Outstanding Chapter

This award honors an outstanding IEEE Chapter, Council, or Affinity Group each year. Extraordinary performance greatly benefits the members of your Section. It attracts non-members to attend its meetings and events and encourages them to join the IEEE and that Society. It benefits industry and society in general by providing leading edge educational programs. There are separate award categories for Women in Engineering and Life Member Affinity Groups.

There are many good Chapters but only a few outstanding ones. We want to motivate Chapters, Councils, and Affinity Groups to strive to be outstanding. Therefore the bar for this award is high. The following list is the requirements to apply for this award:

1. A minimum of 8 meetings per year.
2. A webpage that is updated at least monthly so all information is correct and up to date.
3. A growing membership. It does not matter if there are 15 members or 1000. What matters is that it is growing, and not shrinking.
4. A positive balance in their bank account. It does not matter if it is $250 or $50,000 as long as they have enough to sustain all of their expenses and meetings on their own without asking the Section for financial aid.
5. A high quality annual report to their Section Excom.
6. There should be an active effort to invite and engage university students in the technical area of the Chapter and this shall be documented.
7. Organizing an annual conference or educational day is a plus.
8. Filing of their meeting reports and financials with the Section and IEEE by or before the deadline, completely, and accurately.
9. If a Chapter wins this award at the Section level, they must wait two years before applying again.

Nomination and Operational Suggestions

The best Chapters have an active liaison program with industry. They attract both audience participation from those companies and they attract knowledgeable speakers for lectures and panels. Some chapters get companies to sponsor their food in exchange for a table at the meetings where the company can show their products. Some Chapters, Councils, or Affinity Groups even obtain financial grants to their organizations. This can help fund conferences and workshops.

Content required in the online form:

the full name of your Chapter /Technical Council / Affinity Group (fill in box)

Is this a joint chapter of two or more Societies? List them (fill in box with details)

in which City, State are your meetings? (fill in box)

Name of the current Chapter Chair (fill in box)
Chapter Chair’s daytime phone number (fill in box)
Chapter Chair’s evening phone number (fill in box)
Chapter Chair’s email address (fill in box)

Name of the current Chapter Vice Chair (fill in box)
Chapter Vice Chair’s email address (fill in a box)

Name of the current Chapter Secretary (fill in box)
Chapter Secretary’s email address (fill in box)

Name of the current Chapter Treasurer (fill in box)
Chapter Treasurer’s email address (fill in box)

the Chapter’s Website URL (fill in box)
Is the Chapter Website up to date monthly? (Y/N)

What information can be found on the Chapter Website? (check all that apply)

• Current executive committee officer names, Officer contact information, Officer headshot photos,
• Calendar of upcoming meetings and events, Photos from recent events or activities,
• Do you sponsor Student Branches?,
• Links to other IEEE web pages including your Society and your Section,
• Corporate sponsors,
• Chapter meeting minutes, Archives of previous meetings,
• other (fill in box)

Has your membership grown since last May? Describe the trends such as number, IEEE vs non-IEEE. (fill in box with details)

How many open technical meetings have you held in the past 12 months ending April 30 of this year? (fill in box)

Please attach a PDF showing your meeting attendance for the past 12 months with bars separately indicating IEEE members and non-members. (upload a PDF)

How many symposia and conferences have you held in the past 12 months ending April 30 of this year? (fill in box)

Attach a PDF containing a list and description of all of the technical meetings, symposia, and conferences that your Chapter ran in the past 12 months up to April 30 of this year. (upload a PDF)

Attach a PDF of your financial report comparing last May to this April 30 (upload a PDF)

Attach a PDF of your annual report to your Section Excom (upload a PDF)

Explain how you are inviting University students to participate in your meetings, symposia, and conferences. Do you provide any free or subsidized registration? (fill in box with details)

Were your meeting reports and financial statements filed on time with both your Section and the IEEE? (Y/N)

Does your Chapter have a liason, sponsorship, or financial support from industry? (Y/N)

If Yes, please provide brief details (fill in box with details)

Suggested Citation (fill in box with details)