The University of Idaho Area Educational Office Personnel Association (UIA-EOPA) was a professional association for office personnel at the University of Idaho and Latah County Schools. It was organized in October 1978 by Barbara Hisel, Administrative assistant in the College of Letters and Science, and Barbara Hopkins, Assistant to the Dean, College of Education, with the assistance of Larry Merk, Business Development Specialist with the Business and Development Research Center.
The purpose of the group, as stated in the by-laws was "To elevate the standards of the educational secretaries and office personnel within the University of Idaho and Latah County public schools and to provide a finer understanding of the relationship between the University, the public schools, and the community so that ever increasing efficient service may be rendered to our educational system." To accomplish these goals the group sponsored local workshops and a certification program to measure members' services and skills as educational office personnel
The organization was affiliated with the Idaho Association of Educational Office Personnel, the National Association of Educational Office Personnel, and the Idaho Association of School Administrators.
Following the 1989/90 school year membership was down and no one was interested in filling executive offices, so the organization unofficially dissolved. Its remaining funds were transferred to the University of Idaho Foundation in 1995 and added to the Staff Education Award Endowment.
The records of the UIA-EOPA span the years 1978-1995, with a majority of the records covering the years 1989-1989.
Since only two officers, the president and the treasurer, transferred their records to the library, the material was easily arranged in two series reflecting the duties of these two offices.
The presidents' records are concerned with the public activities of the club and include the constitution and by-laws, minutes of the executive board, correspondence, meeting notices and programs, membership lists, planning for annual events such as the bosses lunch and fall conference, and brochures. The majority of the presidents' records were originally in three-ring notebooks which were kept by year. During processing it was decided to combine the individual components of each notebook and folder the material. Therefore all minutes are consecutive, as are the programs, correspondence, membership records, etc.
The treasurers' records reflect the financial condition of the club and include check registers, ledger sheets, affiliation records, financial reports on the bosses lunch and fall conference, financial statements, and workshop registrations.
The final items in the group are the gavel and 2 rubber stamps.
The records of UIA-EOPA were donated to the University of Idaho Library by the president and treasurer of the organization between July 1990 and January 1995. Additional materials were added to the end in 1999.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.