Committee Purpose:

Chairperson:

Members:

Committee on Ministry Liaisons: Gillian Chatfield, Mike Dorsey, and Anne Madden

Youth Associates: Joe Nocera and Kathryn Tolley

Meeting Cycle:

e-Mail Contact:

More Information:

Attendees:

Harold Babcock
Stan Barrett
Deb Blagg
Abigail Bottome
Judy Shivik
Dorothy Fairweather

Mike Dorsey, Committee on Ministry
Forrest Speck, Committee on Ministry
Anne Madden, Committee on Ministry

• Harold reported that we have received 2 full applications to date. The candidates are not local, one is from California, and one from Wyoming, and each is interested in relocating to New England. Harold has had telephone conversations with both, and though he heard interest from a third, he did not receive application materials.

• We agreed to begin evaluation of these applicants, but at the same time, to extend the application deadline to December 8th. The applications will be photocopied and be available for committee members to pick up from Vicki Dyer in the office soon. We discussed the possibility of extending the deadline even further, if we are not enthusiastic about either of these candidates or sure of our ability to support a candidate coming from a distance (housing, etc.). The general feeling was that we do not want to feel that we must take a candidate if we do not feel very comfortable with the fit.

• We discussed and agreed that if neither of the candidates were good fits, that Harold would be comfortable with the Intern Committee doing a screen of candidates during his mini-sabbatical, with the understanding that he'd be back in early March for final review.

• We delegated various tasks to better understand our responsibilities as intern hosts:

Annie will contact Kim Wilson, Internship Clearinghouse coordinator to

• extend the application deadline
• find out if the UUA offers a health insurance program for interns
• find out the common practice on insurance and other benefits
• see if the UUA would support our requesting video sermon presentations for candidates at a distance in lieu of a personal interview

Harold will

• connect with several ministers at his upcoming ministerial retreat to ask that they steer intern applicants our way if they already have their positions filled
• check with John Mercer regarding our ability to have a speaker phone for a group telephone interview
• have John Mercer check with our insurance carrier to see if they can add an intern to our health policy, and if so, at what cost

Judy offered to call the candidates to see if they would be available in New England at the holidays for interviews

Mike agreed to research video conferencing options at Kinko's

We agreed to call other local UUA Congregations, to inquire regarding typical benefit packages, heath insurance, housing arrangements.

• Stan will contact Gary Smith of Concord
• Abigail will contact John Gibbons of Bedford
• Deb will contact Roger Paine of Lincoln
• Judy will contact the minister in Wayland

We agreed to meet December 12th, 2006 at 7:30pm.

For the Intern Committee
Annie Madden

Attendees:

Harold Babcock
Stan Barrett
Abigail Bottome
Dorothy Fairweather
Judy Shivik
Joe Nocera
Gillian Chatfield
Mike Dorsey

From the Committee on Ministry
Anne Madden, chair
Forrest Speck

Anne Madden welcomed the group, and briefly reviewed the rationale for becoming an internship site: to offer our congregation's considerable warmth and strength in guiding an aspiring young minister, to assist the congregation in becoming accustomed to a second ministerial voice within our church community so that we may work towards calling an assistant minister in the near future, and to provide a teaching experience and some support for Harold.

Harold welcomed the committee, and thanked everyone for agreeing to serve on the Intern Committee. Each member introduced themselves and shared their interest and experience with intern or ministerial or educational activities.

Harold reviewed the role of the committee, as a source of support and guidance for the intern, with an important evaluative role as well. He reviewed the current demographics of those in divinity school - majority female, with a range of ages. He reviewed his role as supervisor, and spoke of his positive experience in another parish with such a program, and more recently with our recent Field Ed student, Frank Clarkson. He reviewed the intern selection process and shared that he welcomes input from the Intern Committee in selection of the intern.

After further discussion about the intern program in general, we discussed some of the specifics regarding the application process and timeline. To date, we have had a few inquiries, but no formal applications, despite a posted application deadline of November 1st. We therefore decided to extend the deadline to November 17. Harold agreed to follow up on the inquiries that have been received thus far. Applications will be photocopied for all members of the IC for their review. Our next meeting will be November 21st, Tuesday, at 7:30 pm, immediately following the next Committee on Ministry meeting. A chair for the Intern Committee should be agreed upon at that meeting. Our goal for that meeting will be to discuss applicants based on review of their written application, with selection of finalists who will be invited for interviews and site visits if appropriate. We hope to have selection made by December 18, in advance of the holidays and also in advance of Harold's departure for his sabbatical.

Anne Madden agreed to contact Rev. Kim Wilson, the Internship Clearinghouse Coordinator, in order to 1) post the new application deadline, 2) to inquire whether congregations are expected to finance intern travel expenses for interviews and 3) to get password access to the prospective intern profile section of the UUA Internship Clearinghouse website, for possible prospecting.

Next meeting: November 21, 2006, at 7:30 pm

For the committee,
Anne Madden