Dear Dallas SWE,
First and foremost, on behalf of the Dallas SWE Executive Council, welcome to FY20! The end of this fiscal year will mark the 70th anniversary of the Society of Women Engineers, which began in 1950. I am proud to be part of this organization of intelligent, beautiful, and supportive women; I am equally humbled and honored to serve as your Dallas SWE President for my second term.
At the beginning of the fiscal year, the FY19 Executive Council transitioned roles and responsibilities to our current FY20 Council. As we’ve traditionally done, both groups came together to discuss best practices and lessons learned, while brainstorming ideas for a successful FY20. With the FY20 Executive Council settling into their respective roles and providing enthusiastic direction, I am looking forward to another year of amazing professional development, social activities, and outreach activities to come! We’ll keep you posted on all our upcoming events through our mailing list (sign up on dallaswe.org, if you haven’t already) and through social media; connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
Pictured, front left to right: Rana Karimi (VP of Membership), Barbara Read (Collin College SWE Counselor), Katie Mills (Treasurer), Zaineb Ahmad (President), Shelley Stracener (Investment Committee), Amanda Alsbrook (Executive VP). Not Pictured: Thi Dao (VP of Outreach), Sammy Zellner (Secretary)
FY20 has already started strong with our participation at Moon Day at the Frontiers of Flight Museum on July 20 (recap coming soon), celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! In August, we have a social and professional development meeting planned. The FY20 officers would love to meet-and-greet with our members at brunch on Sunday, August 25 (click here for more details). On August 27, join us at PepsiCo for a joint meeting to kick off our professional development series for this year.
As excited as I am for this year, I do want to take a moment to recognize every FY19 officer, committee chair, and committee member for her hard work and dedication to our Dallas SWE section. Thank you for all that you have done! Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and Dallas SWE is a strong, vibrant, and successful section because of you.
For our members, your involvement has also not gone unnoticed. We wouldn’t be such a great section without each and everyone of you. At the end of FY19, we sent around a membership survey and we are happy to report that most of you see value in your SWE membership and enjoy the Dallas SWE membership experience. We reaffirmed that our membership is highly diverse, with members from different walks of life, ethnic and educational backgrounds, LGBTQ, and working across multiple disciplines and industries in the area. Many of you expressed your happiness in our activities, including professional development, outreach, and social events. Varying location of meetings and events has come up over many years by a few members. Our officers try to take into account various locations when planning meetings and make decisions based on the location of our membership (see heat map below) and past event history, which we have tracked for several years now. That being said, if you are located in an area that does not get frequent events and have ideas on locations, please do reach out to us and let us know. It’ll help us organize events and show your interest in hosting events in your area! To make it even easier to participate, we aim to have a conference call number available at least one Professional Development meeting this year. We still encourage everyone who can attend to do so in person, but this may help those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend. Let us know what you think!
As a reminder, please renew your memberships for FY20, if you haven’t done so already. SWE membership is an affordable $100. As members, you’ll get free access to Dallas SWE events, amazing webinars, and the career center, as well as discounts to local and regional conferences, and so much more. Plus, you’ll be part of the largest network of women engineers (+40,000 members strong). Click here for a step by step guide on how to renew.
Lastly, do you have 30 minutes to help out Dallas SWE? Are you looking for ways to socialize, hone your leadership skills, get involved in SWE, or just do something new? With any time commitment, we have a committee for you! We could use your help with planning and coordinating events, outreach activities, fundraising, awards, etc…. and yes, all in as little as 30 minutes a month! Being a volunteer driven organization, every little bit helps. Click here for descriptions of committees and fill out the FY20 Committee Interest Survey. A Dallas SWE Officer will be in touch with you soon.
We look forward to another wonderful year for Dallas SWE and seeing you at a future event!
Zaineb Ahmad
Dallas SWE FY20 President