Why Join an ACM Student
Chapter?
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Industry contacts and
networking:
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ACM chapter activities such as lecturer appearances
and chapter participation in regional, SIG, or international meetings afford the
opportunity to meet other distinguished computer professionals.
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Professional growth and continued
learning:
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A chapter serves as a gateway to forums, panel
discussions, and symposia that further a student's professional development.
Preparation and presentation of technical reports and papers and cooperative
efforts on research projects allow students to test their technical expertise.
Other venues for professional growth are the ACM International Collegiate Programming
Contest, sponsored by IBM and the Student
Research Competition, sponsored by Microsoft Research.
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Development of leadership
capabilities:
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Opportunities for development and demonstration of
leadership capabilities abound in the formation, growth, and sustenance of a
student chapter. In addition to chapter offices, there are opportunities for
chairing committees, conferences or symposia, organizing programming contests,
coordinating professional development seminars, tutoring, and leading panel
discussions and round tables, to name just a few.
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Career
development/opportunities:
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The student chapter can help its members in career
selection and preparation through its newsletter, career day programs, graduate
school forums, participation in Special Interest Groups, and other meetings
sponsored by the ACM. In addition, the student chapter can help locate and
organize summer opportunities and internships.
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Representation in the
Association:
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A chapter is an extension of ACM. It therefore
influences ACM's activities and policies, which can impact the profession as a
whole.
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Chapter Benefits
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ACM
Distinguished Speakers Program:
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This is one of the premier technology outreach
programs in the computing industry. Each year several dozen distinguished
computing professionals serve as current ACM Distinguished lecturers presenting
at over 100 student chapters.
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UPE/ACM
Student Chapter Scholarship Award:
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Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the Honorary Computer Science
Society, and ACM encourage academic excellence for students in the computing
discipline. UPE initiated this award with ACM to raise the importance of
academic achievement and professional commitment in our future computer
professionals. Up to two awards of $1,000 each are given from UPE each year to
competition winners. Winners also receive a certificate of
commendation.
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ACM Student
Chapter Excellence Program:
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This program recognizes outstanding ACM student
chapters in several key areas. Winning chapters in each of the categories listed
below will receive $500 and a Certificate of Recognition. These chapters are
acknowledged on the ACM Web site and in ACM MemberNet.
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Chapter Activities: For
student chapters that have sponsored a series of exceptional activities
throughout the year or have focused their efforts on a single major
activity.
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Chapter Web Site: For
student chapters that maintain an outstanding chapter
website.
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Recruitment Program:
For student chapters that have done an excellent job of recruiting ACM
members.
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Community Service: For
student chapters that have made significant contributions to their communities
through one major community service project or a series of smaller
projects.
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School Service: For
student chapters that have made significant contributions to their own schools
through one major service project or a series of smaller
projects.
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Types of Chapter
Activities:
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Community
Service:
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Tutoring at public schools or providing
technical assistance to local schools for persons with
disabilities
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Helping a local high school create a
ThinkQuest team
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Assisting campus and high school
students in computer setup, program installation, and
maintenance
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Volunteering for a local non-profit,
like creating/maintaining their websites
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Mentoring: answer student questions,
solve programming problems, give advice to buy a computer
etc.
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Social:
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Awards banquet or dinner with faculty
and students
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Pizza and Movie
Night
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Team sport competition with another club
(either on campus or at a neighboring college)
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Faculty vs Student Trivial Pursuit
competition
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Yearbook picture
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Camping trip or a picnic coupled with
informal talks by faculty/grads
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Activities with local ACM
chapters
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Educational:
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Programming contest for undergraduates
and/or high school students
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Workshops on technology topics (PGP,
Linux, etc)
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Field trips to Science, Technology, or
Computer Museums
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Exam bank -- a collection of exams from
previous semesters, labeled with course number, date, professor, for use as
study material.
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Group programming projects (like a web
server, or entries to a Quest competition)
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Computer "guts" display...take apart an
old computer and label all the pieces
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Computer building workshop (how to pick
components, how to put it all together, how to get it configured so it
works!)
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Computer game competition on networked
computers in a lab or on an internet match-up service
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Student Research Poster Contest, Student
Tutorial Paper Contest
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Formation of independent Interest
Groups, whose purpose is to propagate its knowledge
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Talks by Professors and grads about
emerging areas in computing
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Visits by software companies (say,
Gaming companies like ID) that spark general interest. These visits can be
coupled with talks, gaming contests and t-shirt sales etc.
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A 'Meet the Faculty Hour' every
week.
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Career
Development:
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Tour local computer
industries
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On-line resume bank for
members
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Car pool to an off-campus career
fair
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Career-services workshops (resume
critique, mock interviews, etc)
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Guest speakers
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Job Opportunities: Interact with local
companies about their recruitment needs/plans and post info on your
website.
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Fund-Raising:
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T-shirts with clever
artwork
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Affordable dial-up ISP for
students
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Selling computer disks (bought cheaply
in bulk quantities)
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Custom pens, Buttons, Mouse
Pads
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Exam-week survival kits (snack food
collection in a bag/bucket)
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Using tutorials/talks as a sale point
for used computers/spares ... (maybe auctions)
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Disk Quota Rentals
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Charge nominally for the use of an
online university calendar, ready to run scripts/form processing and small tools
that are useful locally
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Set up local shop for low marketing low
cost alternative software (Linux, Star office to name a few)
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