IEEE Student Professional
Awareness
Rob Vice (vice@ieee.org)
Past-Region 1 SPAC Coordinator
2012 R1 Training Workshop
Downtown Marriott, Hartford, CT
10 March 2012
Agenda
Professional Awareness
S-PAC & S-PAVe
Student Benefits and Involvement
What is Professional Awareness?
As defined within IEEE
“Professional awareness is the emphasizing of
the importance of the non-technical aspects of
engineering to engineers and future engineers.”
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Professional Awareness Categories
 Career growth
• Continuing education
• Effective communication
 Working
• Balancing work with personal life
• Expectations versus reality
 Professional ethics and social responsibility
• Individual and corporate responsibility
• Coping with ethical dilemmas
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Professional Awareness Categories
 Self-management
• Managing your career
• Time management
 Engineer and public policy
• Grassroots activism
• Understanding how government works
 Importance of the professional society
• Networking
• Benefits
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What Are S-PACs?
 Student Professional Awareness Conferences (S-PAC)
 Students plan and run the event with consultation from
SPAC Regional Coordinators
 The students do all project management
 Presentation or panel format related to the professional
awareness categories
 Topics are selected by students in consultation with SPAC
Regional Coordinators (Regions 1-6) who will advise on
finding speakers
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Student Benefits for S-PACs
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Organizers of S-PACs gain project management
experience (impressive on resumes)
Attendees leave with a continuous consciousness of
a non-technical aspect that will be useful for the rest
of their lives
Initial networking with someone in industry
Successful S-PACs at a branch makes it easier for
that branch to institute the event on a regular basis
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What Are S-PAVes?
 Student Professional Awareness Ventures
 Venture can take on any form except presentation format
 Student branch submits proposal based on the
professional awareness categories with budget and
schedule
 The students do all project management
 Start-up funds are available to initiate venture
 “Free flowing” format enables creativity
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S-PAVe Formats

Suggested formats
•
•
•
•
•

Service
CDs, videos
Workshop
Simulations
Resource materials
Can span days, weeks, months, within
one semester/quarter
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Student Benefits for S-PAVes
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
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Develop activities / materials to enhance
professional awareness and provide service to
members
Enable student branches to gain experience in
project conception, planning, and organization
Increase student membership (freshmen,
sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students)
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Comparison of S-PAC and S-PAVe
S-PAC
S-PAVe
Conference
Project
Yes
No
Time Frame
Usually 1-day
Usually few weeks or
partial semester
Seed Money
No
Yes
Funding for Speakers
Yes
No
Regional Coordinator
Regional Coordinator
Event
National Speakers
Main Contact
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Steps for Organizing a
Student Professional
Awareness Conference
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Step 1: Visit S-PAC Website &
Contact your Regional Coordinators
Website for planning guides, budget forms, contact information:
www.ieee.org/spac
Region 1 Coordinator and Support Coordinators Alias:
r1spac@ieee.org
Region 1 SPAC Coordinator
Charles Rubenstein
c.rubenstein@ieee.org
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Step 2: Decide on Topics (2 or 3) and Inform
SPAC Coordinator
 Example topics
•
•
•
•
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Industry life as told by a “survivor”
Grad school versus school of life
Multitalented: the Swiss army engineer
Pros and cons of large versus small companies
Consulting - is it for me?
 SPAC will support travel expenses for 1 national
speaker
 You may be able to use a 2nd national speaker if they
are geographically local to your school
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Step 3: Review List of Potential Speakers – Seek
Approval from SPAC Coordinator to Invite
www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/committe
es/spac/speaker_topic.asp
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Step 4: Complete the Budget Sheet and E-mail to
Your SPAC Coordinator
www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/committe
es/spac/files/NEW_spac_PlanGuide_
rev2.xls
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Step 4: Complete the Budget Sheet and E-mail to
Your SPAC Coordinator
www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/committees/spac/files/NEW_spac_PlanGuide_rev2.xls
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S-PAC / S-PAVe Budget Considerations
Potential Income Sources Minimize Expenditures
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Ticket Sales

Industry Donation
University

IEEE Local
Section/Region
MGA Subsidy (when
needed as a safety net)
IEEE Societies/Chapters
Forego spending on
elaborate meals and
refreshments
No need for catering
halls (large
classrooms are fine)
Note that the SPAC Committee will pay for the approved National
Speakers travel expenses, and are “off-budget” to the students
planning process
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Remaining Steps for Organizing the S-PAC or
S-PAVe
STEP 5. Publicize the event
STEP 6. Prepare for event
STEP 7. After event, collect feedback from
attendees and submit S-PAC Final
Report to your Coordinator
STEP 8. Document lessons learned for the
next S-PAC
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Benefits to Students
 Students gain insight into topics pertinent to their careers,
such as financial planning and career growth
 Attendees leave with a continuous consciousness of nontechnical aspects that will be useful for the rest of their lives
 Student conference committee members gain valuable
management and planning skills
 Student Branches build momentum for holding regular events
in the future
S-PACs and S-PAVes Teach Students to be Leaders
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Get Started
Visit the IEEE USA SPAC Web site at:
www.ieee.org/SPAC
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Questions???
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For additional information
please contact:
r1spac@ieee.org
Charles Rubenstein (c.rubenstein@ieee.org)
Support Coordinators:
Rob Vice (rvice@ieee.org) (Past R1 SPAC Coordinator)
Krenar Komoni (krenar_k@yahoo.com)
SPAC Planning Guide & Resources for Students and Coordinators
http://www.ieee.org/SPAC
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