To: Region 3 ExCom  
Cc: Region 3 Committee  
Sb: Region 3 Director Report  
Dt: 26 July 2012  

It has, and continues to be, a hot summer with more rain than usual and
certainly more rain than in many parts of the country.  I hope all is going
well for everyone.  It is now time to get back to our work -- planning for a
successful set of Fall activities.  Our meeting agenda has many items on it --
thanks to everyone who spent time organizing and preparing for the meeting.

It appears that there are insufficient funds to do a full Fall Region meeting
with a strong training component and administrative meeting.  It looks like
we should take advantage of our WebEx technology and offer a series of 
webinars and meetings throughout the Fall to serve the needs of our local
volunteers.  I expect that many of you will contribute to the selection 
of topics followed by the planning and delivery of the programs.  There is 
an agenda item to discuss this further.

Bill Marshall, R3 Communications Chair, has resigned his R3 position due to
increased work/travel commitments.  We thank Bill for agreeing to serve and
for his efforts and look forward to his returning to Region 3 activities when
his situation allows.  I am soliciting suggestions (and/or volunteers) to 
consider to fill this vacant position.

As a reminder, IEEE-USA is seeking bids for Sections that wish to host the
Annual Meeting and a technical program for 2015 as a section activity.  The
deadline for proposals is 1 September 2012.  If you can not find the previous
mail on this request, contact Linda Hall <l.hall@ieee.org> to express an
interest.

A couple of IEEE items from other OUs that may be of broad interest:

 1. Effective immediately, IEEE will begin awarding 'IEEE CEUs' under the
    standards set by the IEEE Educational Activities Board, and has withdrawn
    from the CEU program managed by IACET (the International Association of
    Continuing Education and Training).  If you are using CEUs through IEEE
    you will need to change your documentation.  Contact our Educational
    Activities Chair Ken Pigg or Michelle Demydenko, IEEE Continuing Education 
    Coordinator, <m.demydenkos@ieee.org> for more information. 

 2. The IEEE Board of Directors recently approved the creation of a
    rapid-publication, open access megajournal spanning all IEEE fields of
    interest. Several other topical open access journals are also planned as
    part of this phase of the rollout. Dr. Michael Pecht, founder and director
    of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at the University of
    Maryland, has been named the journal’s first editor-in-chief. The formal
    announcement is at
    <https://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/pubnews/vol5issue2/index.html#sect2>

I would note that we have a full agenda for this meeting and I hope that
everyone can submit their reports and action items ahead of time, and that we
will all try to read the written material ahead so we can move forward
effectively on Monday night.  Thank you in advance for your efforts towards
a successful meeting and, more importantly, to a successful Fall program.

### Activities since last report

* 20 June - IEEE-USA Board Teleconference
* 21 June - IEEE Brand Ambassador Teleconference
* 25 June - IEEE EAB N&A Committee Teleconference
* 27 June - 2 July - IEEE Board Series, (ad hoc meetings, MGA Assembly, MGA Board, IEEE
           Assembly, IEEE Honors Ceremony, IEEE BoD)
* 29 June - IEEE IT Advisory Committee Teleconference
* 19 July - Alabama Section ExCom
* 20 July - MGA FinCom

### Region 3 Addresses

Facebook:  Search for "IEEE Region 3"  
Blog:  https://ieeer3.blogspot.com
TWitter: r3ieee  
Calendar:  r3ieee@gmail.com (Region 3 planned meetings)  
Calendar:  https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meetings/ical/0/90/asc/3
          (all meetings in Region 3 in vTools)