ACM Forms Blue Ribbon Panel on Licensing in Software Engineering

The ACM Council has formed a blue ribbon panel to advise it on the subject of software engineering licensing. Below are the members of the panel and its charter.

Members of the ACM Advisory Panel on Professional Licensing in Software Engineering

The goal of ACM's Advisory Panel on Professional Licensing in Software Engineering is to make recommendations to ACM Council regarding the role that ACM, as a professional computing society, should take on pressing issues related to the licensing of software engineers. The panel has been formed in part because of the recent decision by the State of Texas to license software engineers and in part because of a set of concerns expressed by ACM Council regarding ACM's present involvement in these issues.

The panel is charged

* with assessing the current role of ACM as part of a joint effort with the IEEE Computer Society to oversee and actively participate in the development of professionalism and licensing guidelines through the Software Engineering Coordinating Committee (SWECC);

* with recommending an appropriate role for ACM to take with respect to these issues; and

* with providing a relatively brief final report to ACM Council by its next meeting, which will be held on May 16, 1999.

There are no restrictions whatsoever on the recommendations that the panel might make.

The bulk of the panel's work will be done via email and conference calls. The panel may also choose to meet. ACM will provide whatever financial and staff support is required.

While the panel is free to determine its course, we expect it to consult with the representatives of the areas of ACM that have an interest in the topic of software engineering. These include relevant SIGs, especially SIGSOFT (David Notkin, Chair), the Ed Board (Peter Denning, Chair), and the ACM representatives to SWECC (Dennis Frailey is the lead representative).