BITPRO

February Dinner Meeting Tuesday, February 22, 2005 ~ Jim 'n' Nicks ~ 220 Oxmoor Rd. in Homewood ~ 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Bill Kennedy & Mike O'Reilly ITC^DeltaCom Our February speakers are Systems Engineers with ITC DeltaCom. The will be discussing the impact of VoIP in the industry, the advantages, pitfalls and myths of converging voice/data networks. Bill Kennedy is a Systems Engineer with ITC^DeltaCom. He has worked for 9 years in the Information Technology field in Systems Administration and 6 years in the Telecommunications Industry and currently holds various Microsoft, Cisco and NEC certifications. Mike O'Reilly is a Systems Engineer with ITC^DeltaCom. He has worked for 9 years in the Information Technology field in Systems Administration and 3 years in the Telecommunications Industry. He currently holds various Microsoft, Cisco and NEC certifications.
President's Message	return to top
Welcome back everyone and welcome to 2005. This is going to be a new year for AITP and what an exciting one it’s going to be. I have great expectations for this year and I want to start out by Thanking everyone who has agreed to be on the board. I know with this group, we are going to make things happen. We’ve already started out with a bang. I would like to make a special thanks to Carlos Romano for his dynamic presentation on Video Game development. I know everyone enjoyed hearing the fun side as well as the business end and development stages. As you have heard by now, we have been selected to host the Regional 7 conference and the Student Chapter Conference here in Birmingham this year. This will give our chapter an enormous amount of exposure and will reintroduce AITP to the corporate world. Maurice Myers has taken on the task of making this the best ever and I want to encourage everyone to get involved as he’s selecting his committees. Thank you Maurice. I can’t have a message without talking about our Student Chapters. Over the last year I have seen an increase in interest from them. UAB had a great year last year. They’ve had excellent speakers and were able expose themselves through community work. UAH has revitalized their chapter. They’ve held several meetings and have a great network exposing them to job opportunities. We were also visited by Jacksonville State last year. Congratulations Students. Well, let’s get started guys. Have a great month and I look forward to seeing you all at the meeting. Chapter President
Minutes	return to top
No Minutes

Board of Directors
President Barbara Shook - bshook@regionsbank.com Past President Steve Romine - sromine@mdicareers.com Regional Director / Liaison Ted Hagler - ted.hagler@motion-ind.com Publicity Maurice Myers - mmyers@amsouth.com	Secretary/Treasurer John Barnhart - jbarnhart@acipco.com Student Chapter Ryan Reeves -- need email Program Chair Natalie Nixon -- nanixon@accis.edu Membership Attendance/Acquisitions Charlie Cook - ccook@uwa.edu

AITP New Members Ari Benjaminson Randell Bullock Kenneth Lee Tory Williams Ronald Moody Andrew Guffey	Deadline for articles submitted for the next BITPRO is the first of each month. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity, accuracy, and length. All entries for publication should be submitted to by email.
AITP Region/Association	return to top
Barbara Shook your 2005 President and Board have been working to provide your Chapter with interesting speakers for this year. Please make every effort to attend every meeting. I would like to see a good many perfect attendance this year. Please give your Board any suggestions; also your Chapter needs a helping hand in several areas. So if you are called, Please say yes. Even better, get involved at each meeting and volunteer your help. It won't take that much of each person time if several are involved. At the annual AITP Conference, the new officers/directors were announced: President Brian Reithel, Ph.D. Jackson, Ms chapter; Executive Vice President Mark Gilfand Twin City, Il chapter; Secretary/Treasurer Teresa Hickerson Oklahoma City, Ok chapter and Immediate Past President Sam Luke. Western Director Jim Henry Anchorage, AK chapter; Central Director Rich Barnier Northern Il Windy City chapter; Southern Director Mark Kleine Oklahoma City, OK chapter; Eastern Director Allan Kotmel Hudson-Mohawk chapter. Review the AITP web site for more information. Let’s give each a welcome and our support. The recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Information Science Award (DISA) was announced by AITP and Robert Half Technology. Michael Armstrong, assistant city manager and chief information officer for the city of Des Moines, Iowa. Michael was chosen from nominations submitted who made contributions to advance the IT field-Congratulations Michael. Some other good news from the National Conference, two scholarships were given from the estate of Betty Stevens-Frecknall. She was a member of the Washington Chapter, chapter liaison and was president of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The criteria for this scholarship are demonstrated academic achievement, leadership and financial need. Over 230 applications were submitted for this scholarship. The selection committee named the following as recipients: Rhonda Steele of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Jenny Browne of Mesa Community College, Mesa, Ariz. Kevin Jetton Service Scholarship was also announced and was awarded for the first time. This scholarship is given by individual members of AITP, local chapters and the AITP Education (EDSIG). The criteria are demonstrated academic achievement and must be an AITP student member. The selection committee named the following recipient: Rick Hoxie of St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Io. Congratulations to these recipients and their achievements. Rhonda attends the University of Alabama so I guess we need to say “Roll Tide”. I would like to get Rhonda to one of our meetings to tell us what it meant to be a scholarship recipient. The 10th Annual AITP National Collegiate Conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia April 7 to April 9, 2005. This will involve the conference, programming contest, banner contest and many other challenges. The conference is a golden opportunity for students to get a real understanding of the computer world. Atlanta is so close, let's support our Student Chapters that would like to take this challenge. Be sure to ride the wave of technology at this conference. The Regional Student Conference and Board meeting will be held in Birmingham this year and your help will be needed now as well as the time of the conference. Maurice Myers is the chair for this conference and he is making plans, now, but needs your help. Here is your opportunity to step forward. Call or e-mail him – today. mmyers@amsouth.com 205/581-7711. The following is a list of new members to the Birmingham Chapter: Ari Benjaminson - Southern Company Randell Bullock - Southern Company Andrew Guffey - DMT/LLC Kenneth Lee - Southern Company Ronald Moody - South University Natalie Nixon - American College of Computer & Information Science Troy Williams - Southern Company Bruce Williams Please welcome these new members and introduce yourself at the next meeting. Chapter Liaison


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