IEEE-HKN Merger Update

[Andrew Muehlfeld (Alpha Alum - UIUC)]

Over the past couple weeks I have corresponded with some of the
members of the IEEE committees overseeing the merger. In particular,
Joe Lillie, the chairman of the top committee overseeing the merger,
called me and we spoke at length over the phone. I want to share what
I have learned about what’s happening behind the scenes.

Joe Lillie was somewhat of an outsider regarding the merger, right up
until he volunteered to lead the committee. Like us, he noticed that
the merger was proceeding under the oversight of very few people, and
he volunteered to lead the committee in order to ensure that a larger
group of people, consisting of people who were not previously heavily
involved, would be determining how the merger unfolds. He assembled
sub-committees consisting largely of people with long histories of HKN
involvement. He also included people who were resistant to the
merger, in hopes of sparking good debates leading to the best
decisions. I was thoroughly pleased and impressed with the details of
how he is handling the responsibilities of overseeing the merger.
This phase is being handled, very, very differently from anything we
have seen so far. After learning about who is on the teams currently
making decisions about the merger, I feel assured that HKN’s interests
are indeed well represented.

To further demonstrate his desire to have a wide range of
perspectives, and ensure that HKN’s thoughts are presented throughout
the discussions, he and Babak Beheshti invited me to join the Student
Branch – Chapter Relationship Working Group, one of the subcommittees
overseeing the merger.

Our subcommittee had a teleconference today, and the discussion left
me with even better feelings than I had after speaking with Joe
Lillie. The overwhelming theme of the conference was that changes at
the student HKN chapter level will be absolutely minimal. For me, and
I expect for all of us, it was an enormous relief to hear this
directly from the IEEE committee responsible for deciding what the
changes will be. The committee was open minded, considered much of my
input in their next action items, and was sincerely interested in
doing what will be best for both HKN and IEEE.

I was able to confirm a few items we have discussed before. First,
anyone who joins HKN will remain, permanently, in IEEE’s database as a
lifetime inductee of HKN, regardless of their status as a member of
IEEE. Those who choose to pay membership to IEEE will additionally be
listed in IEEE’s database as members of IEEE-HKN. Second, HKN
initiates will continue to pay initiation dues as they do now, and
will receive a one year IEEE student membership for free. Third, HKN
members will continue to elect the HKN Board of Governors. The IEEE
Member and Geographic Activities Board will nominate two people, both
of whom must be HKN members, to run for one additional board
position. HKN members will vote to select one of those two nominees
to fill the one new position. The MGA will make its suggestions to
HKN through that board member, but decisions will still be handled by
the HKN Board of Governors.

There will be some changes, but they seem minimal to me, and I suspect
the average member would never notice. First, chapter reports which
are currently submitted to headquarters in October might instead be
submitted in November. Second, HKN will also be opened to IEEE’s
fields of interest. For example, a materials engineer studying
semiconductors for electrical engineering applications could be
considered for membership in HKN. I would be surprised if it became a
common occurrence, since people outside ECE typically gain interest in
IEEE later in their careers. I have never heard of a non-ECE major
active in a student branch of IEEE, and I would suspect it would be
similar for HKN. Conversely, someone from another major with enough
interest in IEEE to consider joining, would certainly fit in well with
HKN. Third, IEEE and HKN student branches will be encouraged to
collaborate when convenient. Most already do, so this “change” is
really just a pat on the back. To support the claim that this is
already commonplace, if you google “IEEE HKN” the fourth hit is a link
with information on a joint IEEE/HKN social event at my very own Alma
Matter. Finally, as we all know, documents will be search-and-
replaced, swapping HKN to IEEE-HKN.

In short, I hope that we can all see that the merger is entering a new
phase which is being handled in an entirely different way. HKN's
interests are being well represented by a group of people entirely
independent from those who were involved previously. We have been
assured from the decision makers themselves, that changes will be
minimal at the chapter level. And finally, we have been assured by
the decision makers themselves, that the things we found most
important will be handled in a way that may not be absolutely perfect,
but is certainly good, and far better than what some had feared.

Please share your thoughts so I can bring the opinions of all HKN
members to the committee. Also, the merger discussion is nearing its
two year anniversary, and many of us have graduated. Please forward
this google group to any up-and-coming leaders at your chapter, so
they can provide their input too.

- Andrew Muehlfeld
Alpha Chapter Alum