President’s Letter – September 2015
Dear Academy Member,
We have four important updates in this newsletter, a couple with action required if you plan to attend the events:
1) Annual Dinner, New Member Induction and Business Meeting
2) Academy member, Dona Bailey, will speak at the Venture Center for the series Code-IT
3) U of A CSCE receives almost $1M to train Computer Science teachers
4) Techtober
ANNUAL DINNER, NEW MEMBER INDUCTION AND BUSINESS MEETING
On behalf of the Executive Committee, I am excited to announce the registration for our Annual Dinner, New Member Induction and Business Meeting on October 9 and 10.
Register now for the Dinner and New Member Induction: Friday, October 9
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arkansas-academy-of-computing-annual-banquet-tickets-18558113818
Register now for the Business Meeting: Saturday, October 10
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arkansas-academy-of-computing-annual-business-meeting-tickets-18558799870
Agenda:
Friday, October 9
Pleasant Valley Country Club (Business Attire)
1 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock, AR
Members, New Inductees, Spouses/Significant Others
6:00 – 7:00 Cocktails
7:00 – 8:00 Dinner and Distinguished Guest Speaker (Governor Asa Hutchinson invited)
8:00 – 8:30 New Member Introductions
Saturday, October 10
UALR EIT Building (Business Casual)
2801 S. University Ave, Little Rock, AR
Members Only
7:45 – 8:30 Coffee/Breakfast
8:30 – 9:00 AAoC Update
9:00 – 9:10 Dr. Frank Liu, Dept Head U of A CSCE
9:10 – 9:20 Dr. Lawrence Whitman, Dean UALR EIT
9:20 – 9:30 Break
Members and Invited Guests
9:30 – 10:20 Walter and Vance Smiley (Smiley Technologies)
10:20 – 10:30 Break
10:30 – 11:30 Entrepreneur Panel Discussion
11:30 – 12:00 Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira – Data Visualization
12:00 Closing
12:30 Optional Data Visualization Tour
A formal invitation will go out in the mail soon.
Please register now for the event (dinner and business meeting) by clicking these links. Note: You must register for both events.
Register now for the Dinner and New Member Induction: Friday, October 9
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arkansas-academy-of-computing-annual-banquet-tickets-18558113818
Register now for the Business Meeting: Saturday, October 10
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arkansas-academy-of-computing-annual-business-meeting-tickets-18558799870
ACADEMY MEMBER, DONA BAILEY, TO SPEAK AT THE VENTURE CENTER
Academy member, Dona Bailey, will speak at the Venture Center for the series Code-IT. Dona is known as pioneer in programming computer games. In 1981, she helped create the video game Centipede.
Please register using the below link for the Venture Center series Code-IT on Tuesday, September 22, 6:00pm to 7:00pm
https://www.venturecenter.co/codeitregister/
U of A CSCE RECEIVES ALMOST $1M TO TRAIN COMPUTER SCIENCE TEACHERS
Professor Dale Thompson at the Computer Science and Computer Engineering Department in the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville lead an effort on an almost $1 million NSF grant entitled Training Arkansas Computing Teachers (TACT). This grant will be used to train approximately 50 high school teachers to teach computer science in Arkansas high schools. The news release, link below, has an excellent comment from Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
http://news.uark.edu/articles/32239/u-of-a-researchers-to-lead-effort-to-train-teachers-in-computer-science?utm_source=Newswire&utm_medium=email2015-09-10&utm_campaign=u-of-a-researchers-to-lead-effort-to-train-teachers-in-computer-science
TECHTOBER
John Chamberlin has been leading an effort to recognize all the computer science and related STEM activities occurring in the state, most of which have key events in October. John has aptly named this Techtober. Please check out all the great work occurring in Arkansas!
http://startuparkansas.com/techtober
If you have any questions about our Annual Meeting, please email me or call (501) 463-6311.
Sincerely,
Gary Dowdy