To: Region 3 ExCom
Cc: Region 3 Section Chairs
Fm: David Green, Region 3 Director
Sb: Director’s Report for June 2012 ExCom Teleconference
Region 3 Newsletter Editor Bill Labelle with the help of several contributing authors are producing the Spring/Summer edition of the Region 3 Newsletter. I expect that we will receive an announcement of its availability on the website very soon. Thanks to Bill and everyone who helped! This issue is intended for the IEEE volunteers in Region 3 and I hope that you find it informative and useful. Let us know what you think.
I participated in the IEEE-USA Annual Meeting (including the IEEE-USA Board Meeting) in May. IEEE-USA President Jim Howard convened the meetings (doing his usual great job) and Jim Anderson gave a great motivational and challenging Keynote as part of the meeting. By my count, there were 25 Region 3 participants in the event and about 20 of them were able to meet for dinner Friday night. Region 3 PAO Chair John Montague convened a Sunday morning professional activities meeting of the Region 3 attendees. Meeting attendees were challenged to hold professional activities in their sections and report them through vTools. There is some funding through Region 3 as well as directly from IEEE-USA. I came away excited from the conversations I had with Section PACE chairs (and others) and look forward to hearing of events and their impact on members in the sections.
The IEEE OU Series will be held 27 June - 3 July in Boston, MA. This series of events will include the MGA Board Meeting, MGA Assembly, IEEE Board Meeting, and IEEE Assembly Meetings among others. The motion to formally disband the Virginia Council (proposed and recommended by its sections, endorsed by the Region Committee) is on the agenda. Also on the agenda are discussions about the Region 1–6 Rejuvenation Effort among many other things. I expect that MGA Board will hear and discuss up follow up actions related to items we discussed with VP Michel in Spring Region meeting.
Thanks to all who have filled out the Survey on the view of the Region from the section. I apologize, it looks like folks are spending about twice as long to fill it out as I thought it would take. At the time of the writing of this report, there have been 17 surveys completed – thanks! It looks like committee respondents believe overall that the sections are satisfied with the Region’s support of the Section. While the questions line up with the section leader survey, it looks like it will take some more work to present the information to you so I’ll try to have it for the July ExCom. Top items of importance (based on our committee’s responses) are
While more work is needed to understand the responses (and we will use the section response leaders responses when processed), it certainly appears that the committee thinks that the section’s view of our performance has gaps in these important areas. I invite your feedback and I will be talking with many of you over the summer to consider and firm up plans to make progress in the areas.
Bill Harrison has agreed to serve on the Region 3 N&A Committee filling the position held by George McClure. N&A Chair Lee Stogner has issued the call for nominations and I expect will discuss this call and the timeline for the selecting the next candidates for Region 3 Director-Elect (2013–14). Please forward interest and suggestions to Lee.
Charles Hickman, as History Chair, is working with the IEEE Global History Network to supply some Region 3 Oral histories. I have approved some small startup funding for him to participate in this activity.
How are your activities going on working with the Sections to support member engagement. I invite your reports, comments, and critical thinking.
In a draft of a recent review of a committee, there is a note:
… This study was somewhat hampered since there were no written Committee reports for 20xx and most of 20yy. There was a summary report for 20xx submitted in July 20yy by the Chair of this Committee. Also missing were any written stated goals of this committee during this period.
Looking over the website, it looks like these remarks apply to many of our committees. As noted in many committee reviews, it makes it hard to evaluate our effectiveness and many things such as bringing a new committee member up to speed are made much harder. I don’t think the lack of reports accurately convey the operation and efforts of our committees but I do think there is a need to improve our reporting. Please look at the online reporting for your function in the region and help us improve it. Secretary Vaughn can help you link in your information for 2012 so that it can be found later and used.