Folks,

Below are the minutes of the October 2010 SSIT BoG Meeting.

Many, many thanks to Janet Rochester, who served as Secretary at the meeting and did an excellent job of capturing the proceedings.  

Lew T.
___________________
Lewis Terman
IEEE 2008 President
IBM Research Emeritus

Minutes of the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SIT-30)
Board of Governors Meeting
Saturday 2 October, 2010
Northeastern University, Boston, MA

1. Welcome and Introductions
The meeting opened at 10:15, with Vice-President Ken Foster presiding in the absence of Karl Perusich.  Karl joined the meeting by conference call and conducted the meeting.

The members present introduced themselves.

2. Adoption of the agenda (Attachment 1)
The agenda as mailed to the participants was adopted; items would be moved to accommodate conference call participants and departure times.

3. Approval of the Previous Minutes
The minutes of the 20 February 2010 meeting were approved without change.

4. President’s Report (Perusich) (Attachment 2)
Karl reported on the June TAB meeting.  Hal Flescher has been chairing an ad hoc committee on TAB structure; the committee has made several recommendations.  All current structures will remain, but there will be a new entity “Technical Committee”.  The ad hoc committee will be looking next at struggling societies.  The Technical Management Council and the Education and Professional Communication Societies may merge.  Mergers of SSIT with this group or other Division VI societies is not a possibility, although merging with another entity may be forced upon us.  We can no longer conduct “business as usual”.  One solution suggested is to “buy a conference” for which TAB would provide funding.

SSIT must come up with some ideas to ensure viability.  In the discussion that followed suggestions ranged from leaving the IEEE, becoming a web-based organization, using resources to take on new initiatives, increasing membership to enlarge the volunteer base, reaching out to non-IEEE members, enhancing conference income by being a presence at other conferences, increasing visibility of our publications, and developing ways of increasing awareness of SSIT.

5. Past-President’s Report (Rochester)  – No report

6. Division Director’s Report (Montrose)  – No report

7. Treasurer’s Report (Tongia) (Attachment 3)
Rahul reported that our projected deficit for 2011 will be $44,000.  Our reserves as of June 2010 are $297,000.  

8. Publications Report (Whelchel) (Attachments 4 & 5)
Bob presented the proposed contract for T&S’s Managing Editor (Attachment 4).  After brief discussion, it was endorsed by those present and will be sent out to all voting members of the board for a formal vote.

Bob used a prepared chart (Attachment 5) to show the publications options as determined by the Publications Committee.  The six options were discussed as to benefits and costs.  The sense of the meeting was to select System 6, on-line publications only, for 2012.  Additional information will be sought from the IEEE to determine feasibility, funding, and practical implications.  We will seek funding from the IEEE to develop interactive on-line publications, and will promote the change as offering more capabilities to our publication.

So far, no one has applied for the T&S Editor position.

9. Conference Report (Hoffnagle) (Attachments 6A & 6B)
Gene reported that ISTAS 2010 netted around $20,000, but that final figures were not yet available.

ISTAS 2011 will be in Chicago, at Saint Xavier University, with Keith Miller as General Chair.  The theme is “Overcoming Social Barriers with Computing”.  The dates will be 23-25 May.  The group approved Keith and the planning committee moving ahead.

Possibilities for ISTAS 2012 include Spain, Italy and Africa, with South America, Pittsburgh, and China in the future.

10. Committee Reports
Nominations (Rochester) - Janet reported (Attachment 7) on the ongoing election for new Board members.  Six candidates are running for three places on the board.

SSIT officer election.  Jerry Engel is nominated for President and Bradley Kjell Vice President.  The candidates were endorsed by those present and the slate will be sent out to all voting members of the board for a formal vote.

Fellows (Foster) - No report, but Ken reported on his attendance at the Engineering and Philosophy conference in Boulder.  It was a small but interesting conference.

Membership (Attachment 8)
Emily Anesta reported that membership increased by 12% as a result of the spring membership campaign.

Student Membership – No report

Distinguished Lecturers (Herkert) – Janet Rochester, on behalf of Joe, reported that no Distinguished Lecturer activities had occurred since the last meeting.  Joe requested that we approve Luis Kun and Keith Miller as Distinguished Lecturers.  The request was endorsed by those present and will be sent out to all voting members of the board for a formal vote.

Virtual Community (Andrews) – No report

Chapters/GOLD (Anesta) – Emily reported that we have a number of new chapters: Beijing (May 2010), Long Island (March 2010), Columbia (March 2010), and UKRI (October 2009); SSIT now has 15 active chapters, with others forming.

Awards (Engel) – No report

Ethics (Unger) – No report.  Steve noted that members of his committee have been seeking potential candidates for the Barus Award without success.

PACE (Ruhoy) – No report

11. Old Business – None

12. New Business – Janet Rochester introduced Tim Kostyk’s Smart Grid proposal (Attachment 9, not included here).  Tim answered questions by conference call.  Members emphasized the international aspects of the Smart Grid and suggested that the ISTAS 2011 plan for panelists to attend the conference.  The proposal was endorsed by those present and will be sent out to all voting members of the board for a formal vote.

13. Janet Rochester thanked Karl for his work as SSIT President for the year and for all his work on the Society’s behalf.
 
14. Next meeting and Adjournment – The first meeting of 2011 will be at a date set by the new president.


PLEASE SEE THE NOTE  FOLLOWING THE ATTENDEE LIST CONCERNING MOTIONS APPROVED SUBSEQUENT TO THE MEETING

Attendees

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NOTE:

At the meeting, a quorum was not present.  Thus, following the meeting, a series of email votes on the following motions were held; all passed:

• To elect Jerry Engel as President and Bradley Kjell as Vice President of SSIT for 2011.
• Approve the Smartgrid Workshop, proposed by Tim Kostyk, to be sponsored by the IEEE Standards Association.
• Approve Luis Kuhn and Keith Miller distinguished lecturers for SSIT.
• Approve 'in principle' the venue, officers, budget, and other plans for ISTAS 2011, as distributed on 2 October.
• Approval of the T&S Managing Editor's contract for 2011.