March 2006

President's Newsletter

Douglas N. Goodridge, P. Eng.

I first want to thank Rick Goosney, P.Eng. and his volunteer National Engineering and Geoscience Week (NEGW) Committee members:

• Allan Layte, P.Eng.
• Dick Myers, P.Eng.
• John Pitt, P.Eng.
• Rod Smith, P.Geo.
• John Whitten, P.Eng.
• Robert Woolgar, P.Eng.
• Susann Woolgar, P.Eng.
• and Meghan Couves

for their tremendous efforts in organizing another full slate of events for NEGW. There is a significant effort involved in co-ordinating activities for this week which is very much appreciated as it is the most significant outreach activity undertaken by PEG annually. An article describing this year's activities is included in this issue of Dialogue. 

Since the last issue of this Newsletter, our new Council has identified three focus areas for the current Council year: 

• Professional Development (PD) Program review; 
• Enhanced engagement between PEG and its members and
• External linkage plan.

Professional Development (PD) Program Review 

Our new PD program was introduced in January, with a more qualitative focus than its predecessor. While satisfying the original program's objectives, it was anticipated that this new program would be more attractive to members and easier to administer. In fact, the opposite happened. The new program has met with increased member objection and a larger than usual number of members were removed from the register because of non-compliance with the program. There was also a significant increase in time required to administer the program. 

Based on this experience, Council has slightly reduced the program's reporting requirements for 2006 and formed a Task Group to review PEG's approach to PD. Their mandate is to recommend a future direction for the PD Program to Council by mid-2006. We await the Task Group's advice. There will be more on this topic in future Dialogue articles. It is, however, fair to say that mandatory Professional Development is here to stay for practicing members, we just need to identify a program that is most effective for all stakeholders, recognizing that no program will please everyone.

Membership Engagement 

Membership Engagement is an area in which I have great interest. Historically, it has been an area of great challenge for our organization. PEG consists of 2510 members, with approximately 7% being Geoscientists and 14% being GITs or EITs. We are a somewhat diverse group and face a number of challenges in our efforts to make members feel a strong sense of engagement with PEG. In any case, Council has adopted the following objectives with respect to this issue: 

• To improve the degree (breadth and depth) to which members are informed about the key business of the organization; 
• To increase the sense of ownership of PEG by members; and, 
• To increase relevance of PEG to its members.

We propose to pursue these objectives by: 

• Continuing to publish Dialogue articles relevant to our members; 
• Increasing Council engagement with Chapter activities; 
• President/Executive Director visits to Chapters to meet members & seek informal discussion/feedback; 
• PEG website improvements; 
• Undertaking member survey/focus groups to gather information on ways to improve on fulfillment of member engagement objectives; 
• Student Outreach - participation in Campus events; and, 
• AGM/Annual Conference - Build on success of last year's event in Humber Valley - attractive venue/strong program.

We currently have many active members who volunteer their time on numerous PEG committees. I thank each and every one of these people for their contribution. However, there is always turnover and we welcome new people with fresh ideas. I personally invite those members, particularly new or otherwise less engaged members, to seek opportunities to become more engaged in the business and/or social aspects of PEG. Feel free to contact me at president@pegnl.ca or Steve Mclean at the PEG office 709.753.7714 if you wish to get more involved - or just show up at a PEG event.

External Linkage Plan 

While a formal external engagement plan is still under development, we remain very active in this area. A partial list includes:

• Provincial Government 
• Regulator Bodies, e.g. CNOPB, OSC 
• General Public 
• Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE), Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientist (CCPG) & Sister Associations 
• Educational Institutions, e.g. MUN/MI 
• Industry Associations, e.g.. NOIA, NATI, CIMM, NEIA 
• Professional/Technical Organizations - e.g. Architects (NAA), Engineering Technicians and Technologists (AETTN) 
• Academic Societies, e.g. IEEE, CSCE, SNAME, CSME, ASME 
• Other Organization, e.g. WISE, Engineers without Borders 
• Youth - Students

We remain very active across a broad front in "linking" with many external stakeholders. A sample of recent activities includes: 

• Meetings with individual Provincial Cabinet Ministers; 
• In February, PEG prepared and delivered a brief to the provincial Energy Plan [see article in this issue]; 
• Invited AETTN, NATI, NAA, CENL to Council meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest; 
• Invited MUN President Axel Meisen, P.Eng. to present an update on MUN future plans and priorities at a Council meeting; 
• PEG representation at all CCPE/CCPG meetings + selected AGMs hosted by sister associations; and, 
• For youth, we have NEGW Activities, plus Future SET programs, such as: Girl Quest, school workshops, and summer camps.

With such a vast and diverse list of external stakeholders, it is not possible to reach every one in any one year, hence the need for a plan which we are developing to ensure we focus on our highest priorities.

As always, I welcome your feedback or suggestions on any of the topics covered in this article president@pegnl.ca

© Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador