Published on June 26, 2012

from Julia Williams, PCS President (juliawilliams@ieee.org)

New Year, New Plans for PCS

The new year customarily means new plans—for your health, your career, your future.  With the beginning of 2012, the IEEE Professional Communication Society embarks on new plans to better serve you, the members of PCS. In the coming months, you’ll be hearing from me about activities and services that are designed to help meet your needs as a communicator, whether you are a working engineer, a professional technical communicator, an educator, or just someone who is passionate about effective communication!

Part of that effort will be focused on bringing content to you through this President’s eNotice and the PCS website.  For instance, Susan Cain, author of the forthcoming book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking,” recently challenged the dominance of teams in workplaces.  In her article in the New York Times (January 13, 2012), she argued for the superiority of individual creativity, citing Steve Wozniak of Apple as an example.  Link to "The Rise of the New Groupthink."

New Members of the PCS Advisory Committee

Check out the new members of the AdCom.  These individuals volunteer their time and expertise to manage the operations of PCS.  I hope you will contact them with your ideas and suggestions for PCS.  Link to the PCS AdCom

New PCS Strategic Plan

Before the 2011 International Professional Communication Conference on the campus of the University of Cincinnati, members of the PCS AdCom spent two days crafting a new Strategic Plan for our society.  Our focus in the coming year is to design content and services that meet the needs of working engineers, engineering educators, and individuals communicating in a global context.  I will be announcing new content on the PCS Website that reflects our strategic focus.

New Plans for IPCC 2012

Proposals for our annual conference were due on January 16th.  George Hayhoe (Mercer University) is conference  chair, and he has gathered an impressive team that will manage our conference at the University of Central Florida, October 8-10.  Link to IPCC 2012

New President

I assumed duties as PCS President on January 1, 2012, but I have been a member of PCS since 1997.  At that time, I was new to engineering communication, and I was in search of a professional society that could help me establish contacts with others who worked in the field.  PCS provided me with networking opportunities, a high-quality journal to publish in, and recognition among the engineers I work with at Rose-Hulman.  IEEE is leading force internationally for technological development, and PCS is a part of that work.  Link to IEEE.