SoutheastCon 2012 -- Orlando, FL Winston-Salem Section Report for 2011

Good day. I am Jeff Mueller, Vice Chairman of the Winston-Salem Section,
reporting as the Voting Delegate of our Section and appointed by our Chairman,
Bill Williams. The Winston-Salem Section is a small group consisting of 197
members: with 45 students, 22 affiliates & associates, 27 members with "Life"
status, and 103 general members. In 2011, our Section held 10 section meetings
(9 technical and 1 non-technical), with 25 to 40 members typically in
attendance. We held also three administrative meetings and published one
newsletter in 2011.

During 2011 our section held two recruitment activities. Our EMBS Club,
comprised of students and faculty from Wake Forest University, held its annual
recruiting event in February 2011, where current IEEE members were able to
network with prospective recruits. The EMBS Club will continue its annual
recruitment events this year, while also hosting a Girl Scout STEM Career Fair
in late March, as well as laboratory tours throughout the year. Our Section
participated in a kick-off recruitment effort at Forsyth Technical Community
College's (FTCC) 2011 "Fall Fest". The seven participating members in
attendance agreed that this was a terrific venue to spark interest in
engineering and recruit new IEEE members; however, they believed that a more
dynamic presentation, armed with animated "show-and-tell", would have proven
more effective in attracting student attention. With this suggestion in mind,
our section plans to participate in both FTCC's Spring Fling and Fall Fest
activities this year and achieve even greater success. We intend to eventually
establish a student chapter there, as we also explore the possibility of
establishing a similar presence at other area universities and colleges. Our
past November election yielded a new chairman and vice chairman, while also
bringing four of our members into new roles for our section. These roles are
the chaired initiatives of Public Relations & Media, K-12 Student & Education
Activities, Professional & International Activities, and Industry Relations &
Activities. We are excited about the expanded visibility and member
involvement that these roles are expected to bring. In addition to our new
2012 chaired initiatives, we are increasing member participation in our
Section by emphasizing the "open-mic" portion of our section meetings, where
we invite members to offer engineering related news, ideas, opportunities, and
initiatives to the attention of the Section. We are also reaching out to our
remote members, who typically do not attend section meetings, through
increased email, electronic media, and enhanced website communications. We
expect to generate and distribute at least one electronic newsletter this
year, and are currently evaluating how we might incorporate more content from
our members. Also this year, our Section is focused on increasing Engineering
awareness in local K-12 schools, primarily through participation in STEM
programs, middle-school robotics competitions, and general educational
opportunities. There are ample opportunities for our membership to become
involved in mentoring and guest-speaking roles, since many local-area schools
already have programs set up to receive this type of assistance. We will be
kicking-off this initiative in April. Finally, in recognition of the
achievements and efforts of our membership, the Awards and Recognition
Committee will be soliciting for Section awards nominations this year, while
the Membership Development Committee also plans to hold a Senior Member
elevation event. Through increased Section activity and a diversity of events,
we expect our Section to continue to thrive in 2012.

Respectfully submitted, Jeffrey S. Mueller, PhD, EE Vice Chairman,
Winston-Salem Section, IEEE