Greetings to Life Members:

 Congratulations, you have shown the persistence and determination to have maintained your membership in IEEE for years+age>=100 and age>=65.  This is a milestone that for many comes at or after retirement.  And, in acknowledgement of your dedication, IEEE waives your membership dues.  However, you still need to register, annually, in order to maintain your membership and this is the time of year when it is necessary to do so.

 To check out the Benefits of Life Member, see:  http://www.ieee.org/societies_communities/geo_activities/life_members/life_members_benefits.html

 In addition, I recently discovered mention in an officer training session, that when local Section meeting fees are set, Life Members fees should be the same as Student Members.  If this is not the case, please remind us as it is easy to let this benefit fall through the cracks and there is no automatic screening for such.

 If anyone wants to learn more about IEEE, take the relatively new officer training which can be found via our website, www.ieee.org/richmond.  Look under the ‘Resources’ tab, then ‘Rescources for officers … ‘, then ‘Center for Leadership Excellence (CLE)’ or its predecessor ‘Volunteer Leadership Program (VOLT)’

 I only recently found out about it myself, during an officer training session via ‘CLE’.  If it’s in the MGA manual, I haven’t found it, so if you want to win honorable mention, please let me know if you find it!  You’ll find the MGA manual in the same area as above.  WARNING—it’s about as much fun to read as the Tokyo phonebook (I ‘commuted’ there from New York for four years during a product development effort)!

 And now, for the real reason(s) I am writing to you:

1. As a Life Member, I’d be surprised if you haven’t accumulated the qualifications for Senior Member status, more specifically-- IEEE Bylaw I-104.3 sets forth the criteria for elevation to Senior member grade as follows:
   1. A candidate shall be an engineer, scientist, educator, technical executive or originator in IEEE-designated fields
   2. Candidates shall have been in professional practice for at least ten years
   3. Candidates shall have shown significant performance over a period of at least five of those years
   4. In addition, candidates for Senior member grade must supply three references (and there's room for four on the application, a spare if you will) from current IEEE members holding the grade of Fellow, Senior member, or Honorary member. 
   5. Please take the time to explore this benchmark credential further.  You can do so via our website, www.ieee.org/richmond, then under Quick Links in the Left Sidebar of the splash page, find ‘Senior Member Grade’.
   6. Please apply--you can self-nominate.  Or, if you prefer, write me and I’ll nominate you.  And, if you don’t respond, I may just nominate you anyway.  You benefit, the Section benefits and the entire IEEE organization benefits by recognizing the achievements and milestones of our members.  There is no cost involved.  Please do your part in this initiative.
2. We’re undergoing a revitalization effort of the Richmond Section’s Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group.  This has been a wonderful and energetic AG in the past, but the leadership has moved on in their career and personal pursuits.  A wonderful young woman, Evanne Wang, a research scientist at DuPont has agreed to serve as Interim Chair during this effort.  I am calling on your help in the following fashion:
   1. I believe that many of you have the experience, the time and the interest to make a difference in this initiative.
   2. A number of downstream initiatives can come of this revitalization, initiatives that will make the World a better place:
      1. Sweetbriar Initiative ( this is a critically important one, to help Sweetbriar back on its firm footing as one of only two Women’s colleges in North America to offer an engineering program.)
      2. Girl Scouts Initiative
      3. K-12 STEM Initiative
      4. Or, an initiative of your own choosing.

There is no fee for Life Members to join the WIE organization at the IEEE global level, so the only cost is what you contribute in your time, travel and interest in any of the initiatives above.  Your membership in WIE and thus in the Richmond WIE AG would go a long way in this revitalization effort.  I’m not asking that you ‘stuff the membership’ by your enrollment; rather, I am asking that you consider your interest in this area, the impact you can have on this organization, the satisfaction you can derive from participating in such an effort, and the impact it may have on your children and grandchildren.  Please help us get WIE back on its feet, so WIE can help others do the same.

And, with that, I thank you very much for your time and attention.  And, I look forward to seeing a flurry of Senior Member Applications!  Don’t miss the boat!

Appreciativley,

IEEE Richmond Section Chair

Steve Kemp

Email:  skemp@ieee.org; Cell:  (804) 387-0834