On Saturday, November 14, we need a few people to represent SWE at IEEE Dallas Day (and Society Fair) from 9:30am to 2:00pm at ITT Technical Institute. Please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com if you are interested!
Call for Committee Chairs
There is an immediate need for an Awards Committee Chair to assist with Region C Award nominations (Due December 7 this year). Our previous years’ chair Zaineb Ahmad is a seasoned expert and willing to tutor new volunteers in the ways of assembling winning award packets! In the spring, this committee chair will perform the same tasks for national award submissions. Please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com if you are interested in filling this role!
Later in the year, we will also need a Nominating Committee Chair to help select and evaluate potential candidates for FY17 Dallas SWE Officer positions. He or she will also serve as the teller for our FY17 election process. This is a great way to meet Dallas SWE leaders and learn more about what our section officers do. Again, please email dallas.swe@gmail.com if you are interested.
December Meeting – Mark Your Calendars
Our Holiday Mixer will be hosted by our new friends at Lennox International in Carrollton on the evening of Tuesday, December 15. Pencil us in to celebrate the holidays with our new Dallas SWE members at Lennox!
Region C Conference Reminder: Registration is OPEN!
Don’t forget to reserve your spot at the SWE Region C Conference February 5-7 in Rogers, AR. If you missed out on the Society WE15 conference, this is a more local opportunity to meet SWE leaders from other sections! Visit the Region C Conference website for more information and instructions on how to register.
Last week, 8,600+ women engineers met in Nashville, TN for SWE’s annual conference. We celebrated the 65th anniversary of SWE’s founding in style in Music City Center and returned to Dallas inspired and excited about the rest of FY16!
Some members from Dallas SWE who attended WE15! From left to right: Sree Sripada, Jordan Kayse (SMU SWE), Barbara Read (Dallas SWE President), Nandika D’Souza, PhD (Dallas SWE VP of Outreach), Zaineb Ahmad (Dallas SWE VP of Membership), Cherrie Fisher (Dallas SWE Executive VP), and Shelley Stracener (Dallas SWE Webmaster and Region C Secretary / Webmaster)
Dallas SWE brought home the Outreach Parent / Educator Event Award for the second year in a row for our signature outreach event, Design Your World – STEM Conference for Girls! Dallas SWE Members also received several individual awards. Congratulations to our award winners!
Nandika D’Souza, PhD – Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
Kate Van Dellen – Distinguished New Engineer
Shelley Stracener – Distinguished New Engineer
Next year’s WE16 Conference will be held in Philadelphia, PA October 27-29, 2016. We hope you can join us next year: mark your calendars!
Read below for some reflections from our attendees to the WE15 Conference and enjoy our photo gallery!
Barbara Read, Dallas SWE President
I went to several sessions, including the SWE Membership and Town Hall Meetings, that gave me new insights into how SWE is structured and managed at a region, national, and international level. I volunteered as a room monitor in other sessions: this is a great way to get a hefty discount on registration fees and give back to SWE and the conference planning team! I also enjoyed celebrating with our members who received awards this year: Dallas SWE is an amazing section and I am so proud to be a part of it.
Cherrie Fisher, Executive Vice President
This was my first SWE Conference experience and I really enjoyed it! I went to many great professional development sessions. I especially appreciated being able to support Dallas SWE member Kate Van Dellen by attending her session entitled “Career Paths: 5 Years Out and Where am I Going?” My favorite part of the conference was the dancing and entertainers after Celebrate SWE on Saturday evening! It was a wonderful and inspiring conference.
Nandika D’Souza, Ph.D, VP of Outreach
My 2nd National SWE conference established that I must go to this conference EVERY YEAR to be functional in my work life. My first conference sharing a room with Dallas SWE super-giver Shelley Stracener made planning for the 2nd conference easier (for one thing I understood there was an award banquet AND a celebration banquet, each offering awards). I headed there knowing we were both getting a national award enabled through the nomination by Dallas SWE and meticulous assembly by Zaineb Ahmed. New this time was the enormous group of UNT-SWE students heading to Nashville, including one SWE Future Leader (SWEFL) for Region C, Haley Barnes.
Among workshops and talks I found insightful were those on “introverts and extroverts”, “mindfulness for stress reduction”, “developing a personal brand”, “using humor in the workplace”, plenaries on “how corporate America is making diversity a way of life”, “how does she do it”- stories of executives who had negotiated family and career management. The awards banquet was an opportunity for me to make a statement on diversity. I am passionate that SWE truly embrace globalization- both globally and as an immigrant in America. “Diversity by culture” is unfortunately considered to exclude Asian populations by every policy with Asians left out as being too successful to support. Yet my inbox and chance encounters reveal and increased need for retention in the workforce of the Asian born mum.
At the SWE awards I chose to raise awareness for immigrants producing and delivering in America. I wore an outfit that I purchased in India. In receiving an award for engineering education that reflected teaching, research and service to professional societies I wanted to communicate that service can be a core part of work life. This SWE conference will remain an experience that I will never forget. I grew in appreciation for the value of the local sections of SWE and the wonderful sisterhood that comes from being in a room where one is a majority. I was overwhelmed with joy at seeing my University students hold their own in personality and professionalism. I returned home replenished.
Zaineb Ahmad, VP of Membership
It’s been eight years since the SWE conference was in Nashville, eight years since I lasted attended a SWE conference. As a college student, I was focused on finding internships and jobs back then; going back as a professional and as SWE section leader was a totally different experience. First, the conference is so much bigger now; SWE continues to grow every year and it shows at the conference. Just walking through the halls of the conference center makes you realize you’re in the company of intelligent, beautiful, and ambitious women engineers.
I attended several sessions, with topic ranging from implementing efficiency to leaders leading change to approaches to innovation to work/life balance and more. Some sessions aimed to enhance professional development and career planning, while others focused on technical talks or mentoring or planning a SWE career.
The “hallway/elevator chats” were among my favorite this year; randomly meeting someone in an elevator or after a session and generating conversations. I talked to women in industry about the rapidly changing face of technology. I talked to fellow SWE members and struggles their sections faced. I talked to collegiates about their goals and fears (I remember being there and I hope I helped ease some of their fears). I also got to catch up with some fellow alumni from my collegiate SWE sections and ladies I had met at SWE conference many years ago!
One of the highlights of the event was seeing my fellow Dallas SWE members win some pretty prestigious, well-deserved awards. Furthermore, Dallas SWE won Outreach Parent/Educator Award for the second year in a row and Region C won the Communication Award!
As usual, the SWE conference provides so much to do, so many people to see. It’s three days of ongoing activity, but I came back recharged and motivated. I’m ready to take on challenges in my professional life, I’m inspired to be a better mentor and STEM advocate, and I’m generally more excited than ever to be a woman engineer and a part of SWE! I am looking forward to WE16 in Philadelphia!
Dallas SWE President Barbara Read: Rockstar!
Dallas SWE with our Outreach Award!
Dallas SWE individual award winners Nandika D’Souza, Ph.D, Shelley Stracener, and Kate Van Dellen
Nandika D’Souza, PH.D (2nd from left) with SMU students Bria Miles, Morgan Reiner, and Jordan Kayse
Nandika D’Souza receiving her award from SWE President Colleen Layman
Dallas SWE Membership Chair Zaineb Ahmad and VP of Outreach Nandika D’Souza, Ph.D
Shelley Stracener receiving her award from SWE President Colleen Layman
Dallas SWE VP of Outreach Nandika D’Souza, Ph.D and Membership Chair Zaineb Ahmad
Dallas SWE Executive VP Cherrie Fisher and one of the dancing entertainers at Celebrate SWE
Shelley Stracener (center) with our SWE Region C Turtle Mascot SMU students Jordan Kayse and Allison Garza
SWE Region C Governor Hope Toole Schwalls, Shelley Stracener, and Barbara Read
Dallas SWE President Barbara Read and Carol Bachman from Fort Worth SWE
If you are a SWE Member in our Dallas section, you should have received an email with this information. Please remember to cast your ballot by Nov 14!
Background:
The Society of Women Engineers changed the template for Section Bylaws in 2013. We revised our Section ByLaws and submitted them in 2013 and received no feedback. We resubmitted our Bylaws in 2014 and received feedback earlier this year that additional modifications were necessary. The most expedient course of action has been to start with the Society provided template and update the Bylaws to reflect the Dallas Section organization. The process requires the section membership to approve the proposed Bylaws before the Society Secretary approves them.
The Bylaws must be approved by a two-thirds majority of ballots received by the
voting deadline of November 14, 2015.
This election is open only to current Dallas SWE members.
Please plan to join us and other SWE members from Region C (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) in northwest Arkansas Feb 5-7, 2016 for the FY16 SWE Region C Conference! This year’s conference is hosted by the University of Arkansas SWE Section and they are very excited to meet you all for a weekend of networking, learning, and a career fair.
Read the Region C Blog post from the FY16 Conference Planning Committee and visit the conference website, regionc2016.wordpress.com, to get more information and reserve your spot. Get together with your Dallas SWE friends or start a conversation on our social media if you plan to carpool or share rooms!
Have you registered for WE15, the Society of Women Engineers annual conference, yet? If not, what are you waiting for?? The Conference is in Nashville, TN October 22-25, but early bird pricing ends on September 30! Visit the WE15 website to register!
The deadline to renew your SWE membership for FY16 is also September 30! Visit the SWE Membership website to renew your membership today!
