Sonora Region Weekly Notes

February 15- February 28, 2009

 

Upcoming Events

Hot News!!

COR Information

Region Resources & Links

Upcoming Events

 

FY10 Region Election Nominations Due- February 20, 2009

Attached is the announcement for the FY10 Region Elections. The region is soliciting candidates for Lt. Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Senator, Alternate Senator, Region Nominating Committee Chair, Region National Nominating Committee. All nominations should be submitted by February 20, 2009 to Joy Bell at joyabell_az@yahoo.com.

 

FY09 SWE Yearbook- Pictures Needed Due- February 21, 2009

If your section would like to submit any pictures for the FY09 SWE Yearbook, please send them to Jennifer Harris at jennifer.harris@swe.org. The pictures should be of a section event and a caption including the event name and the people in picture.

 

FY10 SWE Annual Conference- Long Beach

Hotel blocks are open for the 2009 conference in Long Beach. Hotel rooms fill up fast and are more expense this year (~$200/night average), and most are within walking distance of the convention center.  Visit the conference website to learn more of the hotel blocks. http://we09.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=4

  

Hot News!!!

 

New Region Committee- Volunteers Needed   

The Region has established three new committees: The Website Committee, The Policies Committee, and the Finance Committee. The Website Committee will be working together to determine the setup of the new Region Website including content and layout. The Policies Committee will be working to update the Region Policies with the upcoming Senator changes. The Finance Committee will be researching better ways to invest and protect the Region money. This is a great opportunities to get your members involved, please pass this on to your membership. Anyone interested in participated on any of the committees can send an email to Jennifer Harris at jennifer.harris@swe.org. If you are also interested in being the committee chair, please note in your email.

 

FY10 Region Conference- Phoenix, AZ

It's official!! The FY10 Region Conference will be hosted by the Phoenix Section. The dates are being determined and should be finalized by the end of March. If you have any ideas or comments, please reach out to Susie Kirkland at susie.kirkland@gmail.com

 

Region Outreach Program- A SWEeter Future

We are half way through FY09 and we have impacted 1640 students through 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! The Region Council has approved the a very generous outreach stipend for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place sections. The first place section will receive $1500, second place will receive $1000, and third place will receive $500.

 

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!

 

Take the "Why SWE Survey"- Win a Prize for Participating

Take a moment to tell SWE why you are a member and what is important to you to continue your membership. We are looking for 500 participants to take the survey to tell us "Why SWE". The results will be made into bookmarks and given to the region members as promotional material. The bookmarks can be used as a tool to inform others about SWE, promote membership, explain the benefits of SWE and gain additional participation in your section. Prizes will be given out to 5 members drawn at random from the participants. The survey link can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bcAo7ibTfqKCeEti5JikbA_3d_3d

 

Join the Sonora Region- B Community

Have you joined the SWE Sonora Region- B Community yet? The Sonora Region Community is a place to find information on upcoming region events, minutes from the region meetings, information on the region focus groups, and much more information. The community also offers a place to post discussions, ask questions, or take polls. To join the Sonora Region – B Community, logon on to My Communities from www.swe.org.  On the blue header titled My Communities, choose Manage Communities, choose Browse Communities S-Z, scroll down and click on the check box next to Sonora Region- B, then choose the join button. You will then be able to view all of the information for the Sonora Region.

 

COR Information

 

Senator Elections

The decision has been made by the GFIG that all Senators, collegiate and professionals, will be elected through the national election process this year.  The regional nominating committee will be responsible for providing HQ the names of the Senator candidates to place on the national ballot.  Thus, you'll only need to elect your RCR(s) and RCNE at region conference. Please see the attached documentation for additional details. Per the Region B nominations calendar, the Call for Nominations will open on January 2, 2009 and the Call for Nominations will end on February 20, 2009. As a Region, we will discuss the Senator Election Process at the Region Meeting #3 in Albuquerque, NM.

 

Information on Senators

  1. Professional (professional, senior or fellow members) senators from each region serve 2 year terms.  One shall be elected each year by and from the professional members of that region.  For the first election held, 2 senators will be elected.  The nominee having the highest number of votes will serve a two-year term and the member having the next highest number of votes will serve a one-year term.
  1. Collegiate members from each region serve 1 year terms.  They are elected by and from all collegiate members in the region (this is different from RCRs that are elected only by collegiate section presidents)
  1. International member senators serve 2 year terms.  One shall be elected each year by and from the international members.  For the first election held, 2 senators will be elected.  The nominee having the highest number of votes will serve a two-year term and the member having the next highest number of votes will serve a one-year term.
  1. Special senators serve 1 year terms (or the remainder of a 1 year term if elected after July 1).  They are nominated by the speaker and elected by the senators.  We do not anticipate electing special senators in FY10. 
  1. Alternates must be elected.  They serve 1 year terms.  (full details are in the recommendations document and will be incorporated into the Senate procedures)

Other items:

Professional senators and professional alternates must be voting members of the Society

 

No two representatives may be from the same section or MALs per region.

 

Election shall be by plurality vote. In case of a tie, the winner shall be chosen by lot.

 

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. 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.