Presidents Newsletter – March 2015
Dear Arkansas Academy of Computing Members,
On behalf of the Executive Committee, I am pleased to provide our membership an update on the following:
* Save the Date! October 9th & 10th is our annual meeting in Little Rock
* Call for Membership Nominees
* Computer Science Summit to be held on October 8th
* New CSCE Chapter
* Dues and Scholarships
Save the Date!
The Academy’s Annual Banquet and Business Meeting is set for October 9 and 10 in Little Rock
Our annual banquet and business meeting has moved to the fall. Please make note of our new meeting date and location. On Friday evening, October 9, we will have the Annual Banquet and New Member Induction at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. On Saturday morning, October 10, we will have our Annual Business Meeting in the EIT College Building on the UALR campus. A formal invitation and agenda will be mailed this summer. Please save the date now.
Call for Membership Nominees
The nomination process for new membership into the Academy is now open. The nomination form is located on our website at http://araoc.org/members/nominate.
Please take some time to consider potential members in all corners of our state and help us to be more inclusive.
Membership requirements are for persons who are:
* born in or educated in Arkansas who have made a sustained and substantial contribution to computing, or
* not born in or educated in Arkansas but who have made a sustained and substantial contribution to computing in Arkansas.
The nomination process closes on May 31, 2015. During the months of June and July, the Executive Committee will review nominees, rank and vote for the 2015 membership class. Membership is normally limited to ten new members in a given year. Membership decisions will be communicated via the sponsoring member. Rex Eads is our Membership Chair this year.
Computer Science Summit to be held on October 8th
In our continuing effort to “Make a Difference in Computing and Information Technology” for the State of Arkansas, the Academy supported and participated in the 2014 Computer Science Summit for High School and Collegiate teachers in our state. We view the annual meeting as an opportunity to leverage the prestige of the Academy’s membership to advance computer science education through all levels of K-12.
In 2015, the Annual Computer Science Summit has been set for October 8th to coincide with our Annual Banquet and Business Meeting. The STEM Coalition and members from the Academy’s Executive Committee have already begun planning for this year’s summit. One key component of the summit is to ensure schools make the most of the recent bill signed by Governor Hutchinson requiring all public High Schools to teach Computer Science. http://araoc.org/hutchinson-signs-measure-expanding-computer-science-classes.
CSCE Chapter
The Arkansas Academy of Computing is forming a University of Arkansas Computer Science and Computer Engineering (CSCE) chapter. This chapter will be focused on the past history, current activities, and future goals of the University of Arkansas’s CSCE department (Fayetteville only). The chapter’s members will be drawn from our broader AAoC membership – e.g. the chapter will be a subset of the Academy, not a separate entity.
Most, but not all, members of the new chapter will be CSCE alumni. We hope that this chapter will provide an environment in which CSCE alumni and friends can share memories, reach out to current CSCE students, and build strong ties to all the CSCE faculty and staff.
The inaugural chapter meeting is set for April 24 and 25 in Fayetteville as part of Engineering Week.
Dues and Scholarships
Thanks to your scholarship contributions in 2013, the Academy awarded fifty (50!) $500 scholarships to Computer Science students at the following schools this past fall: University of Arkansas Monticello, University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas Tech University, Southern Arkansas University (Magnolia), University of Arkansas (Walton College of Business & Computer Science Computer Engineering), University of Arkansas Little Rock, Arkansas State University, Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University and University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. Nice work!
You can view profiles of most of the scholarship recipients on our website at http://araoc.org/2014-2015-scholarship-recipients.
Our 2014 scholarship fundraiser ended a couple of months ago and achieved its target of $25,000. Allocation of these funds will begin with the start of the school year in August. Thanks goes to Tracy Black for leading this successful effort!
From a dues perspective, we have collected $8500 covering the 2015 calendar year. Your dues helps fund our annual banquet, website, scholarships and STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) support/advocacy.
The below people have paid their dues for this year. If your name is missing, you can still pay via our website at http://araoc.org/members/membership/.
Dues paid for 2015:
| Mr. Jerry B. Adams |
| Mr. and Mrs. Collins Andrews |
| Ms. Cynthia J. Ashcraft |
| Dr. Billy L. Ashmore |
| Mrs. Tracy Black |
| Mr. Jerome Blackburn |
| Mr. Steven Brothers |
| Mr. William K. Bruton |
| Mr. George K. Burnett |
| Mr. John G. Chamberlin |
| Ms. Kim Clower |
| Mr. and Mrs. Gary Dowdy |
| Mr. Matt Dozier |
| Mr. and Mrs. Rex Eads |
| Mr. Carl V. Frank |
| Mrs. Jennifer B. Glasgow |
| Mr. John Haley |
| Mr. and Mrs. Scott Hambuchen |
| Mr. David W. Hardt |
| Mr. Robert T. Harriell, Jr. |
| Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Hatfield |
| Mr. Eugene Jones |
| Mr. and Mrs. Drew P. Kelso |
| Mr. Rodger S. Kline |
| Mr. and Mrs. George Knight |
| Mr. and Mrs. Joe M. McDoniel |
| Mr. Randall D. Mott |
| Mr. Gary A. Norcross |
| Ms. Susan Norton |
| Dr. Paula K. Norwood |
| Ms. Kay Palmer |
| Mr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Phillips |
| Mr. Ron Robison |
| Mr. Randy Salley |
| Mr. Walter V. Smiley |
| Mr. John Steuri |
| Mrs. Alese J. Stroud |
| Mr. John R. Talburt |
| Dr. and Mrs. Craig W. Thompson |
| Mr. Thomas B. Walker, Jr. |
| Ms. Peggy Wilcox |
| Mr. and Mrs. James T. Womble |
| Mr. Kevin R. Zaffaroni |
If you have any questions about the dues or anything else in this newsletter, please feel free to contact me at 614.404.4358 or gdowdy@yahoo.com.
Sincerely,
Gary
Gary Dowdy
President
Arkansas Academy of Computing