A newsletter of the Birmingham Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals

AITP Region 7
Chapter 158

P O Box 12112
Birmingham, AL  35202

www.aitpbirmingham.org

February 2004

"AWARDS NIGHT"

Featured Speaker
Betty Howell
"Educating Today’s Business
and IT Professionals"

Betty will share with us the benefits of life long learning and flexibility of distance Education.  With 20 years of experience in promotion, funding, and delivery of adult education programs, both traditional and nontraditional, Betty Howell is a seasoned adult education administrator. As president of American College of Computer & Information Sciences (ACCIS) since 1997, she has overseen the growth and development on distance education degree programs to over 5,000 students. Prior to this position, she worked at ACCIS in the capacity of corporate education director.
     Founded in 1988, ACCIS offers four accredited undergraduate and two graduate degrees in the fields of technology and management. With students from over 120 countries, ACCIS has developed a distance-learning model that is setting the standard within the industry. In promoting distance learning Howell has been active with the Distance Education and Training Council, the nations oldest distance learning accrediting agency. She served as co-chair of the governmental relations committee for both state and national affairs. Additionally, she has chaired and/or presented at numerous DETC conferences around various distance-learning topics such as student service and retention, meeting and exceeding accreditation standards, and marketing in distance education.
    A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a degree in communications, Ms. Howell also earned a certification in distance education from Texas A & M University. She reconnected with UAB from 1987 to 1992 when she served as assistant director of alumni affairs for that school. In this position she developed a highly effective alumni legislative council, which worked to strengthen UAB’s position in the area of state funding. As marketing and development director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation, (1992 to 1995) she worked to fund and promote adult programs in the humanities throughout the state, including the Foundation’s renowned interdisciplinary SUPER program for high school humanities teachers. She also represented the Foundation as its advocate with the state Legislature.
     Howell began her career as assistant director of marketing and public relations with the Alabama Symphony Association, where she later served as marketing director. Of the many activities associated with this position, Howell developed a special free concert program for senior citizens that included discussion of compositions with the conductor and players through opened dress rehearsals of the orchestra.

5 and 3/4 Club Speakers
Mr. Mike Pratt and Mr. Jimmy Gillespie
"UWA's Implementation of Wireless Technology"

Mr. Mike Pratt, UWA Network Manager, and Mr. Jimmy Gillespie, UWA Network Communications Specialist, will speak on how the University of West Alabama deployed a campus-wide wireless network over the past four years.  The discussion will include why UWA decided on wireless technology, what strategies were used in when and where wireless was deployed, how the University supports student computing, and what challenges they have encountered.

     January started off with a Bang! We had a wonderful meeting at Jim & Nick’s with great food, incredible company, a host of excellent information and a great group of IT students from UAB. Can you tell that I can’t use enough superlatives.
     My hat goes off to Paul Stewart for running the show, filling in for a cancellation at the 5 ¾ Club and leading the Round Table Discussion. We discussed real world aspect of becoming an IT Professional and thoroughly enjoyed sharing this information with the Students. Seven students and a guest visited with us from the UAB Student Chapter that is starting up. I feel that they appreciated the information that was shared and the Networking contacts that they made with the AITP members. I know we were excited to have them with us.
     One of the things that we will be focusing on this year is dedicating our Organization to working with the Student Chapters to create exciting ways to make the world of IT real to the students. We discussed lining up CIO’s and other IT leaders in the Birmingham area to speak with them and hopefully to work with them in Mentoring positions so that the students will be ready, willing and able participants when they join the work force.
     There is much to be done and we really need the help of all members. The ones that faithfully attend the meetings, those who have not been able to meet with us recently and others who may not yet know that we need their help and support. I ask that each of us dedicate a part of out time to AITP and increasing our membership. We now have a real mission for 2004 and need the knowledge, leadership and guidance that each of us can bring to our Chapter.
     This months meeting will revolve around Recognitions. Foremost on the Agenda will be recognizing Maurice Myers for the dedication and hard work that he put into AITP in 2003. Maurice, as we all know, is an outstanding leader in our community and the AITP has been blessed to have him at the helm. We will also have our other recognitions at this time. I am not downplaying the others, I simply do not have the list in front of me to mention them by name.
     So, I ask that we all turn out this month to thank all of the people being recognized but especially Maurice. Since I am now finding that there is more to leading this organization than meets the eye. Thank you for being a part of this group and thank you all of the time and effort that you will be putting into AITP this year.

Chapter President

Minutes ~ January 20, 2004

The January 20, 2004 AITP board meeting was held at Comsys on Highway 31 and was called to order at 5:40 pm by Steve Romine, President.
Members Present: Steve Romine, Maurice Myers, Barbara Shook, Ted Hagler, and Paul Stewart. Charlie Cook represented via proxy by Paul Stewart.
Members Absent: John Barnhart, Toni Ellis, and Andrea Simmons.
Minutes from October 2003: Maurice Myers made a motion to accept the minutes as written. Ted Hagler seconded the motion and it was passed unanimously. Treasurer's Report: John Barnhart submitted a written report. The balance in the bank account was $165.56. Discussion took place about the outstanding check to the Postmaster and how it related to the status of the AITP post office box. Maurice Myers made a motion to accept the report as submitted. Paul Stewart seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Liaison Report: Ted Hagler distributed the December 2003 chapter roster. We have 31 active members as of 12/31/2003. Ted also discussed many of the items found in his January report printed in the Bitpro. Of particular interest was Student Chapter Night which is the theme of the January meeting.
Past President Report: Maurice Myers presented a written report. Maurice discussed the need to change bank account authorized signatures to include the usual – Treasurer, President, and Past President. Maurice reminded all of us how important it is to get information to the Newsletter editor timely. He reminded all of us of monthly reports that are available via the national website. He also indicated that receipts needed to be sent to those members who attended the November meeting.
Student Chapter: Maurice Myers presented Andrea Simmons’ written report. Andrea plans to survey information from students about their interest in establishing a Liaison Program and a Campus Tech Team to build the excitement of student participation in AITP. Barbara Shook also presented a written and oral report about the Student Chapter Fund raffle. Barbara has coordinated the raffle since the fall and plans to have additional prizes available during the regular drawing.
Publicity: Maurice Myers presented Andrea Simmons’ written report. Andrea has conducted the routine media announcement for the January meeting. She has also publicized the meeting with the local AITP student chapters as well as other chapters. Andrea reported that the website development will be an ongoing activity as things develop.
Newsletter: Paul Stewart presented a printed copy of the Bitpro and discussion of the new format proceeded.
Programs: Paul Stewart discussed the need to establish the 2004 meeting schedule. Much discussion took place. Paul made a motion that meetings should be scheduled on a month to month basis and the February meeting should be confirmed as Award’s Night. Barbara Shook seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Awards: Barbara Shook will order the appropriate plaques and name plates for the February meeting. As of this board meeting, Toni Ellis has attendance records for 2003 and will need to get perfect attendance to Barbara.
Membership attendance and acquisition: Charlie Cook submitted a written report providing a status on reservations for the January meeting as well as new contacts for perspective membership.
Old Business: None.
New Business: None.
Steve Romine adjourned the meeting at 7:00 pm.

Board of Directors

President
Steve Romine - sromine@comsys.com

Past President
Maurice Myers - mmyers@amsouth.com

Liaison
Ted Hagler - ted.hagler@motion-ind.com

Executive Vice President
Barbara Shook - bshook@regionsbank.com

Secretary/Treasurer
John Barnhart - jbarnhart@acipco.com

Program Chair/Newsletter
Paul Stewart - pbs@uwa.edu
Toni Ellis - tellis@regionsbank.com

Student Chapter/Publicity
Andrea Simmons  - javischristian@aol.com

Membership Attendance/Acquisitions
Charlie Cook - ccook@uwa.edu

AITP Anniversaries

February
Craig Boudreaux -- Liberty National Life
Cynthia Jensen -- Jacksonville State Univ.

     The ones of you who missed the January meeting, missed a great night of understanding the student roll in becoming an IT professional. Paul Stewart, Wes Gray, Steve Romine, and Maurice Myers gave an over view from learning the trade to what it takes to become an IT professional. Each of us learned that the IT profession is not an 8 to 5 position but it take dedication from day one as you walk into your job. We had a good number of students and it looks like our new student Chapter from UAB will be headed to American Cast Iron Pipe Company for a day of learning how an IT department functions. Thanks UAB students and ACIPCO for allowing our student chapter to participate in this learning adventure.
     Yes UAB is the newest Student Chapters in the Birmingham area. Barbara Shook and I visited the December Chapter meeting. UAB Student Chapter was very organized and had all the paperwork completed. So welcome UAB to the AITP world. If there is anything the Chapter can do to help please do not hesitate to call on us. Also you are welcome to visit our chapter meeting the fourth Tuesday of each month.
     AITP Regional 7 Conference, the new officers were announced:
     President-Steve Flowers, N Central Florida; Vice President-Frank Reagor, Nashville; Secretary-Evan Eldridge, South Carolina; Treasurer Julian Wade, Atlanta; Immediate Past President-Dave Hancock, Polk County. These are your regional officers for 2004. Each one is decade to support each chapter in our region. Let's give them our support. Get involved if you want to receive the maximum benefit of AITP.
     Have you visited the National AITP web-site this month, there is so much information you can learn. This site is all related to your daily routine and you have the information that will help get through the tuff times. Please use this site and go with the future of the IT world.
     Once again let's remember, the 9th Annual AITP National Collegiate Conference will be held in Omaha, Nebraska April 1 to April 3, 2004. Let's support our Student Chapter that will take this challenge. As of the Regional 7 Student Conference, it will be in Nashville, October 15-17. Let's try to get several of our Student Chapters involved in this conference. Then if every thing goes to plan, the news is the National Collegiate Conference will be in Atlanta in 2005. This is still in the planning stage so let's support Atlanta in the effort.
     February will be awards night. Hope to see you at Jim N' Nicks, Tuesday February 24.

Chapter Liaison