Cleveland State University Student Branch
An Outstanding Example of Professional Achievements

Professional activities are not new to students attending Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to inviting technical speakers, taking field trips to local industry, and participating in IEEE regional conferences, this student branch has a long history of bringing an awareness of the professional nature of Electrical Engineering to their members and other students.

For example, a total of 8 Student Professional Awareness Conferences (S-PACs) have been hosted by this student branch in 1984, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2000. The next conference is planned for April 5, 2002. This is evidence of one of the most consistent conference programs in the United States and has resulted in hundreds of students increasing their understanding of the value of including professionalism in their career plans.

During the summer of 2000, the student branch officers, William Stempowski, David Wladyka, Rajiv Chokshi, and Eric Rossi starting planning their 2000-2001 school year activities. With input from the Coordinator of Student Career Development Activities, they planned three major new activities:

• Initiated and hosted a Student Leadership Training Workshop for their students and representatives of several schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania
  
  

  • Workshop was completed on Saturday, September 30, 2000

  • Workshop attended by 17 student leaders from four major universities

  • Workshop facilitated by John Paserba, Region 2 SCDA Support Coordinator

  • Three S-PACs planned for spring 2001 by the visiting schools

• Implemented the Graduate Resource And Network Database (GRAND) Student Professional Awareness Venture (S-PAVe)
  
  

  • Developed a webpage database for alumni and members of the IEEE Cleveland Section

  • Expanded the database to include undergraduate and graduate students and provided a process in which students could evaluate and share experiences obtained during co-op work assignments

  • Conducted a workshop for student members to obtain an IEEE e-mail alias address so they can be contacted in future years to work with the student branch

  • Enrolled over 100 students, alumni and section members in the database

  • Provided list of graduates to IEEE sections so the sections can contact them and offer their resources and services after the students have left school

  • Packaged the webpage database and offered this as a resource to other student branches so they can easily develop their own GRAND S-PAVe and database

• Implemented Network Workshop and Business Card Exchange (NW-BCE) S-Pave
  
  

  • Conducted a networking workshop to prepare students for social environments in which they need to make positive impressions during first time contacts

  • Provided information on writing professional thank-you letters so students can practice business written communication skills

  • Printed business cards for students attending the Business Card Exchange

  • Arranged for alumni, industry and faculty to attend the Business Card Exchange

  • Arranged a social setting with food and beverages and provided an environment in which students practiced social skills by meeting new people

  • Encouraged students to send thank-you letters after Business Card Exchange

• Participated in the regional student conference
  
  

  • Attended the regional conference and participated in student activities

  • Participated with the Coordinator of Student Career Development Activities in a discussion of GRAND S-PAVe and webpage data base at the evening banquet

  • Initiated contacts with students at other student branches to help them use a CD version of the webpage database and to implement their own GRAND S-PAVe

  • Developed and offered a networking link between each webpage database so students can expand their contacts beyond their own database

• Coordinated Joint Engineering Council Annual Picnic for past 5 years

• Organized workshop on financial strategies for entire engineering department

• Initiated process to continue strong student branch and successful future activities
  
  

  • Worked with sophomore and junior students to prepare them to be officers

  • Initiated reporting system to document professional activities of the student branch and provided reports to the department chairperson to be used in ABET EC 2000 Accreditation reviews

  • Strengthened partnership with Cleveland IEEE Section so their support will continue for future student branch activities

  • Initiated planning for S-PAC in 2002

  • Initiated process to include alumni from past five years in the database as a resource for future student branch program speakers and industry field trip contacts

   

Prepared by Jim Watson, PE
Region 2 Student Career Development Coordinator
1/7/02