President's Column |
In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman defines globalization as “....the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.”
Technology? Information? Global village? Sound like LEOS?
Friedman continues: “Globalization isn’t a choice, it’s a reality.”
It’s certainly a reality for LEOS. What once was a mostly U.S. professional society is now generally recognized as a global one, and we’re on a clear path toward still greater diversity.
Currently, 47% of our members live outside of the United States, up from 41 % in 1995. Our strongest growth is in IEEE Regions 7 (Canada) and 8 (Europe, Mid-East, Africa), where membership is up over 15%, year-to-year. Twenty-six of our 55 chapters are outside of the U.S. About 60% of the papers published in our journals are by authors from outside of the U.S.
Serving the professional needs of our members—throughout the world—is the centerpiece of our mission. Our ability to attract new members and retain existing members is the principal measure of our success.
We’re working to assure geographic diversity among the decision-makers of the Society. Several years ago, we established three new regional Vice Presidential positions—VPs of Membership and Regional Activities—for the Americas, Asia and the Pacific Rim, and Europe/Mid-East/Africa. This year, 6 of the 21 voting members of the Board of Governors, including 3 of 7 Vice Presidents, are from outside of the U.S. Two of our 6 most recent Past Presidents were from outside the U.S. We’ve tried to make it easier for these volunteers to participate. This year, for the first time, we held a Board of Governors’ meeting outside of the U.S.
We’re working to nurture our chapters outside of the U.S., which are among our most successful. This year, our Scottish chapter was named Chapter-of-the-Year, for the third time. Our Most Improved Chapter Award went to the Moscow Chapter, and the Most Innovative Chapter Award went to the Ukraine Chapter, which formed just three years ago. Over the past several years, half of our Distinguished Lecturers, who provide technical presentations at chapter meetings, have been from outside of the U.S.
Friedman describes what he calls the “electronic herd”—those who share information almost instantaneously around the world, so that everyone has access to the latest news. For us, much of the information we need is found in our journals, and our non-U.S. members have often complained about delayed arrivals. Now, all of our publications are available to members on our web site on the mailing date. Soon, they will be posted as soon as the issues are put in final form, several weeks earlier than at present. Even earlier posting dates are being considered.
The LEOS web site is being transformed into a portal, which will provide early access to news of interest to our community. It will also provide electronic versions of Distinguished Lecturer presentations, tutorials, digests of selected conferences, and a virtual trade show.
Conferences are also central to our support of members. To provide more opportunities for our non-U.S. members, we have worked with the Optical Society of America, one of our partners in CLEO, and local societies, to develop CLEO-Europe and CLEO-Pacific Rim. In 2002, the LEOS Annual Meeting will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, its first non-U.S. venue.
Recognizing that exchange rates make it difficult for members in some countries to afford IEEE and LEOS membership dues, LEOS has just established an Affiliate Group Membership program. Up to 10 scientists and engineers who belong to LEOS Affiliate Societies—usually national societies that share a common technical interest with LEOS—may join LEOS as an Affiliate Group for the regular price of a single Affiliate Membership. See the August LEOS Newsletter for details.
So we’re making progress in some areas, but there is more to be done. Recent analysis of our awards shows that we are failing to recognize effectively the professional contributions of colleagues who live outside of the U.S. Too few of our awards go to non-U.S. members and too few of our non-U.S. members have been elevated to Senior Member and Fellow Grades. The proximate cause is clear—few nominations are being submitted from abroad—but the underlying reasons are not. Is it that LEOS awards are not well advertised? Or is it differing views of the importance of peer recognition in professional development? Is it a lack of knowledge or a matter of culture?
Years ago, UNESCO used the slogan “Technology is global, culture is local.” As we continue to work to make LEOS a more effective global society, we’ll keep that thought in front of us.