The President of Dallas SWE, that is! Welcome to FY18, everyone. I am looking forward to another exciting year of events and service to our local communities. Our leadership team and I am passionate about communication: if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions for Dallas SWE, please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com or connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. We want to interact with you!
If you’re new to Dallas SWE, we participate in a variety of activities each year, all of which we will post to this blog and our Google calendar (list in the right sidebar). We’ll send out bimonthly emails to highlight upcoming events, so subscribe to our mailing list (to the right) or follow us on social media. Here’s a sample of what we have to offer you this year:
- We received your feedback that the predictable Tuesday schedule of the past few years precludes some folks from participating if they have standing commitments on Tuesdays. This year, our monthly professional development meetings which will be held on a variety of weekday evenings to accommodate a wider audience. These include some time for networking and a guest speaker, local industry tour, or SWE webinar about how to make the most of your engineering career. You don’t have to be a SWE member to attend, but members will always attend for free! Email us if you have suggestions or are interested in speaking at one of our meetings.
- Social brunches are held about every two months on weekends and offer a time of additional networking without a formal program or speaker. These are open to all, with food and drink available for purchase by the individual.
- After our success last year with joint community service and leadership development events with National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, we’ll continue those partnerships in FY18!
- We have two large K-12 outreach events each year, called Design Your World STEM conferences, in the fall and spring. We also attend several smaller events throughout the year so keep an eye out for your opportunity to give back to K-12 students in our local communities.
- We’ll also remind you about events not hosted by Dallas SWE but by other levels of SWE (Region C and Society events) or our local STEM partners. We hope you’ll find those useful!
If you’re not a member of SWE but would like to become one, the cost is an affordable $100 per year. A portion of your dues come back to our not-for-profit Dallas section to support the events and scholarships we sponsor. You’ll also get access to SWE’s extensive library of recorded webinars, their online career center, discounted registration fees for Region and Society conferences, an untold number of leadership opportunities to grow personally and professionally, and you’ll be a part of the largest network of women engineers (over 40,000 members!). Visit the Society of Women Engineers website and click “Membership” to find out more about the benefits and to join.
I have been a SWE member since my sophomore year of college (15 years!) and find the most value in the conferences and in the mentors and friends I’ve met in SWE (my “SWEsters”) from every industry, engineering discipline, culture, ethnicity, and career stage. This is especially true in Dallas where we enjoy an exceptionally diverse membership numbering 250 and growing. Our leadership team is amazing as well! Check out our Officer & Committee Chair page for an introduction to them, and contact us if you’re interested in joining a committee!
Thanks again for your interest in Dallas SWE, and we hope to see you at an event soon!
Shelley Stracener
Dallas SWE FY18 President
