Dear Region 3 Section Chairs:
 
Please encourage your Life Members to attend Southeastcon 2005 , April 8-10, in Ft Lauderdale and the Section Congress to be held in Tampa, October 14-17, 2005 .  As you know, Sections Congress occurs only once every three years.  The last one was in Washington, DC, and the next one after Tampa will be in Quebec City, Canada.  This year Region 3 members have an unmatched opportunity to participate in a Sections Congress.  For further information, see https://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/sc/2005/index.htm    
 
Our Life Members (LMs) are a tremendous asset to our Region.   They have the experience and the time to help your section in volunteer activities.  The Life Members Committee and the VP for Regional Activities  agree that involving LMs in your section committee work is a good way to take advantage of this resource in your section.
 
The previous Life Member Chapters are evolving into Life Member Affinity Groups, under Regional Activities.  As an Affinity Group (similar to Consultants’ Network, Women in Engineering or Graduates of the Last Decade) they qualify under section activities and can enhance your rebate. Your Excom should assure that L-31 reports are filed on their activities.  This can be done electronically.  A copy of the L-31 should go to the Regional Coordinator (cc: d.mclaren@ieee.org).  See https://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/scs/Required_Reporting/Meetforms.html
and for the L-31 form go to https://ewh.ieee.org/cgi-bin/l31/ReportForm.pl
 
To encourage your Life Members to stay active and continue contributing to the section’s activities, I suggest that you obtain literature about establishing LM chapters from the IEEE website.   See  https://www.ieee.org/portal/site/mainsite/menuitem.818c0c39e85ef176fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName=corp_level1&path=committee/lmc&file=LMChapterPetitiontoEstab.xml&xsl=generic.xsl   and  https://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/scs/Required_Reporting/chap_require.html  
 
 
Note that, as an affinity group, only six members’ signatures are required on a formation petition.
 
When you have members who first qualify for the Life Member status, publicize this in your section newsletter.  Becoming a LM is a badge of dedication to our professions and is an honor that deserves recognition.  https://www.ieee.org/portal/site/mainsite/menuitem.818c0c39e85ef176fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName=corp_level1&path=committee/lmc&file=index.xml&xsl=generic.xsl   
 
As part of the overall initiative to increase visibility for LMs, a special tabletop display is being developed to use at Sections Congress 2005 in Tampa.  We are seeking photos of life members for the backdrop of this display.  If you have some pictures of your LMs, either “mug shots” or engaged in IEEE activities, such as assisting students, or reporting on activities to your Excoms, please send them to Mary Campbell at IEEE, m.campbell@ieee.org for this display.  This is just a beginning of getting LM's some recognition.
 
We will also be gathering photos at Southeastcon, where we are planning to have special reserved tables for our LM's at one meal, to facilitate getting more photos for the exhibit.
 
Please publicize in your section newsletter the availability of the Life Member Virtual Community Forum, where LMs can communicate with each other and organize activities.  See  https://www.ieeecommunities.org/lifemembers   The story of Online Communities is found at
https://www.ieee.org/portal/site/mainsite/menuitem.818c0c39e85ef176fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName=corp_level1&path=services/communities&file=lcstory.xml&xsl=generic.xsl
For access to the Life Member Forum (as well as for various other IEEE information, such as the geographic roster) , you need a Web Account, which can be set up from https://www.ieee.org/portal/site/mainsite/menuitem.818c0c39e85ef176fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName=corp_level1&path=web/accounts&file=index.xml&xsl=generic.xsl
 
Life Members are generous donors to IEEE activities, and the Life Member Committee has been a source of over $1 million in funding for various meritorious projects.  A new offer for 2006 is a Life Member pin that will be awarded to any LM who makes a contribution of $50 or more to the Life Member Fund, which qualified as a charitable tax deduction for U.S. members who itemize on their income taxes.
 
The LM committee approved a grant of $25,000 for the Saturday lunch for the SC'05.  In addition, the LM committee approved $27,215.11 in redirecting previously approved grants to support the new initiative, "Launching the Path of Our Children to Engineering", by the IEEE Education Activities Board.  The Life Members Committee is also a supporter of the IEEE History Center and the IEEE Virtual Museum, found at https://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/
 
As you can see - LM's are "more than a pretty face".
 
David Mc Laren
d.mclaren@ieee.org
2279 Glenmoor Road North
Clearwater, FL 33764
727 531-1733
Mobile 727 432 -8476