As part of our FY17 initiative for multicultural engagement, SHPE DFW has invited us and NSBE DFW to attend their professional development event at Mockingbird Towers in Dallas this Saturday, April 22nd from 11am – 2pm, with an informal social gathering afterwards.
The Arlington Southwest Library has a high demand for STEM books for kids like Rosie Revere Engineer. We are collecting donations of STEM books to donate to the library as part of a STEM outreach event at the library on Thursday, May 4 at 5pm.
We will read Rosie Revere as part of the event and then do a creative building project. We need volunteers to help with the build and provide examples of real life engineers (if she can see it she can be it!). Book donations are also welcome! Please email Kate Van Dellen if you are interested in volunteering at this event.
The Dallas SWE FY17 Nominating Committee is please to present the following slate of candidates for your consideration to serve during FY18 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018). Ballots will be distributed electronically in early May and voting will conclude 30 days thereafter.
Per the Dallas SWE Bylaws additional candidates may be nominated by petition, provided that:
Please forward any nominations by petition with the required endorsements (five members) and consent of the candidate to zgahmad@gmail.com by April 30th.
Thank you!
Dallas SWE Nominating Committee
Teri Cate – Chair
Zaineb Ahmad, Tessa Hazlett, Molly Sing & Rachel Sheppard – Members
With our Member of the Month program, Dallas SWE seeks to recognize some of our non-officer members whose technical contributions, leadership accomplishments, or SWE volunteer service are particularly noteworthy. If you would like to nominate a Dallas SWE member for his/her contributions, please email us.
Our Member of the Month for April is Kim Concillado. Kim is a controls engineer at Wynright Corporation and received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University. She has been involved in the automation industry since her first internship and enjoys the fast-paced nature of the career. So far, she has developed human interface applications, created 3D system simulations and worked extensively on programmable logic controllers.
Kim’s interest in engineering emerged from a high school experience as the only female in the local round of the annual Ford/AAA Auto Skills Challenge. Her enjoyment of challenging atmospheres motivated her choice in electrical engineering, but passion in the subject only took off after joining a collegiate engineering design team that concepts, builds and races electric motorcycles: Buckeye Current. The leadership and creativity that blossomed from that group motivates her interest in STEM outreach. Providing access to challenging and interesting experiences for students K-12 and beyond are integral to the growth of diversity in engineering.
Kim joined a collegiate chapter of SWE at Ohio State but became considerably more active as a professional, participating in women in engineering panels including Illuminate STEM’s Self-eSTEM event and the spring 2017 Design Your World career panel at SMU. Her favorite experience to date is inviting students to explore circuit design at the Dallas ISD STEM Expo. In addition, her skills in social media can be found on Dallas SWE’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. Kim is relatively new to the Dallas area, but found Dallas SWE to be integral to her acclimation. Outside of SWE, Kim spends her weekends caring for tigers, lions, bobcats and cougars as a volunteer and strong wildlife conservation advocate at In-Sync Exotics. She is also passionate about child abuse prevention and frequents the Dallas courts as a trained advocate of Dallas CASA. She can also be found on the University of Texas – Dallas campus as a Panhellenic alumni advisor for the Delta Zeta chapter.
“Dallas SWE welcomed me with open arms. In a time when I was new in town and didn’t know a soul, I felt like I belonged.“
On Tuesday March 21, Dallas SWE Members had an opportunity to hear speaker Alise Cortez, PhD of Insigniam, Catalyzing Breakthrough Results® enlighten our members about vital communication skills. Her topic “The Key to Success and Sanity in the Workplace: Developing the Vital Communication Skills to Talk about ANYTHING” provided key takeaways for all us to put into practice in our personal and professional lives.
She referenced a few books with the main recommendation being “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler . She integrated the essential framework of the method with psychology studies to provide perspectives and strategize with attendees on issues that might arise during real-world interactions..
Below are a few of the key takeaways from the night:
The first critical step of vital communication skills is to become aware of limiting conversations. Do you know how much you are interpreting a story from the past and its effect on filtering what you see as possible in the present? Do you realize the impact of your misperceptions on your future interactions? The way you see something based on past experiences does not give your current or future circumstances a fair chance to be different.
Once you aware of your limiting conversations and are ready to embrace the present fully it is time to have more crucial conversations.
The following are ways to have crucial conversations:
STATE your Path. Speak persuasively not abrasively using:
S- Share your facts
T- Tell Your Story
A- Ask for other’s paths
T- Talk tentatively
E- Encourage Testing
Overall, developing vital communication skills means making it safe, for a mutual purpose with mutual respect for communicating with value and addressing misunderstandings.
~ Alicia Morgan
Join us for our April Professional Development Event:
We have a tendency to blame others for our unhappiness. The truth is that in order to create the life we want, we need to give up all blaming, complaining, judgments and shaming. Our point of power is in the choices we make. Everything that has happened to you in your life is a result of choices you’ve previously made. We’re creating our future by the choices we’re making today. Make choices that will help you move from where you are to where you want to be.
Attend this presentation led by Katherine Bock to find out the keys to success. You will leave with a better understanding of how to change so you can get out of your own way to create more success, balance and meaning in your life and career, along with concrete steps to take to move toward the life you want and deserve.
When: Tuesday, Apri 18, 2017, 6:00-8:00 PM
Where: Coffee House Cafe – Dallas, 6150 Frankford Rd, Dallas, TX 75252
Cost: FREE for SWE Members, $5 for non-members and guests. Food is available for purchase by the individual. Please RSVP by Sunday, April 16!
Speaker: Katherine Bock, J.D, PCC
Executive Coach & Speaker
Katherine Bock is an executive coach who helps women take charge of their careers and lives to create more success, meaning and balance. She is a self-described “recovering attorney” and has the ability to connect with humor and insight making her a sought after speaker, facilitator and coach. Her spa and beach retreats for women have been described as “life changing” by many attendees.
Katherine’s expertise and insight into people and organizations are grounded in her hands-on business experience that includes trust banking, corporate law, career transition coaching and consulting at the executive level.
She holds the Professional Certified Coach designation from the International Coach Federation and possesses both law and accounting degrees. She’s a 2001 graduate of Leadership Texas and is active in the community and belongs to several executive-level networking groups. She’s also a certified Laughter Yoga instructor.
Katherine’s motivation in going to law school was to get involved in politics to help make the world a better place and she believes that what she does now helps to make the world a better place—it’s just one person or a few people at a time!
