|
|
LAWRENCE -- The Engineering Student Council at the University of Kansas has been chosen as the host of the 2003 national conference of the National Association of Engineering Student Councils, Oct. 16 through 19.
The KU ESC won the bid to host the conference during the NAESC annual meeting last fall at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The 2003 meeting will be the first time KU ESC has hosted the national conference, leaders in the organization said.
KU ESC, through the KU Endowment Association, is looking for corporate sponsors to help underwrite some of the costs associated with the meeting, said Ian Bradt, sophomore in electrical engineering from Johnston, Iowa. The organization has prepared a base budget of $65,000 to host the event.
"The idea to go after (the) national (conference) came about after the regional conference last year," Bradt said. KU participants walked away believing they could put together a worthwhile regional meeting. The KU ESC executive board then decided to set the goal a little higher.
"Our region -- being one of the largest regional conferences in NAESC -- the thought was, doing a national conference wasn't that much bigger than the regional conference," Bradt said. Bradt is serving as NAESC co-director for the 2003 national conference with Sara Gunby, sophomore in chemical engineering from Roeland Park.
"We presented a PowerPoint show that told all the delegates at the conference what we wanted to do and how we planned to do it," Gunby said. "It was a rough sketch of the conference, but they liked what they saw and voted for us."
KU ESC was aided in its quest for the conference by the economic benefits of the Midwest.
"We can do a lot of things (at the KU campus) that a lot of the other schools in larger cities can't: primarily, host a large conference for a lot less," said Bradt, who is chair of KU's 2003 Engineering Expo. Hotel rates in this region can be considerably less, and the central location of KU to the rest of the nation helps ensure NAESC delegates can get to the conference easily and affordably.
The conference, will mark the 20th anniversary of NAESC and will include the annual business meeting, industry speakers, opportunities for council members to discuss their projects and strategies, and a career fair. Social activities will be planned for the evenings.
This month, Bradt and Gunby will begin planning conference activities in earnest. The two will begin forming committees to assist in the planning.
"Most of the large decisions have already been made, but there are still tons of little details to work out," said Gunby
Gunby and Bradt expect to recruit several of their classmates to help with the undertaking.
"It's going to be a hefty amount of work for everyone involved," Bradt said. The organization should be up to the task, however. KU ESC has extensive experience planning events. Every year it coordinates several internal and external activities. Its biggest event is the annual Engineering Expo, which draws hundreds of visitors to KU in February.
"The conference will definitely take a lot of work to put together, but the National NAESC Exec Board is really excited to help us plan this huge event," Gunby said.
-30-