parking availability. You can find the location details and agenda in the calendar section on the PIER website. Click on June 17 and click “more details”. Below are the links for the June 17 agenda and USD parking and directions.

PIER June 17 Agenda
PIER June 17 USD Parking and Directions.

Please review the PIER By-Laws and send your comments to piergroupsd@gmail.com no later than June 15 for consideration. We will review and discuss at this meeting. If PIER members agree on changes, we will vote on the By-Law changes at the June 17, 2015 meeting. PIER Members, please email piergroupsd@gmail.com to request links to the PIER Bylaws draft and updates information. Thank you for your time and input.

We would like to know how to serve our PIER members. Currently our meetings are Wednesdays from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, which is not ideal for all members. We know we cannot please everyone, but appreciate your input. The PIER Board is considering alternate meeting dates and times to accommodate as many members as possible. If you attend the meeting, please be ready to share your ideas or if you cannot attend, please email piergroupsd@gmail.com with your meeting ideas. We would like to know the days and time that is best for you. We would also like to know if you would prefer an extended meeting that is three hours rather than two to have longer discussions with more detail. Again, we could alternate these meetings to best suit all members.

Did you attend the NAFSA Annual Conference? Were you inspired by a session, meeting, poster or speaker? Is there anything from the NAFSA Annual Conference you would like to share with the PIER Members? If yes, we hope you would like to share your updates and inspiration with your fellow PIER Members.

NAFSA Region XII Southern District will hold a Mini-Conference August 14 at California State University Long Beach. More details are on their website: Region XII Southern DistrictThe Region XII Southern District is calling for session proposals. The Deadline is June 15, 2015. See the flyer below. 


PIER Vice-Chair Announcements

SEVIS Webinar
Join the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program for a final pre-release discussion of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) changes contained in SEVIS Release 6.21. DATE: Friday, June 12, 2015 TIME: 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. EDT. Registration for the webinar is now open on Study in the States.

NAFSA Region XII
This year, NAFSA Region XII will be held in Hawaii. Although the team is still working on the sessions, hotel registration is open now. Please see the following message from Brian Groves, Region XII chair (2015):

Hotel Registration Open

This is a reminder that you can now start booking your hotel at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel and Resort in Waikiki. We recommend that you book your hotel early to take advantage of the discounted rate. These rates will be in effect for NAFSA Region XII conference participants five days before the conference and five days after the conference, and we have a limited number available for these rates so book your rooms. Please go to https://resweb.passkey.com/go/1024NAFSA2015 to book your rooms.

Resort View : $215.00
Ocean View : $245.00

or you can also call in by phone to make your reservation. Number to call: 808-949-4321 ask for group reservation. Group code: AVA

PLEASE BE SURE TO MENTION THE GROUP CODE WHEN CALLING IN TO MAKE A RESERVATION.

PIER Announcement
PIER 2014 - 2015 Meeting Date
All Meeting Times are at 2:00 pm.
June 17 – Location: USD

If you would like to announce a job or submit a resource or event for the PIER Newsletter, please email to piergroupsd@gmail.com for consideration. The PIER Board will take all submissions under consideration for posting in the PIER Newsletter.

Thank you,

The PIER Board
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PIER Board
Chair - Kasey McCarthy, Gemological Institute of America Kasey.McCarthy@gia.edu
Vice - Chair - Yasue O'Neill, Palomar College Yoneill@palomar.edu
Treasurer - Martha Delgadillo, EC San Diego MarthaDelgadillo@ecenglish.com
Membership Coordinator - LyKai Johnson, EC San Diego lykaijohnson@ecenglish.com
Secretary - Eric Abutin, National University eabutin@nu.edu
Web Coordinator - Cadence Ellis, National University cellis@nu.edu