As the 2011-12 ASHRAE Chapter year wanes, I feel compelled to make the theme of this month's President's Message 'Thanks'. As a volunteer organization, the role of chapter leadership can occasionally be demanding. However, I can say without a doubt that any time and effort I have put into our organization has already and will continue to pay dividends in my personal and professional development. So on that note, thanks to the membership for your confidence in allowing me to serve.

In recapping several of our Chapter highlights this year to Region VIII Director and Regional Chair John Harrod, I couldn't help but to be impressed myself with our committees' efforts this year. I don't have space to recap all of those highlights here, but a few major highlights include the following:

• 70 new student members and $3,000 doled out in scholarships
• 32 new members, 15 grade advancements and a continually dwindling delinquency of ~ 6%
• All time high average monthly meeting attendance (well over 100 with LR and NWA combined compared to 92 last year) keynoted by Society President Ron Jarnagin in December
• An active Board of Governors with ~121 combined years of ASHRAE experience (if you trust my math)
• A quality newsletter and website that continue to disseminate important info to chapter members in a timely fashion despite the president's inability to get a President's Message turned in on time (Yes, I was late this month too.)

Again, these are just a few highlights of what our self-motivated committee chairs have managed to do with very little (read that 'no') prodding required, so let me express my sincere gratitude to all of the chapter volunteers for building on the successes of those before us.

Speaking of those before us, with April being designated our History month, Chapter Historian Jake Skinner and I were perusing our archives as Jake attempts to digitize the growing collection. I was drawn to an article in an April 1973 newsletter by then BOG member John Pate calling the chapter members to action in four categories as they prepared for their upcoming CRC. On the immediate tail of Arkansas being chosen as the strongest chapter in all of society and in the midst of another strong year, John wrote "We urgently need every member to make a determined effort for the next sixty days in the four following areas:

• New Members!
• Attendance to the chapter meetings.
• Attendance to the regional conference in Lubbock, April 26th [1973 (Tulsa this year)].
• Research promotion fund drive.

We have set a lot of records that will cast in ASHRAE circles for many years. The Arkansas Chapter can win again if we all make a personal commitment to achieve this goal. The opportunity is at hand – the time is now."

It's interesting how little changes in 39 years. Our chapter is still one of the strongest in Region VIII and all of society and the emphasis is still the same. Building off of John's call to action, I want to once again remind all who can attend to get signed up for CRC in Tulsa on April 26-28. This is the prime venue for carrying our grassroots efforts to society and learning how to more effectively run our chapter. I also want to thank all who have contributed this year to our Research Promotion campaign. We cannot come close to reaching our lofty goal of $53,000 as a chapter without the generosity of our members. If you have not already, please strongly consider giving generously again this year.

And even though I've focused on what we've already done this year, there's still more to come. We're looking forward to our own Hamid Habibi updating us on ASHRAE Standards 62.1 and 90.1 at our April meetings. Of course don't forget about golf tournaments at Hurricane Creek in Bryant on Friday, May 4th and at Valley View in Farmington on Friday, May 11th. Finally, look for details to come on our Past President's event in May.

See everybody next week.