IEEE Alabama Section History
Early History
In the Spring of 1929, a small group of engineers, mainly from Southern Bell Telephone and local power companies, petitioned for the formation of a local section of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE). On May 22, 1929, the Board of Directors of the AIEE authorized the organization of a section to be known as the Birmingham Section of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and to have as its territory 21 counties in north central Alabama. General W. E. Bare of the Southern Bell Telephone Co. called an organization meeting on June 21, 1929, and acted as temporary Chairman. Several leadership changes took place during the first year as a result of personnel transfers, and the Birmingham Section was suddenly confronted with the deadening effect of the Great Depression. During this time there was little interest and the section activities practically came to a halt. By September 1932 an effort was made to revive the Section and new officers were elected. In May of 1934 a petition was made to AIEE Headquarters to change the Section’s name to the Alabama Section and to increase its territory to include the entire state.
Reorganization at the Local and National Levels
Early in 1938 the Muscle Shoals Section was formed to include seven counties in northern Alabama, and several counties in Mississippi and Tennessee. Later that year the new section petitioned for and obtained the transfer of Madison and Marshall counties from the Alabama Section. In 1953 this organization apparently combined with the Huntsville Subsection of the East Tennessee Section of AIEE to form the North Alabama Section. About the same time the Huntsville Subsection of the Atlanta Section of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was elevated to Section status.
In 1949 the Mobile-Pensacola Subsection was formed with counties from southern Alabama and part of the Florida panhandle. Then in 1953, this Subsection set out on its own as a Section, leaving the Alabama Section. The Montgomery Subsection was formed in 1953 to represent 26 counties in central Alabama.
On January 1, 1963 the IRE and the AIEE merged to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The Alabama Section and other units of each of these two organizations then became units of IEEE.
Major Events
ajor conferences hosted by the Alabama Section include: National Telecommunications Conference (1978), Southeastcon (1992), IAS Pulp & Paper Conference (1996), Vehicular Technology Conference (2002).
In 2004, the section celebrated its 75th anniversary with a dinner and speech by W. Cleon Anderson.
Partial List of Past Presidents of the IEEE Alabama Section:
E. C. Gentle, Jr., 1953-1954
D. D. Wendel, 1954-1955
R. E. Williams, Jr., 1955-1956
L. B. Murray, 1956-1957
S. W. Reese, 1957-1958
George Hoffman, 1958-1959
Warren Turner, 1959-1960
M. E. Bosworth, 1960-1961
Wylie Johnson, 1962-1963
Elmer Bomke, 1963-1964
J. H. Bohannon, 1964-1965
Charles Jager, 1965-1966
Pro Elam, 1966-1967
W. M. Feaster, 1967-1968
J. E. Spencer, 1968-1969
T. Harry Stavros, 1969-1970
Don Speer, 1970-1971
O. P. McDuff, 1971-1972
J. E. Chapman, 1972-1973
S. R. Hart, 1973-1974
A. B. McMillon, 1974-1975
G. C. Jones, 1975-1976
Jerry Vandegrift, 1976-1977
C. L. Rogers, 1977-1978
C. S. Alexander, 1978-1979
W. A. Owen, 1979-1980
S. D. Moorer, 1980-1981
R. O. Usry, 1981-1982
David A. Conner, 1982-1983
James O. Patton, Jr., 1983-1984
J. Carroll Hastings, 1984-1985
Russell A. Alford, Jr., 1985-1986
James D. Gregory, 1986-1987
J. J. Thomley, 1987-1988
Harold P. Ward, 1988-1989
Dick P. Dodd, 1989-1990
Amy T. Dobbs, 1990-1991
George Larry Clark, 1991-1992
John E. Spencer, Jr., 1992-1993
Greg Bendall, 1993-1994
Perry Wheless, 1994-1995
Darrell Piatt, 1995-1996
Don Parker, 1996-1997
Ken Bishop, 1997-1998
Vince Stewart, 1998-1999
Preston Jackson, 1999-2000
Gregg Vaughn, 2001
Charles Hickman, 2002
John Krupsky, 2003
Steve Daniel, 2004
Elizabeth Kuhn, 2005
David V. Conner, 2006.
