IEEE Kenya Professional Activities Committee meeting

---

Minutes of the IEEE Kenya Professional Activities Committee held at Java Uchumi Westlands on 25th Oct 2016

 

Present

Tim Gitau

Roselinda Oduol

Alex Watila

Victor Oyula

Christopher Njuguna

 

Absent with apologies

Prof. Robert Gateru

Stephen Ogenga

 

Absent

Eng. Joseph Kimanzi

 

Minutes

1. Alex Watila and Victor Oyula gracefully agreed to join the professional activities committee and were welcomed by the committee members

 

2. Chris mentioned that he had met with Humphrey Muhindi and John Matogo, the current and previous IEEE Kenya chairs respectively and had learned that there had been previous efforts regarding distinguished lectures, local lectures and mentorship.

 

3. On distinguished lectures information passed on indicated that

 

a. We need to get a list of available speakers and their areas of expertise

b. Do a google survey of members to get their areas of interest

 

Roselinda suggested that we think about venues and other modalities to make talks accessible and attractive. She farther suggested that Universities were a good location

Chris mentioned that IEEE can partner with organizations like the Communications Authority of Kenya to provide venue, refreshments, etc for some talks

Tim noted that we need to raise awareness for both local and distinguished lectures since many people do not hear about them

 

- Action points:

Get a list of possible speakers and pass on to subcommittee (Chris)

List the general areas of expertise (subcommittee)

Provide areas of expertise to committee to create google survey where members can rank the areas of interest (subcommittee)

Produce a list of about 12 distinguished speakers to approach and schedule (subcommittee)

 

4. There was a discussion on local lectures

This entails getting a list of senior members and professional members e.g. professors and invite them to give talks on what they do and also their career path

Roselinda suggested that IEEE should liaise with the counties on local lectures since counties are undertaking activities that we can help with e.g. Bungoma recently had a cybersecurity talk where they had invited an international cybersecurity professional

Roselinda also suggested to take talks and other professional events outside Nairobi

Roselinda suggested that we should get suggestions for speakers from members and also suggest people we the committee know

- Action point: Committee members

Suggest potential speakers e.g. One Yusuph Kileo [cybersecurity] who gave a talk in Bungoma county has been suggested by Roselinda

Send message to members requesting speaker suggestions

 

5. Mentorship was discussed

In general it was suggested to get a list of possible senior members and long-serving members and contact them with the proposal to memtor

Tim mentioned that mentorship is open to students, young professionals and other members and suggested that we partner with the IEEE young professionals committee in implementing this

Roselinda suggested that students with ideas can get guidance on how to grow their ideas, access funds, etc. Chris added that these ideas can be nurtured and prepared for startup/funding competitions

 

6. The idea to have career fairs mainly for students was discussed

Chris passed on info that IEEE has industrial connections and we can utilize them to bring employers to meet students and other job seeking members

Victor and Tim noted that there are 2 fairs in the near future: Moi University 27th/28th Oct and JKUAT 3rd/4th Nov

It was noted that we were not sure if this was under the mandate of this committee and clarification would be sought

 

7. Alex suggested that IEEE should have social events like team building

Roselinda suggested retreats for networking among IEEE members e.g. an out of town multi-day conference/retreat with speakers

Clarification needs to be sought on whether this falls under this committee's mandate

 

8. E-Meetings were discussed due to the difficulty to schedule physical meetings

It was suggested that e-meetings can help e.g. skype, conference calls but regular face-to-face meetings are crucial

---

---

---

---