Why a Division Director?

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”


There are 38 IEEE societies and 7 technical councils; each is headed by a President. All these Organizational Units (OUs) are grouped into ten (10) Technical Divisions (I-X), which elect a Director to represent them on the IEEE Board, and who has other responsibilities. Our Division-I has three societies:

1. Circuits and Systems
2. Electron Devices
3. Solid-State Circuits

The Division-I Director must be a member of at least one of the three societies. I am the only candidate who is a Fellow grade member of all three societies, and pledge to represent all our OUs without favor.

Division Director and Society President

By analogy, a society president is to a city mayor, as a division director is to a provincial governor. A Governor cannot promise that the city streets will be cleaned daily; this is the Mayor’s responsibility. Likewise, a Division-Director cannot promise improvements in a society's journal or conference; this is the President’s responsibility. Governors can help inter-city cooperation and to promote the cities of their provinces to the central government, for the benefit of their citizens. Likewise, as Director I will promote further cooperation of the divisional societies and be an advocate and goodwill Ambassador for all our members at corporate IEEE. Society specific promises by a Director are naïve.