SAME HQ has an ambitious agenda for 2005. Our Top 10 priorities for 2005 (listed in random order below) serve to better support our members.

Initiate a Pilot Web Training Program for SAME members.

In an effort to enhance the professional development and education of our members and supplement Post programs, we are working with the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) and other organizations to determine the best way to deliver needed training to SAME Members via Webcasts.

Eventually, Posts will be able to utilize a SAME contract to provide local Webcasts as part of their annual programming. P.E. review courses are high on our list of proposed programs for Webcast training opportunities. While we continue to emphasize relationship building and networking through conferences, luncheons and meetings, the younger generation is comfortable with Webcasts as an effective means to obtain needed education and training. Therefore, we need to explore that option for our members.

Continue Strategic Alliances with Other Professional Organizations.

In 2004, we worked with the Army Engineer Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the International Facility Management Association. In 2005, we plan to continue to work with these organizations, NSPE and an association in both the environmental and construction arenas. Specific initiatives will be coordinated with the appropriate National SAME Committees.

Publish Revised Post Operations Manual.

We have begun to rewrite the Post Operations Manual, which was outdated and removed from the SAME Web site. The revised Post Financial Guidelines were published in 2004 and we plan to send drafts of additional chapters to Posts for review. We anticipate completing this task in 2005.

Locate Dropped Members.

A substantial number of SAME Individual Members have not renewed their membership because they have moved and we were unable to send them their renewal notices. In 2004, we hired a telemarketing company to call more than 800 dropped members; unfortunately, this met with little success. Our approach for 2005 is to find a better way to have Posts and the uniformed services help us locate dropped members, many of whom are military, rotate and do not update their address, e-mail or phone number in our membership database.

Train Membership POCs on Post Rosters.

While we believe the Post Membership Rosters provide the membership information Posts need, we continue to hear concerns from Posts about the rosters’ use for retention programs. We will work harder to get membership POCs trained on using the rosters and we will solicit feedback on how to make the rosters more user-friendly, if necessary.

Enhance SAME Directory of Sustaining Members and Public Agencies.

We plan to enhance the 2006 Directory by including a list of SAME Posts and military installations in each of the State sections so that we truly have a partnership between the public and private sector in each state. The list of military and other Federal installations is on the SAME Web site at www.same.org under “Find a Post".

Enhance Search Engine for SAME Web site and Sustaining Member Online Directory.

The search capabilities within our Web site need to be improved, as they are not meeting member needs. We will work on making the search capabilities more effective.

Member Survey.

With our new staff capabilities at SAME HQ, we will launch an online member survey in 2005 to get feedback on how members rate SAME HQ, the Board of Direction and SAME programs at the National, Regional and Post level. We will have a workgroup help develop the survey and beta test it before it is launched. The results will be provided at the 2005 Fall Board meeting.

Investigate the Feasibility of a Juried Military Engineer Journal.

Many in the academic and research community are not able to get credit for articles published in The Military Engineer because it is not a juried journal (also known as a refereed or peer-reviewed journal, wherein experts in the field review and approve articles for publication). If publishing a juried journal will better serve SAME members, or entice individuals in the academic and research community to join SAME, then this might be a viable new project. Our inclination is to do a semi-annual Military Engineer Journal, either in conjunction with two editions of The Military Engineer magazine or as separate publications. We will investigate the need for such a journal and both of these options and present a proposal to the Board of Direction in the Fall of 2005.

Initiate Restructuring of Sustaining Member Database to Allow SAME to Web Enable the Renewal Process.

By the time you receive this newsletter, we will have successfully implemented the Web enabling of Individual Membership renewals and new memberships. It has been my intent as the Executive Director to follow-on this effort with a transition of Sustaining Member dues to an annual renewal, rather than anniversary renewal, in August of each year. This means that renewal notices will go out in July and August, with a final notice in September—in time for companies and public agencies to be included in the SAME Directory of Sustaining Members and Public Agencies, print edition.

I also have discussed with many company leaders an option to restructure their memberships, whereas a company would pay a set fee to join National and each Post, and then any number of individuals from the company or public agency could join SAME for the same price as Young Members ($30.00 per year) plus Post dues for one or more Posts, as is allowed for Individual Members. This would allow companies to join Posts and vary the number of employees that belong to each one.

As you can see, we have a lot planned for 2005. I’d like to hear from you as to whether we are on the right track, or if you believe we are missing an important initiative that should be considered.

SAME HQ uses these priorities to guide our year-long efforts. We made great strides to meet our 2004 priorities, as you will see in my article on Page 3. We plan to be even more successful in 2005.

I look forward to seeing many of you at an upcoming SAME regional or national conference.