BITPRO

February 28 Dinner Meeting Tuesday, February 28, 2006 ~ Jim 'n' Nicks ~ 220 Oxmoor Rd. in Homewood ~ 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Timothy J. Duncan Timothy J. Duncan is employed by Ameriprise Financial Services (formerly American Express Financial Advisors). He was born in 1971 and graduated from UAB in 1995. He holds a Series 7 (Stock broker) and Series 66 (Life & Health insurance) license. Tim provides comprehensive financial planning in the following areas: retirement, investments, insurance, taxes, education, and estate. He works with individuals, families, and small business owners to find the best products to fit their needs. One of the things he likes to do is offer company seminars through Financial Education and Planning Services (FEPS). Tim’s firm administers 401(k) and other retirement plans for businesses.
President's Message	return to top
If you are not up to date on technology, you should be now. Our presentation last month was given by Sean from the “Geek Squad” at Best Buy. He brought us the latest laptop, new laptop batteries and computer cell phone. My favorite was the new gadget to hook to my cable line so I could watch cable on my laptop for even as far away as Iraq. I was ready to go and buy everything. Sean did a great job. Every month I receive several e-mails from AITP leadership. Before I became president, most of the time I would skim through them and delete. But since last year I have been making sure to read them to pass along as much information to you as I can. I truly believe AITP is a worthwhile organization. We strive to keep up our group up on technology, we mentor students and we raise money for charities. We are also offered discounts through membership. I hope we will continue to pursue these qualities and can share them as our membership grows. See you at the dinner meeting Chapter President
Student Scholarship	return to top
Robert Half Technology and AITP will once again offer scholarships to AITP Student Members. These scholarships will be awarded at the NCC in Dallas, Texas on the evening of April 1, 2006. The deadline for these scholarships is February 25, 2006. To be eligible, you must be: A declared computer science/CIS/MIS/IT major with an overall and major GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent). Enrolled as a full-time (12 semester hours or equivalent) undergraduate or graduate student at an accredited college of university in the United States. A student who has satisfactorily completed at least one full semester of college (12 semester hours or equivalent). A US Citizen or permanent US resident. An AITP Student member. Complete details on the RHT scholarships are available at http://www.aitp.org/ncc/ncc2006/aitp/RHT-AITPScholarship.html.
eCycle Day
TechBirmingham Ecycling Day 2006... IN THE WORKS We are currently beginning the early planning stages for our next community-wide event on Saturday, April 22, 2006. Check back here often and start setting aside any items that could be donated! Items We Accepted: Desktop computers Laptop computers Computer monitors Keyboards and input devices Printers Scanners Fax machines and small copiers (working condition) Digital cameras PDAs and handheld devices Game systems Printer cartridges (laser and inkjet) Cell phones
AITP Region/Association	return to top
Networking is one of the cornerstones of AITP membership. This statement came from AITP Association President, Mark Gilfand, CDP. This is so true to our organization and if you are not making the monthly meetings you’re missing out on this opportunity. Visit the AITP website at: http://www.aitp.org and read the article that Mark Gilfand, CDP wrote and titled “AITP – Opportunities for Networking and Growth”. AITP Professional Member Recruitment Committee is conducting a Chapter Promotion Pilot program for assisting membership promotion at a local level. Our Chapter needs the results now but the pilot will not end until May of this year. Hopefully, this program will be beneficial to our Chapter. The pilot Chapters are the following: Houston Chapter, Capitol Chapter, Northwest Chapter – Minneapolis, Delaware Chapter, Polk County Chapter, Akron Chapter, Richmond Chapter, and Puget Sound Chapter. I will follow up on this whenever I hear any response. Don’t forget student’s time is running out, new and renewals are receiving a discount through February. Students who join AITP or renew their student membership in January or February will receive a $10 discount on their dues. Also, the offering for scholarships, dead-line is very near to the closing dates. If there are students wanting to apply for these scholarships, you need to get the applications in immediately. Information Technology (AITP) National Collegiate Conference (NCC) event will be March 30-April 1, 2006 in Dallas, Texas. The deadline for the early bird registration discount ($25) is fast approaching. The keynote panel on “Preparing for Today’s IT Job Market,” will be very informative for anyone wanting to learn more about the IT world. Don’t miss this event. More information about this conference can be found on the AITP website: http://www.aitp.org./ncc. Barbara Shook and the Board have been working to provide your Chapter with interesting speakers this year. Please make every effort to attend the meetings in 2006; Birmingham Chapter needs you to attend to keep the Chapter alive. Our attendance is dropping therefore we need the support from each member. If you missed January meeting, you missed a good one that gave us a look at the new equipment on the market. Hope to see you at Jim N' Nicks, February 28 for a little barbecue, a good meeting, and time to network with other associates. Bring a guest this month. Chapter Liaison

Board of Directors
	President Barbara Shook - bshook@regionsbank.com Executive Vice President Ryan Reeves -- rreeves@uspipe.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 Julio Rivera -- jrivera@uab.edu Newsletter Paul Stewart -- pbs@uwa.edu	Awards Chair Gaddis Key -- gkey18@alltel.net Program Chair Andrea Simmons -- jarvischristian@aol.com Membership Attendance/Acquisitions Charlie Cook - ccook@uwa.edu

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.


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