NSBE - January/February 2008 - (Page 22)

REGIONALNEWS What’s Happening, Now? REGION II DoMinique n. hArriS, ChAir What were your best and worst regional or chapter meetings? BEST: Any meeting in which the entire Region II family is together is considered one of my best regional meetings. The 2007 Regional Leadership Conference marked the first time of the 2007–08 school year in which the membership had the opportunity to interact with the regional leadership. The Regional Leadership Conference is the event in which directives, regional goals and expectations are delivered to the membership. The meetings at our Regional Leadership Conference allow for Regional and Chapter Executive Board members to come together and commit their chapters to the Mission, National Directives, and Regional Goals of NSBE. These meetings are the best simply because they are 22222222-HYPE!!! WORST: There is no such thing as a worst meeting just a meeting in which we need to improve. A good example of this is the regional meeting that took place at our Summer Camping Conference. At this meeting, we only had half of our board present and barely made quorum, which is important in conducting regional business. This experience just stressed the importance of having people running for regional board positions at the Annual National Convention and electing a complete regional board to start the NSBE year off strong. In your opinion, who was your region’s MVP (Most Valuable Player) and why? There are several MVPs within the region, ranging from Regional Executive Board and Chapter Executive Board members to dedicated general body members. Making the selection of one regional MVP was difficult. But it gives me great pleasure to announce Cherlisa (“Lisa”) Tarpeh as 22 • january/february Region II’s Most Valuable Player for this issue of NSBE Magazine. Her particular strengths lie in the areas of modesty, accountability, influence and resiliency. Lisa’s hard work manifested itself at Region II’s Fall Regional Conference, where we received glowing reviews of our workshops, many of which she had a hand in planning or conceiving. The membership also loved the programmatic content of the conference, and that also can be directly attributed to Lisa, whose leadership of the Programs Zone as a whole enabled the competitions and Pre-College Initiative miniconference to go off without a hitch. Lisa is also immersed in the business of the region, being actively engaged in topics discussed during regional executive officer (REO) meetings, offering her opinions during Regional Executive Board meetings and bringing up new ideas on various things to both myself and the chair. For her integral role on our Board, we’ve chosen Lisa as Region II’s MVP. REGION IV STACyAnn P. ruSSell, ChAir Who was the most memorable host or hostess on a trip for regional business? The most memorable host of the region in November was Jason Franklin and the Michigan State University NSBE Chapter. Region IV Vice Chair Christopher Bellomy traveled to MSU for a chapter visit, and when he arrived he was astonished. He walked into a room of more than 50 members who welcomed him as if he were family. It is not unusual for the MSU Spartans to have more than 50 people at their meetings, but President Franklin’s ability to make the meetings personal to his members, as if there are only 10 people there, is truly a talent. When Vice Chair Bellomy strategized with MSU on how to make their chapter stronger, they embraced the open dialogue as “family talk after dinner.” It is very important that NSBE members and leaders be able to converse and conduct business in an unintimidating environment to make NSBE stronger www.nsbe.org 2008 • http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - January/February 2008

NSBE - January/February 2008
Contents
The Pursuit of Excellence
Using Our Power
The Power of Belief
Saying It Well
Premier Profile: Owen Weston of U.S. Steel
NSBE Protégés Receive White House Honor
Regional News
International News
Fostering Competitiveness Through Innovation and Diversity
'Netting a Job
Why Graduate School?
NSBE Love
NSBE Calendar
"Igniting the Torch: Engineering in Action"
NSBE Golden Torch Awards
The AE Niche
Thinking Green
AE Members On the Move
CE Cover: Rough Road, Fun Ride
Join NSBE's Journey to Mars!
Advertisers Index

NSBE - January/February 2008