IEEE USA News
 IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, NW, Suite 1202 - Washington, DC 20036-5104
Tel: +1 202 785 0017 - Fax: +1 202 785 0835
Web: https://www.ieeeusa.org
 
Greg Hill, Member & Electronic Communications Coordinator
g.hill@ieee.org, 202-785-0017, ext. 8335 www.ieeeusa.org
 

CONTENTS
- FIRST WOMEN ELECTED TO IEEE-USA PRESIDENCY, MEMBER-AT-LARGE
- IEEE-USA STUDY NOTES CHANGES IN PERCEPTIONS TOWARD OLDER AMERICANS IN WORKPLACE
 
 
- FIRST WOMEN ELECTED TO IEEE-USA PRESIDENCY, MEMBER-AT-LARGE
WASHINGTON, D.C. (10 November 2000) - The results of the 2000 IEEE/IEEE-USA
annual elections are in, and for the first time in IEEE-USA's 27-year
history, a woman has been chosen as President. LeEarl A. Bryant becomes
the fifth IEEE-USA President directly elected by the IEEE's U.S. members,
to follow 2001 President Ned R. Sauthoff. In another first for the IEEE's
woman members, Shelly R. Born was voted IEEE-USA Member-at-Large,
2001-2002. For background information on the IEEE-USA elections and
candidates, visit our nominations and elections Web page at
<https://www.ieeeusa.org/election/index.html>
 
In the IEEE election, Raymond D. Findlay was selected as IEEE
President-Elect, 2001. Congratulations to all of our new officers and good
luck!
 
Please note that these results of the 2000 IEEE annual election, as
certified by the IEEE Tellers Committee on 9 November 2000, are unofficial
until the IEEE Board of Directors accepts the Report of the IEEE Tellers
Committee at its meeting of 3 December 2000. In 2000, there were no
Constitutional Amendments. The number of ballots mailed was 248,196. The
number of valid ballots returned was 49,688. The rate of return was 20.02
percent.
 
The candidates elected in the other IEEE-wide elections are listed below:
 
OFFICE OF DIVISION DELEGATE/DIVISION DIRECTOR, 2001-2002
 
Division II Thomas M. Jahns
Division VI Loretta J. Arellano
Division X Toshio Fukuda
 
OFFICE OF DIVISION DELEGATE-ELECT/DIRECTOR-ELECT, 2001
 
Division V Guylaine M. Pollock
 
OFFICE OF REGION DELEGATE-ELECT/DIRECTOR-ELECT
 
Region 2, 2001-2002 Moshe Kam
Region 4, 2001-2002 Burton J. Loupee
Region 6, 2001-2002 Evelyn H. Hirt
Region 10, 2001-2002 Jung U. Seo
 
 
STANDARDS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT-ELECT, 2001
 
Ben C. Johnson
 
STANDARDS ASSOCIATION, MEMBER-AT-LARGE, 2001-2002
 
Profile 2 Stephen L. Diamond
Profile 3 E.G. Kiener
Profile 7 Dennis Bodson
Profile 8 Daniel R. Benigni
 
TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT, 2001
 
Michael R. Lightner
 
 
For more information on the IEEE elections, visit the 2000 IEEE Candidates
Page at:
<https://www.ieee.org/organizations/corporate/candidates.htm>
 
 
IEEE-USA STUDY NOTES CHANGES IN PERCEPTIONS TOWARD OLDER AMERICANS IN
WORKPLACE
 
San Jose, CA - (3 November 2000) IEEE-USA today released the results of a
recent study on attitudes about the employability of mid-career and older
engineers in the U.S. workforce. The survey's findings lend mixed support
to the idea that older electrical and electronics engineers face barriers
to continuing employability. Supervisors see problem-solving,
communications and teamwork skills as very important and rate engineers age
45 and older as stronger on the first two skills than engineers under age
45. Human resources personnel rank technical knowledge, problem-solving and
teamwork highest on the scale of importance and also rated older engineers
as stronger problem-solvers and the same as younger engineers when it comes
to technical knowledge and teamwork. In two areas that supervisors and HR
personnel consider above average in importance -- adaptability and ability
to keep up with new developments -- they rate older engineers as weaker
than younger engineers. Many of the supervisors and HR personnel
interviewed agree that there is an age at which skills possessed by older
engineers differ from those possessed by younger engineers and most believe
this occurs before age 45.
 
IEEE-USA and survey research firm Mathew Greenwald & Associates interviewed
528 engineering professionals, including practicing engineers, engineering
supervisors and human resources professionals for the telephone survey. The
purposes of the survey were: to assess supervisory and employee perceptions
about the strengths and weaknesses of older engineers in a rapidly
changing, technology-driven, global economy; to gather information about
the incidence of age discrimination in IT workplaces; and to compare
perceptions about the continuing employability of older engineers and older
workers in general. The results of the study were released in conjunction
with IEEE-USA's 11th biennial Careers Conference, held in the heart of
Silicon Valley at the Wyndham Hotel - San Jose.
 
The study also returned mixed results in uncovering evidence of age
discrimination in the high-tech sector. Only 10 percent of the older
engineers surveyed attributed negative work experiences in the past five
years to age or age discrimination -- a smaller percentage than had been
expected based on the results of earlier surveys. Shank T. Lakhavani,
past-chair and current member of the IEEE-USA Workforce Committee,
speculates that the "tight" engineering labor market might be an
ameliorating factor in this finding, but also credits the continuing
education efforts of individual engineers and forward-thinking HR personnel
for declining incidence of age discrimination.
 
"These results are promising for older U.S. workers, many of whom have for
too long been overlooked and undervalued for their contributions to the
health of the national economy," Lakhavani commented. "Perhaps we are
seeing a change in perceptions about older Americans in the workplace."
 
At the same time, Lakhavani warned older engineers not to be lulled into a
false sense of security. "It would be premature, even reckless, to conclude
that older workers need not worry about their footing in the U.S.
workforce. This report is indicative of movement in the right direction,
but we must continue our efforts to ensure the career vitality and
utilization of older U.S. engineers in the workforce today. With the
high-tech labor market as tight as it is, no U.S. engineer who has kept up
with technological change should be out of work."
 
The IEEE-USA workforce committee believes that additional statistically
valid studies are needed to determine the incidence and nature of
discriminatory treatment that can be attributed to age.
 
For an overview of the study results, go to Session 5B of the IEEE-USA
Careers Conference program at https://www.ieeeusa.org/careercon/program.asp
(download the PowerPoint summary at
https://www.ieeeusa.org/careercon/proceeding/voneill.ppt).
 
For more information on IEEE-USA's older worker initiatives, visit
https://www.ieeeusa.org.
 
IEEE-USA is the career enhancement and technology policy unit of The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), the world's
largest technical professional organization with more than 350,000 members.
 
 
***********************
IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, NW, Suite 1202
Washington, DC 20036-5104
Tel: +1 202 785 0017
Fax: +1 202 785 0835
Web: https://www.ieeeusa.org
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Updated 12/01/2000