NSBE - November/December 2008 - (Page 9)

From the NationalChair How We Got Over By Stevenson A. Dunn Jr. NSBE National Chair N SBE family, with all of the shouting for and against our great organization’s first-ever Annual International Convention in Toronto, in 2010, I’ve heard some NSBE members yearning to go back to the good old days of our Society, when all decisions were unanimous, all of our members were always happy, and everything ran smoothly from planning to implementation. Yeah, I remember that time! That was back in uh…. No, actually, it was… Well, not really then but uh… The fact of the matter is, family, when you delve into NSBE’s history, you realize that our greatest achievements have come during times of conflict and disagreement. Cases in point: In 1975, when African Americans were still struggling to realize the gains made on paper during the Civil Rights Movement, a small group of black students decided then was the time to stop the bleeding of black students from engineering programs and begin injecting new black students into the field, not only on their home campus of Purdue University but across the nation. This group was called radical, crazy and worse, sometimes by their own people. Thirty-three years later, the 31,118-member, international engineering society they founded has a nickname for them — “the Chicago Six” — and praises them as activists of incredible vision. In 1976, one member of that society, Virginia Booth, enraged part of its male-dominated leadership when she decided to run for the organization’s highest office. That election allegedly was stolen from her, but she ran again in 1978 and became NSBE’s first female national chair. Her Executive Board fought off outsiders’ efforts to end NSBE, and they led the movement to charter chapters across the country. She became NSBE’s first national chair to serve two terms. Twenty-one years ago, when Gary S. May, Ph.D., now professor at Georgia Tech and a NSBE national advisor, was NSBE national chair, the Society was housed in rental space in an office building in Washington, D.C. That never seemed right to Dr. May, whose father, Warren May Jr., had taught him, “It’s always better to have your own.” But Chairman May’s proposal to purchase a building for NSBE ran into fierce opposition from the National Executive Board, who said buying a $350,000 building at 344 Commerce St. in Alexandria, Va., would be “too expensive,” “a waste of money,” “too risky,” and so on. Today, NSBE is the proud, prosperous owner of its third World Headquarters building, a $3.6-million, 19,000-square foot facility in Alexandria. In 2005, when Carl B. Mack was interviewed for the position of NSBE executive director, the board asked him, “What’s your goal?” Mack, knowing NSBE’s 30-year history as an organization for students in middle “…When we pull together and use our collective NSBE P.O.W.E.R. for a common goal, history has shown us that we can achieve greatness.” school through college, said he wanted to see more black children going into college than jail and suggested a radical change. He wanted to expand NSBE’s programs to the elementary school level. Many in NSBE disagreed strongly, but today the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) Camp is an unqualified success. It has gotten hundreds of elementary and middle school students enthusiastic about science, technology, engineering and math, and has attracted unprecedented funding support and media attention for NSBE’s work. NSBE family, as we continue planning for our best-ever Annual Convention in Las Vegas in 2009, let’s remember the path that has brought NSBE this far. It hasn’t always been a smooth one, but when we pull together and use our collective NSBE P.O.W.E.R. for a common goal, history has shown us that we can achieve greatness. ■ • november/december www.nsbe.org 2008 • 9 http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - November/December 2008

NSBE - November/December 2008
Contents
How We Got Over
Obama Wins!
LaTanjia Robinson of Aerojet
Membership News: You Did It Again!
Cash In Your GPA!
NSBE-AE Signs On
Growing from One Love
New York Renaissance
Toronto Welcomes NSBE Convention Planners
Regional Officer Reconnects in Ghana
Texas A&M - College Station, NSBE's Distinguished Chpater of the Year
Lifetime Members: 118 and Counting!
NSBE Midshipmen
Vision and Change
The AE Niche
Thinking Green
Blacks in Computer Science: The Secrets of Their Success
NSBE Calendar
AE Programs Address Critical Goals
AE Members on the Move
Making Games for the Masses
Advertisers Index

NSBE - November/December 2008