IEEE SCORES FIRST AMENDMENT VICTORY FOR SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING
Ruling Removes USA Government Restrictions on Papers from Authors in Embargoed Countries

[Editor's Note: In the US Constitution there are a number of Amendments. The First Amendment guarantees that the government will not abridge the right to free speech and it provides for the free-flow of information.]

The IEEE scored a victory for freedom of the press and the scholarly publishing community with the ruling it received Friday from the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The ruling exempts peer review, editing and publication of scholarly manuscripts submitted to IEEE by authors living in countries that are under U.S. trade embargoes, such as Iran and Cuba. OFAC determined that IEEE's publications process is "not constrained by OFAC's regulatory programs."

The government's decision confirms the position IEEE has argued for over a year that its entire publishing process falls outside the scope of OFAC's regulations because of the Berman Amendment to the trade sanctions law that excludes the free exchange of information from OFAC's economic embargoes.

IEEE had earlier obtained a September 30, 2003 ruling from OFAC that exempted a large part of its editorial process but left uncertain whether it had to publish such papers "as is" or could edit such papers prior to final publication. This latest April 2 ruling clarifies IEEE's full freedom to engage in scholarly peer review and style and copy editing of papers, all without OFAC regulation or licensing. The earlier September 30 ruling had also been limited to Iran, while the new ruling covers authors in Cuba, Libya and Sudan as well as in Iran.

"Effective immediately, IEEE is returning to its normal publishing process for all authors, which has always been IEEE's goal," said IEEE President Arthur Winston. "Since last September's ruling, IEEE had been only publishing articles from authors in embargoed countries that met its scholarly publishing standards 'as is' without editing.

"The ruling eliminates potentially disturbing U.S. government intrusions on our scholarly publishing process and reaffirms the position IEEE has taken from the beginning that these publishing activities are protected by the First Amendment and exempt from the OFAC regulations," Winston said, who added, "This issue has been very difficult for IEEE members worldwide and of great concern to all the engineering, science and publishing communities, and we believe OFAC's new ruling will be a relief for nearly everyone."

NOMINATE SOMEONE FOR AN EDSOC AWARD

We are about to enter the award nomination season—it's time to start looking around for deserving people to nominate. The deadlines for various for awards range from June 15 to August 15th.

The Mac Van Valkenburg Award nominations are due by June 15th. This award is given to members of the IEEE Education Society who have made outstanding contributions to teaching unusually early in their professional careers.

IMPROVE TEACHING SKILLS FOR FIRST YEAR FACULTY MEMBERS
Penn State University (Pennsylvania, USA) is offering a one-week program to assist first year faculty members to improve their teaching skills.

The purpose of the program is to provide academic-track Ph.D. students and faculty in their first year an opportunity to achieve the following objectives:

• strengthen preparation as teachers of undergraduate students and, thereby, strengthen skills for the competitive job market in higher education;
• understand undergraduate students and especially appreciate diversity in terms of cultural background, age, gender, interests, and learning styles;
• improve teaching methods and examine the learning process;
• embrace future responsibilities for leadership in higher education; and
• develop confidence in becoming "change agents" at local institutions to create effective learning environments for students and faculty.

You are eligible if you are:

1. a doctoral candidate in engineering who meets the following criteria:
   • (a) you are in your last two years of study with expected graduation date no later than August 2005, and,
   • (b) you have a strong interest in pursuing an academic teaching career. Teaching experience is preferred but not necessary;
2. an assistant professor with one year or less in a position;
3. a post-doctoral associate.

The selection process will include criteria to assure a diverse population in terms of geography, engineering discipline, gender, ethnic background, and institution.

ASYNCHRONOUS CHATS VIA EDSOC MAILING LIST
An online discussion has been scheduled and confirmed for mid-April with Ted Batchman, who will talk about "Getting Published in the IEEE Transactions on Education."

An asynchronous discussion is about ready to get underway with James Tien the IEEE Vice President for Educational Activities. He will be talking about the 'Role of the Educational Activities Board (EAB).' The exact start date is fluid at this point; but should be within the next 2-4 days. Dr. Tien has a very hectic schedule and setting this-up has been a learning experience for this editor.

In order to participate in either or both of these events you will need to be subscribed to the Education Society's (EdSoc) mailing list.

SEARCHING FOR...??
If you have read something in a News&Notes bulletin, or, you have read something on the Education Society's (EdSoc) Web site but can't locate it, just use the EdSoc Search feature. The hyperlink to the Search page is located on the left-hand side of all primary EdSoc Web pages. The Search feature will scan the entire EdSoc Web site holdings, which, among other things, includes a treasure trove of articles from CD ROM based Supplements to the IEEE Transactions on Education.

USA NAE SPONSORS COMMUNITY COLLEGE-4 YR COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS
The USA's National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is holding a workshop on July 7-8, 2004, that will focus on community college engineering programs and successful partnerships between community colleges and four year institutions in engineering. This workshop is a critical step in an effort to identify opportunities to improve community college pathways for students who seek baccalaureate degrees and careers in engineering, and the NAE needs your help in making this program a success.

Notable programs that have a strong record of recruiting and retaining community college transfer students to four-year institutions will be invited to this workshop in Washington, D.C. and asked to make a presentation about their achievements. In addition, the workshop will provide an opportunity for representatives of these programs and other stakeholders to help outline key research questions for a comprehensive study on community college roles in engineering education and creating an action guide for key change agents.

ITHET CONFERENCE IN TURKEY
The 5th International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training: ITHET ‘04 will be held in Turkey from May 31 through June 2, 2004.

The convergence of current technologies provides the infrastructure for transmitting and storing information faster and cheaper. For information to be used in gaining knowledge, however, environments for collecting, storing, disseminating, sharing and constructing knowledge are needed. Such environments, knowledge media, brings together the telecommunication, computer and networking technologies, learning theories and cognitive sciences to form meaningful environments that provides for a variety of learner needs. The World Wide Web is one such technology that provides access to valuable educational resources such as e-mail, e-groups, bulletin board services, audio conferencing, video conferencing, e-journals, search engines and databases. The web is also used to deliver online instruction or support conventional courses. The effective online delivery of instruction depends on fast and timely delivery of instructions in learning environments that cater to students’ academic, administrative and support needs. ITHET2004 aims to provide an environment for experts to discuss the current state of the art for learning both in industry and universities. Virtual environments, e-training and e-learning will be topics of particular interest.

ENCORE: INTERACTIVE COMPUTER AIDED LEARNING CONFERENCE—AUSTRIA
This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences gained while developing and testing elements of interactive computer aided learning. This conference will be organized by the Carinthia Tech Institute, Villach, Austria.