Message from the Chair

Abstract

One simply has to attend a Division conference to receive “leadership and guidance” from successful educators from all around the country. For those who are unable to attend, the EDG Journal is our outlet “to inform the membership of current developments.” 

As Division Chair, I?m excited to share news of division activities with you. The Midyear meeting in Arizona was great on all accounts. The facilities, the papers, the activities and the attendees made it an exciting experience. It is always good to get together and exchange ideas with our peers and learn something new. One of the things that really impressed me was the range of paper topics. For the last few years we?ve been trying to expand our vision of engineering graphics by broadening the range of issues relevant to graphics educators. As a result, we heard presentations on animation, virtual reality, instructional multimedia, grant writing, statistics analyses and assessment, as well as traditional graphics topics. We are growing in scope and trying to broaden our membership to reflect this change.

The openness and friendliness of Division members is the best marketing tool we have. As members, all we have to do is invite prospective members to attend one of our meetings and get involved. Non-members who attend the conference get a free one-year membership to the Division, so invite someone to attend the next meeting! This Spring, we will elect a Director of Membership for the first time. For all of the members who have served on the membership committee in the past thank you for your efforts and please continue to participate by supporting the new Membership Director in any way you can. Membership will continue to be a division priority as we hope to encourage young faculty to become involved to help shape the direction of the Division.

This issue of the Journal represents the efforts of our new publication team. Eric Wiebe is the new Journal editor and his team includes Ted Branoff, Alice Scales and Aaron Clark. They welcome your paper submissions so please keep them coming.

At the last Executive Board meeting we reviewed the Division Bylaws to review the changes approved by Division members in last years election. In reviewing the document for discussion, I was reminded of the objectives of the Division, which are as follows.

• Provide leadership and guidance for those engaged in the teaching of conceptual design and graphical analysis and their use in industry.

• Investigate matters relating to engineering graphics and to inform the membership of current developments.

• Encourage the early participation of engineering students in the areas of graphics and design.

• Promote, stimulate and provide opportunities for the professional interchange of ideas among the membership.

One simply has to attend a Division conference to receive “leadership and guidance” from successful educators from all around the country. For those who are unable to attend, the EDG Journal is our outlet “to inform the membership of current developments.” The annual design competition sponsored by the division “promotes the participation of engineering students in the areas of graphics and design.” And the conferences, Journal and committees all “provide opportunities for the professional interchange of ideas.”

I think we have been doing a good job on all counts. The Division provides you with an outlet for professional development and scholarly endeavor. Become involved in any way you can and encourage others to explore the opportunities the Division can offer them as graphics educators.