Outgoing Chairman's Message

March 2008

I recently submitted my resignation as Chairperson of the Central Tennessee Section to the Executive Committee (Excom) and it was accepted effective February 26, 2008, as provided in our By-Laws. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed my term as Chairperson, our By-Laws do not permit the term of the Chairperson to extend three years, and my term was about to extend into its third year.

It has been an honor to serve as the Chairperson for the past two years, and I have enjoyed meeting many of you at our meetings. However, the Chairperson is just one of several offices in the Section's leadership, and I, along with each member of the Section, owe a lot to the other members of our leadership team. Mitch Maifeld has been our Treasurer and Webmaster. As Treasurer, he not only keeps up with the money, but must file accurate and timely reports with the IEEE to keep our Section rebates coming. He has also re-vitalized our Section's web page and has posted many items of current interest in support of the Section. Mitch continued his work for us although he and his family moved to West Virginia last year. Abraham George is serving as our Secretary, another critical office. Abraham handles our Section's correspondence and meeting notices, and also files accurate and timely meeting reports with the IEEE that trigger payments to our Section. Gerald Johns has been the Vice Chair and has provided many good and innovative ideas about how to structure meetings and encourage more participation from our members. Others, such as Mike Puckett and Andy Dozier are not on the Excom but provide key support with meetings and also provide valuable input that helps keep our Section active. Working with these guys is a pleasure, and I want to thank each of them for their support. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.

In spite of our best efforts, participation in Section meetings remains low. There are many good reasons for this situation, but there are also some solutions that we must find to improve participation where we can. I'm convinced that more of you can participate in leadership positions, regardless of where you are physically located, and I urge you to review the open positions listed on our website to see where you can contribute. The Section does not run itself - we need more folks like Mitch, Abraham, Gerald, Mike and Andy. We don't need a few people doing a lot of work, just a lot of people doing a little of the work. Please think about it.

Technology, particularly in areas covered by the IEEE, continues to develop rapidly and is becoming and increasingly fundamental and enabling part of our world and our local communities. As engineers heavily involved in this technology, all of us can benefit from active participation in the IEEE at all levels, but especially in the Central Tennessee Section. Those of you who already participate know this. I hope others of you will discover this for yourselves.

Best Regards,

Paul Stinson