ITEE College Board Report

The College Board met on 7/8 May 2010.  The Board recognises that there is a wide range of activities of interest to members across the discipline. This is reflected in the diversity of programs in each Division.  Whilst the resources available to the Board are limited, and this is reflected in prioritised activities, and acknowledgement is given to other activities which should be addressed if resources allow and volunteers come forward to support those initiatives.  I encourage ITEE College Members in Divisions to become involved in College activities, contributing in Division groups and perhaps by responding to this column. The Board discussed an Operational Plan which will form the basis for the 2011/12 plan due for consideration at the Board’s October meeting: if you feel that the College needs a greater involvement in some areas (for instance broadcast engineering, please let me know).  The ITEE group in WA has formed a Software Engineering forum to address a need in this area, others may wish to consider similar initiatives.

 

Changes to the method of delivery of Monitor were agreed by the College Board: eMonitor will be distributed in a similar manner to EA’s eNews.  Archive copies will be held for all non current issues: a link (provisionally http://www.engineersmedia.com.au/magazines/monitor/monbackissues.html ) to archives will be provided with each issue of eMonitor.  It is hoped that the new format might encourage Division groups to submit regular short items relating to their activities.

 

The Board is seeking nominations from Northern, Newcastle and Tasmanian Divisions for membership of the Board: if you are interested in filling one of those positions please contact your Division President or Executive Director or the undersigned.

 

The Board agreed to develop guidelines for a new award for which Technologists and Associates will be eligible and utilising funds available from the IREE Foundation.  This award will complement the existing IREE Neville Thiele Award.  Guidelines will be considered at the Board’s October meeting.

 

The College Board confirmed the importance of facilitating conferences in relevant areas and the importance of local ITEE Membership involvement.   In particular, see Space Engineering Symposium http://www.nssa.com.au/ASDC11/ (Adelaide, July) EMC Symposium 2010 (Melbourne, September) and Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) now in its 35^th year www.aip2010.org.au (Melbourne, December).  There was discussion about the absence of general conferences covering ITEE matters: this will be further discussed at a future Board meeting.  

 

The Board noted the new College Regulations approved by Council on 5 May 2010.  In particular the Board noted its responsibilities under those regulations.  One of the Board’s roles is to undertake periodic reviews of competency standards.  The area of Software Engineering competency standards needs particular attention and encouragement of the importance of the engineering approach in software projects.  The National Committee on Software Engineering will lead consideration on this.

 

The Board agreed that the opportunity presented by the Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference in Sydney in November 2010 should be used as a launch pad for a “Software Engineering Forum” in Sydney Division modelled on a successful group running in WA Division: Software Engineers interested in formation of this group please contact the undersigned. The plan is to have a significant ITEE College presence at this EA sponsored Conference.  http://www.apsec2010.com/ for more conference information.

 

Plans are advancing for presentations in the second half of 2010 by Eminent Speaker Terry Stephenson of Raytheon.  More details will be provided soon.

 

The Board elected Jennifer Murray, Chair of the National Committee on Software Engineering as the second Deputy Chair of the College Board: congratulations Jennifer.

 

The Board discussed various other matters including the proposed Royal Charter and By-law changes.

 

Peter Hitchiner, ITEE College Board Chair