Who Can Be an IEEE

Member?

Eric Herz, IEEE Director Emeritus

Ron Tabroff, R1 Membership Development Coordinator

Sections Congress 2005

Tampa, FL, USA
 The 6 Grades of Membership
1 2 3 4 5 6
Honorary Fellow Senior Member Associate Student
24 5,666 Member 237,821 Member Member
(0.0%) (1.6%) 27,007 (65.1%) 26,607 68,358
(7.4%) (7.3%) (18.7%)

Total IEEE Members = 365,483 (100%)

Higher Grade Members = 297,125 (81.3%)
Voting Members = 270,518 (74.0%)

Membership Data as of 12-31-2004

 Society Affiliates
z In addition to members, IEEE also has Affiliates.
z Affiliates are not members of IEEE, rather they
are members of an IEEE Society.

z They derive all of their benefits through their

Society membership, and are not eligible for any
IEEE benefits (e.g., Spectrum magazine,
participation in insurance programs, e-mail alias,
etc.
z At the end of 2004, there were 27,294 Affiliates in
IEEEE. 94% belong to the Computer Society.
 New Members
z New members to IEEE are assigned a grade of
either Member, Associate Member, or Student
Member (although, upon joining, they can
immediately apply for Sr. Member grade).
z To qualify as a Member they must meet specific criteria
which will be outlined in the next slides
z Associate Members are non-student candidates who do
not meet the criteria for Member grade.
z To qualify as a Student Member they must carry at least
50% of a normal full-time program in an IEEE-
designated field
 Qualifying for Member Grade

z An individual applying for membership in

IEEE (or elevating their grade) can qualify
for Member grade based on:
z Educational Background; or
z Professional Experience; or
z a combination of Educational Background and
Work Experience
Qualifying on Educational Background

z Prior to 2002, the Educational requirement needed

to qualify for Member grade was that an individual
must hold a bachelor’s degree (or equal) from an
“approved program”
z A list of “approved programs” was developed and
designated as the REP List (Recognized
Educational Programs). The list was maintained by
the REP Committee (REPCOM)
z The REP List was primarily based on accredited
programs – primarily those programs approved by
the Accreditation Board for Engineering &
Technology programs (ABET) - and approval was
for a specific program at a specific school, e.g.,
Electrical Engineering at Purdue University
Qualifying on Educational Background
(cont’d)
z The major limitations of the REP List were:
z comprised mostly U.S. programs
z maintenance of list (particularly expansion)
tended to be a difficult process.
z mechanisms for evaluating/approving non-U.S.
programs were inadequate
z ABET’s primary focus was on engineering
programs; programs that existed outside a
university’s engineering school were largely
excluded (e.g., IT)
Qualifying on Educational Background
(cont’d)
z The aforementioned limitations became
increasingly problematic because:
z IEEE was experiencing a dramatic increase in non-U.S.
members, many of whom were being assigned
Associate Member status, often despite having
legitimate Electrical or Computer Engineering degrees
z IEEE was also experiencing (and encouraging)
membership growth in less traditional fields, such as IT
and Bioengineering. These new members were also
being assigned Associate Member status
z Therefore, while on one hand IEEE was trying to
attract members from new technologies and from
non- U.S. Regions, our “rules” were sending a
conflicting message.
 Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on IT
z In 2001, IEEE President Joel Snyder appointed an ad hoc
committee to investigate making IEEE more “user-friendly” to
the IT community. The committee was headed by Dr. Doris
Carver
z The committee quickly focused on the Rep List as one area for
improvement, and recommended dividing the list in two:
1. Approved Institutions - the initial list of approved Institutions
consisted of all Institutions having an approved program on the
(former) REP List.
2. IEEE-Designated Fields - any previously approved program (but
isolated from the Institution).

z Therefore, if you graduated with a bachelors degree from any

Approved Institution in any IEEE-Designated Field, you would
be eligible to hold Member grade in IEEE
z Once a new “Institution” was added to the list, all programs
taught by that Institution that were on the IEEE-Designated
Fields list, would automatically qualify
 Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on IT
(cont’d)
z Maintenance of these lists remained the
responsibility of REPCOM, with RAB providing
assistance on the Institutions component and
TAB providing input on IEEE-Designated Fields
z The recommendations of the Presidential Ad Hoc
Committee on IT were approved by the BoD in
2002, and codified in bylaw I-104.4
z These changes saw nearly immediate results with
the number of IEEE members holding Member
grade increasing from 73.1% of all Higher Grade
members in 2002, to 79.3% in 2003, to 80.0% by
the end of 2004
 More Changes

z After the changes of the Ad Hoc Committee on IT

were implement, the initial list of IEEE-Designated
Fields contained 162 specific programs
z At TAB’s recommendation this was reduced to
six general areas:
z Engineering
z Computer Science and Information Technology
z Physical Sciences
z Biological and Medical Sciences
z Mathematics
z Technical Communications, Education, Management,
Law, and Policy
 Today’s Criteria
z Today, if you graduate with a bachelors degree
(or equivalent or higher) from an Approved
Institution in one any of these six IEEE-
Designated Fields, you are eligible to hold
Member grade in IEEE, or
z You can also qualify without any degree at all, by
having 6 years of professional work experience in
one of the six Designated Fields, or
z with a any bachelor’s degree and three years of
professional work experience in an IEEE-
Designated Field
 On The Horizon
z The BoD has approved the creation of a new
membership grade for 2006 – the Graduate
Student Member (GSM)
z To qualify for GSM, an individual must meet all
the requirements for Member grade, and also be
carrying at least 50% of a full program in an IEEE-
Designated Field
z In other words, a GSM is someone who would
otherwise qualify for Member grade, but who is
still attending school and therefore eligible for a
student discount
z GSM’s will have all the rights and privileges of
Members – including the right to vote in IEEE
elections and to hold any volunteer office
position requiring Member grade
 On The Horizon (cont’d)
z This year the BoD has requested REPCOM to
develop a plan to streamline the educational
requirement verification process
z The plan should:
z be based on a questionnaire that would allow automatic
determination for the vast majority of candidates
z rely on self-declared credentials (honor system)
z lead to the elimination of the REP List (or any list)
z allow for spot checking of veracity of information
provided
Who Can Be an IEEE Member?

PART 2
 MESSAGE

INCREASED
MEMBERSHIP IS KEY
TO YOUR SECTION AND
THE ORGANIZATION
 WHY?

z MORE CLOUT

z MORE RESOURCES

z MORE MONEY

z MORE VOLUNTEERS
 HOW?

COMMUNICATION!
VOLUNTEERS AT THE SECTION
LEVEL MUST INTERFACE DIRECTLY
WITH POTENTIAL MEMBERS IN
ORDER TO ACHIEVE POSITIVE
MEMBERSHIP RESULTS
APPROACH

z PRODUCT
z PRICE

z SERVICE
 TOOLS
z HQ’S PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

z REGIONAL MEMBERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT COORDINATORS

z OTHER SECTIONS

z SECTION INGENUITY
 COMMUNICATION

z E-MAIL
z LETTER
z TELEPHONE
z FACE-TO-FACE
 TRICKS

z PIGGYBACK MEETING

z NON-PAYING GUEST

z FOOD
 CONCLUSION

SHOW PROSPECTIVE
MEMBERS THAT IEEE IS AN
ORGANIZATION THAT CAN
ADD VALUE TO THEIR
PROFESSIONAL AS WELL AS
PERSONAL LIFE
Questions?