Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/826827
60 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine The institute Connections have always driven Kevin Taaffe's involve- ment with IISE; connections that decades later turned into an effort to define best practices for running uni- versity chapters across the entire institute. Taaffe, the Harriet and Jerry Dempsey Associate Pro- fessor in Industrial Engineering at Clemson University and outgoing Mid-Atlantic Region vice president, got involved with the student chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to get connected to his fellow IE students. He admitted he probably wasn't thinking about the move as a "great career thing." "But that's what it ended up leading to, nurturing those connections and relationships and meeting new people, finding out what others are doing, and that just has a natural way of opening up more opportunities for you." Years later as region vice president, a lot of the month- ly RVP calls revolved around identifying the best ways to run a university chapter. Using those connections, Taaffe said, the Mid-Atlantic Region conference held a town hall where student members voiced their concerns or support for ideas that worked, distilling the informa- tion into five things that worked well and bringing the details to IISE headquarters. "That turned into an effort at the national level to say let's be more focused about how we collect best practices across all of our university chapters," Taaffe said. The interest in better ideas for university chapters comes naturally, as Taaffe has been faculty advisor for Clemson's student chapter for nearly 10 years. And he still pushes that model of connections: getting connected to other IE students through the university chapter, getting to know students in chapters at other universities and getting to know professionals in the workplace. "It can't do anything but help jump-start your career," he said. The faculty advisor post led him to a spot as the region's vice president for student development before he became RVP. "I like trying to be that voice for people across the region in trying to take their concerns to headquarters and make a difference," he said. Taaffe admits to feeling a little sad now that he is leaving his RVP post, but he plans to stay active. Although unsure of his next leadership role, he plans to get more plugged into the Society for Health Systems, the IISE society that focuses on health systems engineering. "That's what I kind of envision," Taaffe said. "As op- portunities or needs arise in SHS or IISE, I'm going to try to fill in there." Connected through the decades Kevin Taafe's desire to know fellow students led to university chapter best practices volunteer snapshot Outgoing Mid-Atlantic Region Vice President Kevin Taaffe said local chapters are a great way to get connected.