Missouri Mappers Association has 8 committees that work throughout the year to achieve various goals of the organization, promote membership, design and distribute a quarterly newsletter, plan for the MMA Annual Conference and so much more. You are welcome to join one of these committees at any time throughout the year. Please contact the Committee Chair(s) for more information. 

2023-2024 Committee Member Chairs

Education – Arron Kettle

Annual Meeting – Jody Paschal

Awards – Alice Lee

Certification – Marti Suiter

Membership – Lisa Perry

Media – Sue Ann Stokes

Historical – Sue Ann Stokes

Legislative – Joseph Cochran

MMA Committees – Roles/Responsibilities

All Committee Chairs are responsible for attending quarterly business meetings (in person or via conference call) and giving an Annual Report at the Annual Business Meeting during the conference. Chairpersons also submit a written quarterly report for the MMA newsletters.

Annual Meeting Committee

The Annual Meeting Committee oversees all of the responsibilities associated with planning the Annual Conference and Business Meeting. The committee provides the general membership with an educational, rewarding, and entertaining gathering. Some of the roles this committee serves include:

  • Assigning committees within the Annual Meeting Committee (i.e. decorations, entertainment, exhibitors, etc.)
  • Host monthly meetings for planning
  • Manage all conference and exhibitor registrations
  • Contact all speakers and presenters – establish the conference agenda
  • Compile, print and mail all registration materials
  • Report monthly to Executive Board

Awards Committee

The Awards Committee recognizes those individuals for their continuous effort and dedication to the field of mapping and their efforts in accomplishing goals of the Missouri Mappers Association.

Specific roles include:

  • Providing the membership with the information they need to nominate from the general membership (in newsletters, emails, etc.)
  • Compiling the list of award winners prior to the Annual Meeting
  • Ordering awards
  • Presenting awards at the Annual Business Meeting

Certification Committee

The Certification Committee is responsible for managing the PMM designation program. To acquire designation, candidates must have a certain amount of experience and education, and complete a comprehensive mapping examination. Committee roles include:

  • Reviewing applications for a member taking the Professional Missouri Mapper (PMM) exam
  • Administering and grading the test
  • Awarding the Certificate of Designation at the Annual Meeting to applicants that pass the test
  • The 2017-2018 Committee has finalized revising the PMM exam to include GIS/CAD users. The revised exam allows for the applicant to complete the exam in one of two ways: Pen & Ink or GIS/CAD
  • Seeking innovative ways to evolve and expand the PMM program and designation

Education Committee

The Education Committee works to furnish educational opportunities by providing and/or
sponsoring regional workshops and other education opportunities throughout the state.

Specific roles will include:

  • Contacting general membership (through email, questionnaires, personal contact, etc.) to determine their education needs and requests so that MMA can establish workshops, seminars, etc. to benefit the membership.
  • Coordinate with other Mapping/GIS organizations in the state to provide MMA members with educational information and opportunities

Historical Committee

The Historical Committee is responsible for accumulating information about MMA and for
preserving these records for future memberships. This includes:

  • Collecting current and past newsletters and important documents
  • Taking and collecting pictures throughout the year of Mappers participating in mapping events and at the Annual Meeting
  • Maintaining a collection of MMA memorabilia (past conference programs, pictures, etc.)

Legislation Committee

The Legislation Committee keeps apprised of any current legislation involving mapping and informs the membership of such. Members are on occasion asked to notify their legislators in support of or opposition to proposed legislation. Additional roles include:

  • Reviewing pending legislation to determine how it could affect MMA and how it’s members perform their mapping duties
  • Work with sister organizations on mutually agreed on legislation
  • Send monthly reports to Committee Chairpersons and the Executive Board on any legislation that could influence mapping in the state, while the General Assembly is in session and also sends a full report to be published in quarterly news letter

Media Committee

The Media Committee is responsible for compiling, publishing and distributing the quarterly newsletter for MMA as well as managing the organization’s website and ListServe service to disseminate organizational information to members and promote the organization to non-members. Specific roles include:

  • Compiling submitted committee reports, articles, advertisements and tidbits into the MMA News.
    • Email requests are typically sent out to all Executive Board Members and Committee Chairs requesting newsletter reports.
  • Managing the advertising database (digital spreadsheet that shows all advertisers, who has been contacted, who has paid, etc.)
    • Advertising contracts and letters must be sent to prospective advertisers each year to keep advertisers current.
  • Distributing quarterly newsletters to the general membership via email and mail. (Some printing is necessary).
  • Maintaining the information on the MMA website (www.missourimappers.org) to ensure it is timely and accurate. (Currently this is accomplished via email through our contracted webmaster, Ryon Gross.)
    • Common updates include, but are not limited to: Annual Meeting registration info, calendar of events, board and committee members, etc.
  • Encourage and support participation in the Association’s list server. Currently, messages can be distributed to the group through the list server via email. The list server’s name is MissouriMappersAssoc-L and it is maintained at the University of Missouri.
  • Managing the Organization’s Social Media Presence: (Facebook)

Membership Committee

The Membership Committee is constantly working to bring new members into the organization and actively maintains the membership list for MMA. Roles include:

  • Maintaining a digital list of membership records (including email addresses) that must be actively updated and provided to the Executive Board and Committee Chairs on a quarterly basis.
  • Provide an annual membership directory annually, via email to all members and to include in the Annual Conference Booklet
  • Send out mailers throughout the year to non-members throughout the state to generate interest and to boost membership
  • Maintaining post membership records in digital and hard copy format