Summary and Conclusion
On March 11, 2014, several members of the Executive Committee and other invited guests participated in a daylong session regarding the future of the Academy. The meeting was hosted on the Arkansas Tech University campus and facilitated by Catherine Lowry.
SUMMARY
- Our primary responsibility is to recognize individuals for their computing contributions to the State of Arkansas by the requirements set forth in our bylaws
- The History Project is a continuum of this mission
- Our secondary role is to utilize the Academy’s membership to influence and advocate computing education and jobs within our state
- Fundraising among the membership to provide direct scholarships to students is part of that commitment
- We support existing efforts in the state that overlap our mission such as the Arkansas STEM Coalition, public policy via Accelerate Arkansas, EAST, Project Lead The Way, UTeach, and like initiatives
- We should be the voice/advocate for computing in the state
- The Arkansas Academy of Computing is a statewide organization, started by the CSCE Department of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, whose scope and mission are not specifically tied to any one college or university. As such the Academy works with all public higher education systems in the state to advance computing programs
- We are a lean organization such that all funds for scholarship and other programs go directly to the intended recipients
ACTION/DISCUSSION ITEMS
- In addition to scholarships, we discussed the potential to support programs that encourage younger people into computing fields – i.e. summer programming camps, code-a-thons, etc. (see notes below on trends)
- To maintain continuity and effectiveness of the Academy, we need more “back-office” support for meeting minutes, membership database, mailings, accounting, scholarship coordination, communications and so forth
- We need to improve communications among our membership and in our communities
- How much and/or how far do we use our collective influence to influence and advocate? Do we do so outside of other venues?
MEETING DETAILS
The attendees created a Historic Map which gave a picture of AAoC’s history and when each person became involved. Following this discussion, a Context Map was developed to identify trends impacting the work of AAoC in 2014 as well as political and economic influences and customer needs.
Trends
- 50% of UAF CSCE students stay in state after school
- Changing student behavior – attention (less), attendance (less) [technology in the class room is a distraction, and teacher notes, video, etc are now online]
- Entrepreneurial students
- Soft field boundaries (schools w/o borders)
- Students are younger (getting a start in computing prior to college)
- Graduates, especially masters, are better trained, better prepared
- A lot more hiring at the master’s level than before (expectation)
- “Google education” (Code Academy, Kahn Academy, others) allows higher quality independent study
- Extreme shortage of programmers in U.S. expected by 2020
- Hack-a-thons and other programming venues have changed how companies recruit
Earlier trends that are continuing challenges
- Google, Amazon and others grabbing our top talent and pulling out of the state
- Lack of women and minorities in STEM
- Lack of education readiness/preparedness for engineering curriculum, particularly in math
- Lack of “real” Internet connectivity in most parts of the state
Political considerations affecting the Academy
- Numerous efforts in the state to advance STEM and entrepreneurship may cause confusion among parents, students, legislatures, donors, and others.
- Changes in government leadership
Economic Climate
- Lack of loyalty in corporations (hence strong focus on startups / self-employed due to layoffs, corporate changes, etc)
- Increased use of contractors and temps due the increased pace of technology change in the marketplace; i.e. easier to find 3rd parties than to hire and train for something rapidly changing
- Employers expect a level of knowledge coming into the organization
- Better economy can be a positive for fund raising
- Schools without borders such as Kahn Academy and traditional Universities (including a recent proposal for the University of Arkansas System) moving into virtual degrees and programs
Uncertainties
- Volunteers operate the Academy. Sustainability and consistency is a concern without strong “back office” support, proactive leadership along with university and membership engagement
- Being a statewide organization leaves a perceived void for the CSCE program at Fayetteville as compared to the other UA Fayetteville College of Engineering Academies
- State organizations may stay, disappear or change focus
Explore advocacy needs
- Education K-12 (the STEM/computing pipeline)
- Entrepreneurial business in Arkansas
- Programs to attract students into computing (summer camps, hack-a-thons)
- Research gap
- Teaching resources
- Consistency of programs across the state
- Help narrow the focus of STEM advocacy to computing
- Creating a one-stop-shop to help Arkansans know what programs are available and where to go
Membership
- Need for a better database of members, proactively updated
- Need to establish continuity for office of president by establishing president-elect during the mid-term
- Need to survey the membership concerning advocacy needs as seen by members (where should the Academy focus its efforts?), what other areas should we leverage this influential group?
- Need to update bylaws to limit/protect past-president executive committee commitment
- Discussed changing the time of the year when to solicit and collect dues
- Discussed need for making it easy for members to pay for banquet via credit card
Communications
- Need for a communications/advertising person on the executive committee
- Keep track of scholarship recipients following graduation (tell a story)
- Communicate externally “who we are” via press releases on scholarship, as well as activities on the history project
- Leverage engineering newsletters, statewide for scholarship, history and the president’s newsletter
- Have a communication plan
Fund Raising
- Agreed to limit scholarships at 50, or $25K
- Discussed larger scholarship amounts, and/or funding secondary programming camps or other activities to encourage young people into the field of computing
- Endowment growth
Attendees
Cathrine Lowry – Facilitating Collins Andrews Tracy Black Gary Dowdy Susan Gauch John Haley Sue Huskey George Knight Susan Norton Craig Thompson