July 2004

Dear District Director and District CR Coordinator,

At the San Diego ARS National Convention in April 2004, the ARS Board of Directors approved the creation of a new designation for consulting rosarians, the Master Rosarian. The accompanying form describes the designation and the criteria for achieving it. We wish to begin to solicit nominations based on the deadlines listed below. Our target, in general, is to complete the nomination process for all ARS districts by the end of the year. This will enable you to announce the first Master Rosarians in time for the 2005 rose season. You may modify the deadlines to move the process along faster to suit district scheduling. If you have questions about any aspect of the Master Rosarian designation, I am available to assist you. (845-294-4462 or rokirose@frontiernet.net).

How should you proceed?

1. Establish a committee consisting of the District Director, District CR Coordinator and a minimum of one other person. The District Director and the District CR Coordinator should agree on the composition of the committee. The District CR Coordinator will serve as the chairman of the committee. The committee will review all nominations.

2. The chairman will send the nomination form to each local society president and each CR in their district. The nomination form will also be posted on the ARS website. .

3. Nominations for Master Rosarian will be forwarded to the committee chairman within an appropriate time period decided by the committee.

4. The committee will review the nominations and select those who are qualified. There is no specific limit. If you have questions about a nominee, request additional information from the person making the nomination.

5. Submit the documentation for all nominees to the national CR committee chair, Don Myers. The national committee will review the selections and make the final decisions for the initial selections. This process is needed to establish a national standard. (In the future, this may not be necessary.)

6. Announce the names of the Master Rosarians at an appropriate district meeting. If there is no meeting before May 2005, the announcements can be made at the local society level.

7. The names of the first Master Rosarians will be published in an American Rose magazine article to promote information about this designation and the CR program.

Deadlines:

1. August 1 – The committee will send out Master Rosarian nomination forms to local societies and CRs.
2. September 1 – Nominations must be returned to District Director.
3. October 1 -- Nominations must be submitted to the national CR committee chair.
4. November 1 -- the national CR committee will make Final selections.
5. December 1 – The first “class” of Master Rosarians will be announced.

In the future, the selection process will begin earlier in the year to allow selections to be made in time for the fall district meetings. (In 2004 only, the South Central District will expedite the selections to allow the first Master Rosarians to be announced by ARS President Wellan at the Tulsa national convention.)