Regions / Chapters Update (Vol. 1207)

Regions / Chapters activity is gearing up for a busy 2006. We had a great Regions / Chapters meeting at the annual symposium held in Santa Clara, CA on April 18 through 22! During this meeting, we discussed how important our local chapters are to SESHA. In fact, these chapters, with the opportunity for networking and local support, are one of the most valuable services SESHA provides. Being part of a chapter can help promote, protect and enhance ESH professionals in their efforts to improve the health and well being of workers, the community, and the environment. Key services to our members include; great meetings with key presentations that will increase the knowledge of our members; increase communication and interaction; promote the profession and sustain continued growth.

With this in mind, we had a very productive discussion on means to further strengthen our chapters and increase member value. Maintaining the focus of our mission in the delivery of services to our current members and obtaining new members is a key focus area this year. Since the annual symposium, there have been two conference calls with regional and chapter leadership to discuss potential goals for individual chapters and additional means to provide chapter leadership with the tools to further grow and strengthen their chapters.

Some of these proposed goals include:

Conducting a minimum of four Chapter meetings a year.
Setting a date for a chapter mini-conference.
Developing a membership program and submitting to SESHA Board of Directors by June 30, 2006.
Having a Chapter Steering Committee liaison from every local fab and other member companies. Steering committee liasions specific roles will be established. At a minimum each liaison will be responsible for encouraging SESHA participation in their company.

These goals are not yet finalized. The Regions / Chapters leadership would like to solicit your input. If you are interested in increasing your chapter participation in a liaison or leadership role, please contact your local chapter president or your Region Director. These contacts can be found at http://seshaonline.org/regions/index.php3.

Below, please find individual chapter reports for the first quarter of 2006:

Arizona Chapter Update - West Region

Going into 2006, the Arizona Chapter Steering Committee has undergone some changes with the Chapter President relocatingto the east coast and the addition of new committee members from academia and semiconductor support industries. John Bucciarelli has been named as the chapter president and the chapter is currently soliciting members for thesecretary/president elect open position.The steering committee is well represented and is busy planning activities for the year.Events for the year includequarterly chapter presentation and mini-conference planned for the 3rd quarter. A quarterly chapter meeting was held in March, withspeakers presenting on Contractor Safety, ERT Operations and Process Air Emissions. The chapter meetings provide members with information on current topics and emerging issues, withthe opportunity to network among their peers.

Northern California Chapter Update - West Region

The Northern California Chapter of SESHA has been working hard since year's end on gearing up for the annual SESHA Symposium. We are proud to serve as the host region this year and use the conference as an opportunity for outreach to new and lapsed members. With the biotechnology industry becoming a growing presence in our region, we are particularly looking to this subset of Environmental Health and Safety Professionals to see how we can collaboratively solve problems and grow in our field.

At our recent officers' meeting we planned activities moving forward from the SESHA conference. Our first chapter meeting of 2006 is planned for early June and a mini-conference is planned for November. Our focus for 2006 is to continue reaching out to our EHS community- discovering what concerns, issues, and interests they have, and then using this to provide a collaborative forum for sharing information.

Texas Hill Country Chapter - South Region

Since year end we have had an officers' meeting to plan activities for 2006. Our first quarterly meeting was March 21. At the officers' meeting we discussed having a mini-conference and will plan one either for this fall or early in 2007; nothing has been decided yet. We will elect 2006-07 officers at our June meeting which does not yet have a date set.

Mid Atlantic Chapter Update - North Region

The SESHA Mid-Atlantic Chapter held several email forums with key ESH lessons learned and is striving to increase its membership by engaging more areas of the country by having Web-EX and teleconference types of meeting. This is especially important when budgets are tight and very practical way of communicating in today's e-business and technology age. The Mid Atlantic had a great meeting in February with a key presentation from Eugene Ngai of Air Products on gas safety - this is a key area of concern for our members based on recent incidents in our industry.

Twin Cities Chapter Update - North Region

The Twin Cities continues to be a very active Chapter also taking advantage of Teleconference style meetings. They had an excellent presentation on Energy conservation from Phil Naughton of SEMATECH with great participation form all of their members. Energy conservation is a key area of interest of our members due to the potential reduction of the environmental foot-print and cost savings companies can achieve by implementing many basic measures. The Mid Atlantic has also been heavily involved with Student papers from UMD and UW-Stout and held a meeting in March that gave the students an opportunity to present their great work. This provided an excellent opportunity for interaction between students and chapter members.