SPSEE

Minutes of the 11th General Membership Meeting
Friday, October 18, 1996

MINUTES

Members Present: Henry Barracano, Harry Bell, Dean Bradford, Bill Burkhard, Larry Burton, James Cluck, Kevin Kelly, Bill Leonhard, John Shannon, Bob Skipper Tom Walsh, Mark Wharton Guests Present: Dave Landis, Jeff Schiano

1. Welcome and Introduction, by Harry Bell

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by chairman Harry Bell, who welcomed the out of town members to the Penn State campus.

2. Department News, by Larry Burton

Larry reported on activities and developments in the department of Electrical Engineering.

• The fall undergraduate enrollment in the department of Electrical Engineering is up 8% from 485 to 525.
  
• Also, the number of co-op students has increased 65% from 63 to 104. Part of this increase is attributable to the efforts last year of SPSEE members who lobbied their employers to consider adding co-op positions.
  
• Biggest departmental problem is the lack of space. There is no more room for equipment, labs, classrooms or offices. Larry has requested an additional 25,000 sq ft.
  
• Larry has hired a Computer Systems Administrator, who will start shortly. This will improve the department's usage of computers.
  
• The tuition surcharge paid by Engineering students provides the department with an annual budget of $160k for equipment purchases.

3. Adventures in EE, by Jeff Schiano

• Jeff gave a very well-received talk about the freshman level courses he is teaching and his efforts to recruit undecided engineering students to Electrical Engineering. One of his courses is ED&G100, which is taken by all freshmen in engineering and into which he has injected a fair amount of electrical engineering content. Jeff thinks that it has been fairly well received by the students.
• Jeff also told us about his one credit Freshman course, EE297, titled "Adventures in EE", which has a current enrollment of 24 students. His hope is to motivate some of the best and brightest students who may be thinking about entering Mechanical, Civil or some other branch of Engineering and who have not been exposed to Electrical Engineering.
• Finally, Jeff asked for three volunteers to be guest lecturers during the week of December 2 - 5, 1996. Anyone who is interested in talking to Jeff's class about their experiences as an engineer, what their career has been like and what the students can expect upon entering the job market should call Jeff at 865-7065 or contact him via e-mail at schiano@steinmetz.ee.psu.edu
  

4. SPSEE Graduate Fellowship Fund, by Mark Wharton

• Mark reported on the status of the SPSEE Graduate Fellowship Fund drive. Started in the Spring of 1995, the fund has pledges totaling $108,000 and a total collected balance of $90,000.
• Right now the focus is on the uncollected pledge balance. Our own SPSEE members have pledged $13,000 which will be fulfilled at the rate of about $3200 per year in 1996 and the following three years.
• The uncollected pledges from the spring Phoneathon effort are about $5000 and will probably not be fulfilled unless we make an effort to contact those who made a pledge. So Mark is sending letters to the 108 people who have not yet fulfilled their pledges in the hope of collecting at least some of the outstanding balance.
• He estimates that by the end of 1996 our collected balance will be about $95,000.
  
• We have also received a letter from the College of Engineering asking us to develop guidelines for the administration of the Graduate Fellowship Fund since we are so close to meeting the University's $100,000 collected balance requirement. We discussed the general principles that should govern the award of a fellowship, and Bill Leonhard volunteered his criteria for our consideration.
  

5. Internet Home Page, by Bill Burkhard

Bill distributed a copy of a membership form which he is going to add to the SPSEE site on the World Wide Web. Comments from the membership are invited. If you would like to view the site, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is:
http://www.engr.psu.edu/www/coe/alumni/spsee/spseelion.html

6. Recruiting of Graduating Students/SPSEE Brochure, by Harry Bell

Harry described a need for a tri-fold brochure describing SPSEE and asked for volunteers to put one together. John Shannon volunteered to put one together and Bill Burkhard volunteered to be the on-campus contact who will get John's ideas typeset and into print.

7. Other News

Harry Bell relayed the news that Bill Middleton, SPSEE Vice President, who is fighting cancer, is doing better now.

Hank Barracano suggested that we get a Junior or Senior EE student to address the group at the next General Membership meeting. He suggests a student who will not be attending graduate school and that he talk about his Penn State experience, both good and bad.

Out-of-town members suggest that we publish the meeting dates as far in advance as possible, especially for the fall meeting which usually coincides with a football game. This will make it easier for them to get their hotel reservations lined up early. It was also suggested that we include a list of the local hotels and their phone numbers along with a suggestion to book reservations early.

Kevin Kelly suggests a closer working relationship with the local chapters of the IEEE. He will study the issue.

Mark J. Wharton
Secretary
BSEE 1971
04-28-96

Web page last updated on August 6, 1997, supported by: Tom.Walsh@psu.edu