IEEE Kansas City Section History

From ETHW

IEEE Kansas City Section History
Established date 1916-04-04
IEEE Region 5
IEEE Council
Geographic region Kansas City
Region area North
Principal cities Kansas City, MO
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Background

The Section covers a geographical area that extends well beyond Kansas City. The northern edge is the northern edge of Missouri, and the southern edge is the southern edge of Missouri. Thus, Springfield, MO, is part of the Kansas City Section. It also extends east well into Missouri and west well into Kansas. It shares its western border with the Wichita Section.

The administrative seat and locus of activity is Overland Park, KS. Overland Park is a suburb of Kansas City, MO. This metropolitan area has more IEEE members than any other city in the Section, primarily because of large employers of engineers. These firms include Sprint (Overland Park), Black & Veatch (Overland Park), and Burns & McDonnell (Kansas City, MO).

The executive committee meets in Overland Park or in some other suburb of Kansas City. The near-monthly dinner meetings are in Overland Park, but other activities occur throughout the Section.

In March 2009, the Southwest Missouri sub-section was elevated to a Section.

A Happening Section

The Kansas City Section is a four-time consecutive winner of the Outstanding Large Section Award in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002). It has also produced the Outstanding Member 3 years out of four, being Dr. Dale Rummer, 1999; Jim Berard, 2001 and Mark Lamendola, 2002.

We have dinner meetings nearly every month, but also have other activities on our calendar. These include our annual Engineers Week Conference, a tradition started by Jim Berard.

We had an active job connection program in 2008, which helps put our members back to work during these times of heavy layoffs and unemployment. The Kansas City area has been one of the hardest hit, and we have responded with several ways of assisting our members.

In 2005, the IEEE Kansas City Section, and the University of Missouri - Kansas City hosted the 2008 IEEE Region 5 Technical, Professional, and Student Conference.

Notable Members

Members of this section include outstanding engineers in many companies. It's hard to list all of the notable, outstanding folks, but here is a short list of just some of them:

  • Rick Bush, editor of Transmission & Distribution World Magazine. Rick has appeared in television stories about engineers.
  • Mike Eby, editor of EC&M Magazine.
  • Ed Rafter, a noted speaker and power engineer. Ed was a major influence on the development of APC's PowerStructure--a revolutionary new UPS product.
  • Mark Lamendola, author of over 3,500 articles, consultant, and noted public speaker.
  • Joe Alvarez, Director of the 7x24 Exchange, Midwest Chapter. This is the largest of all the 7x24 chapters, and its conferences consistently get rated the best of all the 7x24 conferences.
  • Dr. Dale Rummer, expert witness, educator, mentor. Dr. Rummer has a long list of accomplishments. Among them: solving a safety problem that nearly forced Kansas City--"The City of Fountains" to shut down its many beautiful Plaza fountains.
  • Dawn VanDee, published author and 2003 Section Chair.
  • Fred Schnittker, Lifetime Honorary Officer, who spent countless hours in retirement bringing engineering appreciation to future generations of engineering students in our public schools.
  • Keith Ebel, businessman, who has come to be known as "Mr. Wireless," through work with Proximity Wireless, which he founded.

AIEE Kansas City Section Officers

Year Chair Secretary
1916 Gordon Weaver Glenn O. Brown
1917-1919 W.F. Barnes
1920
1921 George C. Shaad J.W. Wopat
1922 C.J. Larsen Glenn O. Brown
1923 George C. Shaad W.E.A. Nottorf
1924 D.D. Clarke G.E. Meredith
1925 F.S. Dewey Henry Nixon
1926 R.L. Baldwin S.M. De Camp
1927 S.M. De Camp B.J.George
1928 B.J. George A.B. Covey
1929 A.B. Covey J.S. Palmer
1930 J.S. Palmer Bruce E. Dolch
1931 George Fiske R.M. Ryan
1932 G.O. Brown E.W. Harvey
1933 R.W. Warner A.T. Campbell
1934 R.L. Frisby H.V. Rathbun
1935 E.T. Mahood P.C. Ellis
1936 A.L. Maillard A.F. Hartung
1937 M.M. Boggess L.L. Davis
1938 R.G. Kloeffler B.F. Meador
1939 L.L. Davis E.J. Karsten
1940 P.C. Ellis G.K. Shirling
1941 A.T. Campbell M.E. Bretschneider
1942 C.G. Roush C.M. Lytle
1943 V.P. Hessler S.H. Pollock
1944 M.E. Bretschneider P.C. Cross
1945 A.F. Hartung J.E. Murray
1946 C. Myron Lytle Joel P. Kesler
1947 T.L. Jones P.A. Haas
1948 J.E. Murray Ivan T. Knight
1949 R.M. Kerchner A.J. Nicholson
1950 H.V. Rathbun M.L. Perry, Jr.
1951 A.J. Nicholson J.C. Bibbs
1952 J.P. Kesler A.A. Dahms
1953
1954 A.A. Dahms L.M. Schindel
1955 D.A. Starcke Roy M. Goar
1956 E.L. Sitz H.R. Vaughan
1957 R.M. Goar E.L. Mueller
1958 H.R. Vaughan D.C. Williams, Jr.
1959 D.C. Williams J.T. Tengdin
1960-1961 A.H. Rector E.D. Dryer
1962 E.D. Dryer E.G. Pereboom

IEEE Kansas City Section Officers

Kansas City Section Officers
Year Chair Vice chair Secretary Treasurer
2001 Randall Smischny James Berard Dawn Van Dee
2002 James Berard Dawn Van Dee Sarah Kilgore Shiv Gupta
2003 Dawn Van Dee Sarah Kilgore Mohammed Mohiuddin Randall Smischny
2004 William Ritter Saad Siddiqi Taimur Ellahi Theodore Atchinson
2005 William Ritter Kenneth Vollmar / Richard Hodgman Kirk Duncan Imran Pishori
2006 Kenneth Vollmar Richard Hodgman / Duane Highley Kirk Duncan Imran Pishori
2007 Richard Hodgman Fred Granville Deborah Dilks Imran Pishori
2008 Braden Fessler David Kasper Deborah Dilks Jorge Marquez
2009 David Kasper Vishwa Soni Plamen Doynov Jorge Marquez
2010 Vishwa Soni Cale Yates Jorge Marquez
2011 Cale Yates Plamen Doynov Chris Zugelder Jorge Marquez
2012 Jorge Marquez Plamen Doynov Sara Stephens Chris Zugelder
2013 Plamen Doynov Sara Stephens George Yang Thomas Dorsey
2014 David Nall Brad Jensen Matthew Kayrish Thomas Dorsey
2015 David Nall Brad Jensen Arturo Mejia Thomas Dorsey
2016 Alan Washburn Brad Jensen Arturo Mejia Thomas Dorsey
2017 Alan Washburn Thomas Dorsey Kelly Nugent Arturo Mejia
2018 Arturo Mejia Clark Ferrel Kelly Nugent Eric Sullentrup
2019 Arturo Mejia Clark Ferrel Kelly Nugent / Heidi Palmer Eric Sullentrup
2020 Kavita Damodara Logan Lillis Alan Washburn Eric Sullentrup
2021 Kavita Damodara Logan Lillis Alan Washburn Arturo Mejia

Archival documents

Further Reading

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