Sonora Region Weekly Notes

October 5, 2008 to October 11, 2008

 

Upcoming Events

 

Hot News!!

 

Region Resources & Links

 

COR Information

 

Upcoming Events

 

COR Conference Calls- - October 7 at 8 pm CST or October 15 at 2pm CST

Please remember to attend the Council Meeting Informational Sessions.  These are required, and will be held, Tuesday, 10/7, at 8pm CST, and Wednesday, 10/15, at 2pm CST. If you attended the ABJ Meeting, you do not need to join this call. 

COR Pre- Registration- deadline October 15

All representatives are asked to take 1 minute and complete the COR Meeting Attendance Form at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uK_2fnwKyGg5RQTu7olQ7Fjw_3d_3d by midnight Central time on October 15th. As a reminder, if you are unable to attend both the November 6 and November 8 Council business meetings at Conference, an alternate fully educated and engaged on all of the topics and issues that can attend both meetings on your behalf needs to be identified.  Any alternate serving on behalf of an elected representative must complete the Alternate Representative Form and have the signed form faxed to SWE Headquarters at 312.596.5252 by Saturday, October 18, 2008.

 

Region Meeting at National Conference

Currently the Region Meeting in Baltimore is scheduled on Thursday November 6, 2008 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. To visit the current schedule of events for the conference at http://www.we08.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=33

 

FY09 COR Business Meetings Overview
The Council meeting in Baltimore will be a two-part business meeting.  The first part will be on Thursday, from 10 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.  Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting will begin promptly at 10.  The agenda for Thursday, November 6th will address consent items and regular motions.  Beginning at 10:45 a.m., there will be a short presentation by the Governance FIG, followed by a town hall style question and answer session facilitated by Colette Trohan. The meeting on Saturday will be from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the meeting will begin promptly at noon.  The agenda for Saturday, November 8th will address the remaining bylaws proposal items, as well as reports, recognition, and setting of the next Council meeting, prior to adjournment. Voting will occur at both meetings and attendance is required.  The same people attending and voting on Thursday should also be attending and voting on Saturday.  Therefore, if you as a representative can not make both meetings, an alternate fully educated and engaged on all of the topics and issues should be provided for both meetings on your behalf.  

 

Hot News!!!

Call for FY09 Strategic Awards Assessment Taskforce Chair- October 7, 2008  

We are pleased to announce the call for FY09 Strategic Awards Assessment Taskforce Chair. The application process will allow all SWE members the opportunity to express an interest in this leadership role within the Society. It will also allow us the opportunity to better match our members' strengths and interests to the needs of the Society. If interested, please fill out the Chair application form  with the requested information and return it in Word or PDF format along with a photo (headshot at 300 dpi resolution) in a .jpg file to hq@swe.org by October 7, 2008. All applications will then be reviewed and applicants will be notified by October 20. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact headquarters at 312.596.5244.

 

ABJ Pictures

Take a look at some of the pictures from the ABJ Meeting online at http://www.swe.org/regionB/ABJ_FY09.html

 

Region Outreach Program- A SWEeter Future

Today we begin the SWEeter Future Program for Region B!  Throughout FY09, the Sonora Region is tracking the impact we have on the future of engineering. Our goal for the Region is to impact 2000 children in grades K through 12.  With all of the sections throughout Region B participating, it should be easy to meet our goal!

 

We have set up a SWEeter Future Program Tracker, which can be found by visiting the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=i4M41sM6rK_2fLhHZH4IUU3Q_3d_3d

We ask that you visit this survey throughout the year to report all of the outreach activities of your section.  This simple survey simply asks for the name/date of your event, how many professional members attended, and how many K-12 attendees participated.  We've also included a "comments" box in case you'd like to include any lessons learned, best practices to share, etc.  All of the Program data will be collected by Lt. Governor, Kerrie Greenfelder, and a summary will be provided at the end of the fiscal year. Now for the best part….The section(s) having the most outreach impact by the end of the fiscal year will be rewarded with a stipend to provide a scholarship!  It's a win-win for everyone! If you have any questions about the Program, please do not hesitate to contact Kerrie.  We're looking forward to meeting our outreach goals for FY09!

 

Celebrate SWE Guidelines

Celebrate SWE is a fun event to connect with friends from across each region.  SWE leaders want to ensure that the spirit and enthusiasm of the celebration does not detract from the event.  This year in addition to awarding the Fellow, collegiate member and advisor awards, the Distinguished New Engineer (DNE) recipients will receive their award at Celebrate SWE.  Please follow the attached guidelines during the evening to make this a fun evening for all. Please share these guidelines with your sections. They will also be reviewed at the Region Meeting on September 28th.

Region Resources & Link

 

FY09 Calendar

The FY09 Calendar has been posted on the Region Websites. The calendar includes all of the Section Report due dates (September 5, 2008, January 30, 2009, and May 20, 2009) and the dates of the four region meetings. Any new events will be added to the website, so be sure to visit weekly. http://www.swe.org/regionB/events.html

 

Changing your SWE User ID

It is very helpful to people managing communities to be able to identify contributors.  Having users names 938863 and 773940 make it difficult for community leaders in the course of managing membership to a given community.  Therefore, here are instructions on how to change your SWE user id. Please go to the database at https://www.swe.org/MSC-SWE/directory.aspx. After you sign in, update your information and then scroll down.  In the lower left hand corner there is a link entitled Edit My Profile!  The second major heading below your preferred address is Member Service Center Login.  This is where you can change your User ID. Please choose something so people will be able to identify you like your first and last name.  I changed mine from 751439 to Patricia Eng  -  and yes I could enter the space.  The kicker is that once you change your user ID, that is how you will have to sign in from now on.  Funny how that works, but then when you enter a discussion, people will know who you are . . . . . You may also want to take this opportunity to create a SWE alias for your e-mail.  I have one and when I decide I want to change network providers, I just change the pointer for my SWE alias.  I like the extra spam filter that SWE has….

 

IRS Form 990- Sections with gross receipts of $25,000

Check the "Region and Section Resources Community" for the IRS Form 990, which is required for sections and regions with annual gross receipts of $25,000 or higher.  This form is required to maintain tax exempt status.

 

COR Information

 

COR Governance Issues

Attached is a three page summary of the proposed changes in governance that the Bylaws Committee is working on. Please ensure that all Region Council Members have read these documents before coming to Conference for the COR meeting.  Expect to see a draft of the National Bylaws changes in the next week.

 

The SWE Senate, which would replace the existing Council of Representatives, is a high functioning deliberative body focused on the long-term strategic position of the Society.  The Senate also retains legislative duties such as changing bylaws and setting individual dues.  Senators would conduct the business as is currently outlined in the bylaws, focusing on national Society concerns. 

 

Council Motions and Proposed Bylaws Amendments Posted
Four motions have been submitted to the Council for review and to be addressed at the Council meetings in Baltimore.  Those four motions are posted on the Council of Representatives (COR) Community under Resources.  To just see the motions, select "View All" in Resources and then select "Motions" from the Category View pull down.  To comment on these motions, separate Discussion Threads have been opened for each motion.  As previously mentioned, any additional motions for consideration must be brought to the Council meeting on November 6, along with 175 copies of the motion and supporting documentation.

 

In addition, twenty-three bylaws amendments have been submitted.  As bylaws amendments are required to be posted for the entire membership, a separate Bylaws - FY09 Amendments Proposal Community has been established.   One file containing all of the proposed amendments has been created.  To comment on these, separate Discussion Threads have been opened for each amendment.  As the 45 day posting deadline has past, no additional bylaws amendments can be submitted for review at this time.