2012: Engaging the wider automation community
Serving as president of ISA in 2012 was a wonderful and fulfilling experience for me and my family. I was told then that a one-year term was too short to make a big impact and must admit I felt that way while it was happening. Looking back makes me reevaluate that premise.
We made significant progress in establishing automation curriculums at varying technical levels appropriate for instruction at community colleges, and as part of undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
We also instituted two new membership categories: the Automation Community Member and the Automation Affiliate Member. These new categories were developed by our ISA image and membership department to offer a broader automation professional audience a taste of the ISA experience while lowering the cost of entry to the Society. Through these new membership options, ISA laid the groundwork to engage a wider portion of the global automation community and to offer them unparalleled access to technical information, professional development resources, and opportunities to network with other automation professionals.
ISA Web 2.0 took its initial steps toward being a portal to the technical world while maintaining trusted content. The first steps were taken with the roll out of the ISA Interchange blog.
We put in place a new honors and awards program: ISA – Celebrating Excellence. Thanks to a special task force formed by the Honors and Awards Committee and headed by Peggie Koon, PhD, this new program reinvigorated our longstanding practice of recognizing individuals and companies who have made significant technical contributions in fields dealing with automation, as well as honoring members of ISA for their service to our society. Our new program includes awards for both technical contributions and ISA service recognition.
Robert Lindeman, 2012 Society President, ISA Fellow
