Hello Academy Members!

I hope this note finds you all well and able to stay safe and sound during these unprecedented times with the COVID-19 virus in our midst.  We are looking forward to the days of our state and nation’s recovery from this catastrophic pandemic event.

Looking to that future, please save the date for October 23-24, 2020, for the Academy of Computing Fall Banquet and Business Meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas!  More details will come in the future months.

The focus of this newsletter is three-fold:

• Nomination of New Members
• Membership Dues
• Scholarship Drive

Nomination of New Members:  Please help us grow our active membership by nominating individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of computing in Arkansas.  Nominees are selected based on their professional achievements, ties to Arkansas, and service to the community and making a difference in computing every day.  You can submit your nomination for new members here.  Please do so by the end of June, 2020.

Membership Dues:  Please remember that we value your participation as active members in the Academy.  Our bylaws specify that active members are dues paying members who contribute annual dues of $200 to help fund Academy activities.  You can read all about those activities and pay your 2020 annual dues at this link.

Scholarship Drive:  One of the most important impacts we can have as members of the Academy is to make a difference in the lives of students in our state’s institutions of higher learning who are working toward a degree in one of the many programs in computer science in our schools.  Our Scholarship Drive is open year-round, but we want to make a push at this time to ask you to contribute now so that we can realize our goals in support of students in Arkansas.  One major goal of the Academy is to keep the pipeline of talent coming back into the workforce to help our state move its economic engine forward through high tech jobs. The Academy provides supplemental scholarships across the state.  You can elect from the following 3 tiers of support:

• AAOC Scholarship Advocate – A contribution of $250 pays for ½ of a scholarship!
• AAOC Scholarship Sponsor – A contribution of $500 awards an entire scholarship and you may designate which program/school you would like to support!
• AAOC Scholarship Champion – Awards over $500 and consecutive awards of over $500 will be honored with a special longevity award. 

*All scholarship levels will be acknowledged at the Fall Banquet in our Banquet Program.

Last year we were able to award 40 scholarships, yet we know if we all contribute to the program, we should be able to quadruple that amount!  Let’s go for the long game this year and really make a lasting impact for computing in Arkansas!

Thank you for your participation.

See you in October and stay safe!

Susan Norton

AAOC President