Chairperson's Update

May 2005

As some of you may know, this is my second time around as Chairman. The first time was as chair of the old Nashville Section, back in the mid-1980s. At that time, I was an engineer for BellSouth (formerly known as South Central Bell), and we were living through the upheaval of "divestiture" from AT&T. While we in the telecommunications industry thought that was a chaotic period, in retrospect, it seems rather tame in comparison to the last decade since the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Change and the upheaval it brings - both good and bad - are a part of our lives and particularly part of our profession. Response to change can either be a simple knee-jerk reaction, or conscious proactive execution of a plan. Active membership in professional societies can be a major part of the latter.

Active membership is more that simply belonging to the IEEE. "Simply belonging" means that you get the IEEE publications and information on the web site. However, unless you actively participate, you miss out on networking with other professionals and making a positive contribution to the profession itself through volunteer efforts.

I will have to say that it doesn't appear that volunteering has become any easier since my last term as chairperson. And the Central Tennessee Section still has many unfilled volunteer positions. At the current time, we are essentially running with a "bare bones" minimal volunteer staff, and a lot of important things are not getting done.

Please consider your part in the activities of our Section. You can see the vacant volunteer positions on the home page for our section. You, your profession, and the IEEE will benefit.

Paul Stinson