Minutes of BMSCE-AAA Meeting

Recent India visits by Balachandra Begoore and K.N. Murthy took them to Bangalore and to B.M.S. College of Engineering College. Both had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Haranath, Principal, and had discussions concerning the recently formed BMSCE Alumni.

K.N. Murthy had two meetings with Dr. Haranath. The second meeting was chaired by Mr. Y. Ramachandra, (former Mayor and Minister), Chairman of B.M.S. Educational Trust and was attended by many current faculty. To brief the results of teh discussions held in Bangalore, a meeting was held on November 24, 1996 at Dasaprakash restaurant in a suburb of LA. The following were in attendance: Messrs. K.N. Murthy, Vijay Ramappan, Mohan Mysore, Balachandra Begoore, Ram Rao, Arun Anur, Murari Ram, and M. Krishnamurthy.

The above group was briefed by Messrs. Begoore and Murthy. The following were the key items of interest pertaining to BMSCE-AAA.

• Dr. S. Haranath, Principal of BMSCE, has taken a lot of initiative to brief the college faculty of our efforts, here in the U.S.A., to help at least some of the deserving students with scholarships.

• Dr. Haranath has established an alumni scholarship committee consisting of three faculty members to select the students. The three-person committee consists of Dr. D.S. Ramakrishna, Dr. G.R. Srinivasa, and Dr. P.S. Satyanarayana. An individual representing the Alumni Association will be appointed by the Alumni Association.

• The criteria for disbursement of the scholarship are "merit and means". The scholarship committee will screen and verify the candidates eligibility. It was suggested that a matrix, listing the various influencing factors, such as attendance, participation in college activities, sports, leadership quality be included and weighed in addition to test scores and means. It was felt by everyone that this process will select "well rounded" individuals. There will be a BMSCE-AAA representative of the committee to ensure fairness in the selection and distribution. The BMSCE-AAA is to concentrate at this time on scholarship fund raising only.

• Murthy had agreed to request the members to arrange to send technical magazines (various disciplines) to college library. Mr. Mohan Mysore agreed to take the lead on this issue.

• Mr. Krishna Murthy presented the "by-laws" for the Alumni Association which were reviewed and discussed. Murthy to redraft the "by-laws" and distribute to the attendees for a final review.

• It was agreed that a $25 membership fee per year will be collected from the alumni members. A one time fee of $1000 (one thousand dollars) will make the contributors "Donor Members".

• Upon finalization of the "by-laws" the Association will be registered as a "non-profit" organization.

• Donor Members could be individuals, companies, and institutions. All Donor Members will become the lifetime members of the Alumni Association and the BMSCE will keep and display appropriately (details to be worked out with the college).

• As we are launching the organization at a national level, it was felt important, by all, that we need to restructure the current Alumni organization to be inclusive of representatives across the country. Murthy suggested a core group to oversee the national level activity and create five national districts with a designated individual(s) to organize working committees. Murthy will draft an organization chart for review.

• Money will be collected from the individuals who offered rupees 5000/ scholarship for this year (Krishnamurthy, Ram Rao, K.N. Murthy, Partha Mudambi, Raghu Nanjappa, and vijay Chandra) and will be sent to the college for disbursement. Raghu Nanjappa will be visiting Bangalore and will hand carry and deliver the money.

• It was agreed that we meet during the first week of January 1997 to evaluate the status and the progress.