Comments on the State of Division I

Dr. Irving Engelson, Candidate for IEEE Division I Director
“The opinions expressed on this website are the opinions of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the IEEE”


COMMENTS ON THE STATE OF DIVISION I

Irving Engelson, Ph.D., (Fellow of CASS, EDS, SSCS)

Membership and Finances
The loss of Division I Society members in recent years is part of a general trend, but still must be addressed. Many of our members have access to publications through their employers and no longer feel the need to join a society. This may suggests that except for publications we don’t provide sufficient services to attract new technical professionals, and particularly industry practitioners. Yet the Division I Societies and Technical Councils represent growing technical areas that should be especially attractive to young-career professionals, since society memberships may represent new employment opportunities for them. But equally important is to develop a strong community of scholarly-professionals. However, our past efforts to deal with these issues have met with mixed success.

At the same time, our societies and technical councils experience increasing IEEE infrastructure costs and other charges. Decreasing income trends and increasing costs create major pressures on our organizational units. IEEE’s income and expense distribution algorithms are increasingly complex, and often poorly understood. This inhibits sound financial and operational planning. As Division I Director I will promote operational simplifications and work with our divisional leaders on how best to ameliorate the current operational issues.

Knowing the Past – Building the Future
I believe it’s time to take a thorough look at past efforts to determine what has worked and what has not. The “lessons learned” should guide our future new initiatives and enable us to be more successful. I have some expertise in strategic planning, and have helped organizations in this area. As Division I Director, I will make myself available to our Divisional Societies and Councils to assist with strategic, tactical or operational planning.

The Society/Council specific offerings that we provide may not be well targeted at multidisciplinary professionals that can benefic from them. As Division Director I’ll try to promote collaborative activities within the Division that might synergistically benefit all our divisional S/Cs. We should try to determine what kinds of products and services the practitioner community would find attractive. I also believe that the interests of the practitioner community are often more multidisciplinary, and that better serving their multidisciplinary needs will help us to promote our collective visibility, and thus attract more members.

Providing Volunteer Opportunities for Members
Our Society/Council volunteers give greatly of their time and efforts. For many, their time on our AdComs and BoGs is a period of personal sacrifice. As Division I Director, I will try to slow the increasing time demands that our IEEE institutional policies place on our valuable volunteers, by reducing the micromanagement trends on their time that is imposed by IEEE and TAB. Furthermore, I will strive to produce a pleasant, enjoyable, and collegiate atmosphere within the Division - where issues of joint interest are addressed honestly, openly and cooperatively. We also must concentrate on developing our next generation of leaders, and provide them opportunities to acquire leadership skills that may be transferable to their places of employment. Service on an S/C AdCom or BoG can provide an opportunity to practice these skills in a non-threatening environment.

Serving Current and Future Members
Both the present and next generation of members will be living in a world vastly different from the past. The challenge going forward, if we are to remain the vibrant Division I societies and councils that we have been in the past, is to continue to be relevant by adapting to new realities, and by providing value to a membership body that communicates in new ways and looks at professional societies with a new mindset. Historically, the Societies’ role has been to facilitate technical interchange of information through its publications, conferences and meetings. This role must continue, but the means through which the interactions take place will need to continuously adapt to the rapid changes shaping our new information age. The quasi-independence of our S/Cs in this effort must be preserved, and as Division Director I will work to help preserve this condition, and also promote the value of belonging to the collegial organization.

I would like to help guide and shape our Division I so that it can remain the premier world-wide place for the promotion of our Fields of Interest. We need to be aware of and take advantage of new technologies to access information when it can add new value to our membership, and explore new ways to capture the interest of students brought up in the information era.

A Vision, Promise, and Hope
As Division I Director I will work closely with our AdCom and BoG members and leaders to learn from their experience, as well as share my own, with the goal of maintaining our relevance and vitality. I hope that you will find that my comments merit your support.