President's Message - August 2009

Monica Silver, P.E. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Summer has gone by so quickly with vacations, work, and conferences. I hope everyone has enjoyed it, even with the extremely hot Houston temperatures. Hopefully the break has helped to prepare each of us for the challenges ahead. This year holds several, including keeping the Chapter’s very important educational programs, and scholarships, at a level at least equal to last year in light of the current economy.

As President, one of my goals is to increase the number of active members in the Greater Houston Chapter of TSPE. This means that committee sizes will increase along with the number of members that attend program meetings. Momentum and value will be gained as the number of active members increase. I also plan to focus on ways to keep current members in the Chapter by making them aware of the value they receive from their membership. The best way for a member to get value from the Society is to get involved. Member’s career needs can be met by participating in Chapter activities. I urge current inactive members and new members to find a committee to join. Volunteer opportunities are never more important and necessary as now. Lastly, I plan to increase the fundraising effort this year by hosting both a Fall golf tournament and a Spring Luncheon to be able to continue the current programs and Scholarships.

If you are a Professional Engineer, or on the track to become a Professional Engineer, please consider becoming more active or joining the Society. The Greater Houston Chapter is the local chapter of TSPE. The Society’s mission is to promote the ethical, competent and licensed practice of professional engineering in order to protect the public and enhance the professional, social and economic well being of the members. The Society supports the interests of the member individual Professional Engineer member through political and legislative involvement, leadership training, professional development, and participation in programs and efforts to raise awareness of the impact of engineering upon public health and well being.

The Chapter has active committees such as the Legislative and Governmental Affairs committee which will keep members up to date on legislative issues that affect the Engineering Profession. The Professional Licensing committee tracks and provides updates to getting licensed and rule changes. The Leadership Forum along with leadership opportunities in the Chapter provides the training you need to progress in your career. Education programs provide the opportunity to “give back’ and scholarships continue to help new engineers in their educational process.

Every level of experience is welcome and needed in the Chapter. There are committees that still need volunteers. Please contact the committee chair on the Chapter website at www.tspehouston.org or me at msilver@cobfen.com. Continuing Education Units and ethics credits can be obtained by service on the board and attendance at membership meetings.

The Greater Houston Chapter of TSPE 2009-2010 fiscal year has begun on the right track with a good attendance of members at the Leadership Conference in Boerne, Texas that was held on August 14 and 15. Jim Dalton was the keynote speaker this year. He continued his leadership training by building on the leadership tools and concepts from the previous year. During last years training Mr. Dalton focused on challenging Professional Engineers to find ways to identify distinguishing differences between having an engineering degree and being a Professional Engineer. This year he pushed the discussion further and urged Professional Engineers to look out on the horizon for faint signals of what the future of Engineering will be in the next 25 years. He said to think about what issues Engineers will be facing and determine what we need to do as a group to prepare. There is an Engineering Summit planned this year to continue the discussion. I look forward to hearing the outcome and reporting back to the membership.

The Greater Houston Chapter of TSPE was presented the Region IV award for the Best Programs and Best Newsletter for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Congratulations to all that put forth effort to make it happen.

A Legislative breakout session visually showed members how the legislative process works. Universities were used instead of political parties. You can only imagine how interesting it got. The TSPE Political Action Committee for Engineers (PACE) were able to defeat the anti-QBS legislation this last session. The PACE needs continued support to continue to fight on behalf of this issue as well as other critical issues to our profession. Any amount is accepted. Please make an investment in your future. Forms will be available at the membership meetings.

The next membership meeting will be a luncheon on September 8, 2009 at HESS where David Howell from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers (TBPE) will cover recent Rule Changes. A one hour Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in Ethics can be obtained from attended the meeting to fulfill your yearly Professional Engineering license requirement. The State Agency Banquet will be held on October 22, 2009 at the Headliner’s Club in downtown Austin.

Please check the website for more detailed information about these and other upcoming Events like the golf tournament, Mathcounts committee meetings and future membership meetings.

Respectfully submitted,
Monica Silver, PE
President – TSPE Greater Houston Chapter

18-August-2009 8:00 PM

TSPE Houston - Articles

President's Message - August 2009