Report from Division II Director Pierre Thollot 
My newsletter this month will concentrate on events which transpired at the Board of Directors (BOD) series of meetings which concluded a couple of days ago, (today being June 25 ). As is always the case, a whole slue of committee and council meetings are held in conjunction with these Institute governance meetings. Additionally the Technical Activities Board (TAB), the Regional Activities Board (RAB), and the IEEE-USA Board also meet at the same time. For some, it was an eight-day marathon, for me i t was only six. Below is a sampling of a few of the highlights which come to mind.
The overall financial health of the Institute is very good. As a result of this the Board of Directors voted that dues for 1997 would remain the same as they were in 1996. Additionally it was reported that the processing of next years renewal and applications forms should be the most efficient it has ever been because we're now out of the woods with regard to bringing our new information management system fully on line.
At the RAB/TAB Transnational committee meeting it was reported that twenty- two societies are now participating in the Eastern European Library Project by providing ten years (1985-1994) of back issues of their Transactions in microfiche form to a growing list of east European libraries, (currently fifteen). Included are libraries in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia. As you might imagine the feedback on this project has been very positive. Anyone wishing mor e information on this subject should contact Paula Dunne, the IEEE staff person coordinating the project, at p.dunne@ieee. org.
With but a few exceptions, the subject of ongoing IEEE organizational improvement activities surfaced one way or another in almost all of the meetings. The following is a condensed summary of various activities currently underway:
The Institute is adopting a strategy whereby the BOD sets top level Institute policy, the executive board (ExCom) oversees Institute operations, and all other business is delegated downward.
The BOD has authorized the delegation of entity autonomy to the lowest practical level.
Each entity is being asked to delegate autonomy within their entity to the lowest practical level
All entities are in the process of preparing individual bylaws, policies and procedures
Member choice, putting your money where you have an interest, is slowly surfacing.
The Implementation Committee on Structural Reorganization (ICSR) is preparing and will present to the BOD in December a plan to execute "step one" of the restructure beginning in 1997; additionally, the ICSR will present their thoughts on"the next step."
From the perspective of my awareness and direct involvement in the various reorganization activities, I am pleased to be able to report to you that, all things considered, excellent progress is being made on all fronts. Many people anticipated nasty "turf battles" or worse; well, my observation is that quite the opposite seems to be happening. The spirit of openness and cooperation is evident everywhere in the process. This is not to say that there are no tough problems yet to be resolved as we continue to move forward. My point is simply that logic and cool heads seem to be the rule rather than the exception.
All this bodes well for the individual member, and I look forward to the future with anticipation.
Pierre Thollot, Director, IEEE Division II, TEL: +1-815-226-7230, FAX.+1-815-226-2614, e-mail: p.thollot@ieee.org