Dear
ASME Leader, I
invite you to attend the Spring 2008 District A Leadership Meeting May 2-3, 2008.
The
meeting will take place on the Lafayette College Campus in Easton, PA. District
A includes all the senior and student sections in former Regions I, II and III.
We are the largest District with nearly 40 senior sections and subsections, more
than 22,000 members and 100 student sections. This is an opportunity for the leadership
throughout the District to meet, share best practices and discuss the challenges
we are facing. Tom
Barlow, ASME President-Elect, will speak and be available to answer questions. The
next District A Leader will be selected at this meeting. Your participation in
this process is critical. We will also be discussing different options for organizing
the District - your input is needed to plan for a positive future. Specifically,
we will be voting on a Committee Structure for District A. A proposed structure
can be viewed at http://sections.asme.org/rochesterny/2008_District_A_Spring.html.
I would appreciate it if you would think about this and be prepared to discuss
it at the conference. We
will have roundtable discussions to determine our top 5 operations and strategic
priorities. This is important for the future direction of District A and will
be shared with Tom Libertiny, Vice-President Elect for Global Communities, who
will be in a position to support our efforts beginning this June. Your participation
in these discussions is essential to ensuring the conclusions reached are representative
of the entire district leadership. There
will also be a session discussing Volunteer Recruitment and Retention – an
issue vitally important to us all. This session will include “hot off the
press” information on a survey of members of many engineering societies,
strategies, techniques and specific feedback from volunteers and non-volunteers
that can be of use to all section executive committee members. I
strongly encourage each section to send at least one person. Better yet, two or
three representatives from each section will help to create a dynamic and balanced
group. Consider carpooling with others from your section or sections on your way
to the event. Hotel rooms can easily accommodate 2 people – consider sharing
a room to minimize expenses Support
for Attendees: ASME will reimburse those who are attending who do not have other
funds to support their attendance. Reimbursement includes travel costs ($0.485
per mile plus tolls & parking) and, for those who are staying overnight, up
to a total amount of $100.00 to help with hotel, meal and registration costs.
Specific
information including registration, hotel and the current agenda can be found
at http://sections.asme.org/rochesterny/2008_District_A_Spring.html. A more complete
agenda will be posted next week. A complete listing of all senior and student
sections can be found at http://districts.asme.org/DistrictA/A-Units.htm. We
need your intelligence, talent, wisdom and leadership skills to provide a vibrant
atmosphere for Mechanical Engineering in District A. Please
register today. Please
let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information. Take
care,
Karen
Karen
J. Ohland
Leader, ASME District A | 
