News & Events

Dallas SWE Call for Nominations for FY22 Executive Council

It’s that time of year again! We are gearing up to elect a new Dallas SWE Executive Council. Nominations for FY22 Dallas SWE Leadership are now open! 

Do you know someone whose expertise and values should be represented on the leadership team? Would you personally like to participate in a leadership role? SWE is a great place to showcase your leadership skills, give back to your community, and build a network of engineering professionals and friends. Dallas SWE is currently seeking nominations for officers to serve for FY22, beginning July 1, 2021. There are 8 positions available and self-nominations are highly encouraged! By our section bylaws, elected officers must be voting members of Dallas SWE in good standing with the Society. 

This spring, Dallas SWE voting members will participate in an election for the following offices:

  • President
  • Executive Vice President
  • Vice President of Membership
  • Vice President of Outreach
  • Treasurer (2-year term)
  • Secretary
  • Investment Committee (3-year term, 2 open position)

Formal responsibilities can be found in our section bylaws. You can also view practical descriptions and estimated time commitments of our assigned activities here. Please e-mail any questions to FY21 Nomination Committee Chair, Zaineb Ahmad at zgahmad@gmail.com.

Please submit nominations to zgahmad@gmail.com by Thursday, April 1st at 11:59 pm.

Please read below for open position descriptions.

Dallas SWE Officer Key Duties and Responsibilities

Officers are expected to attend monthly 1-hour executive council meetings, usually conference calls on a weekday evening. The schedule for the year is agreed-upon by officers each year. At the start of each fiscal year, a day-long officer transition meeting is held to share lessons learned from outgoing officers to incoming officers and bring everyone up to speed on Dallas SWE happenings.

President (1-year term)

The President represents the section to the public and the Society, presides over executive council meetings, has fiduciary responsibilities as an authorized signatory on Dallas SWE financial accounts, and provides oversight and guidance to the rest of the Dallas SWE leadership team (executive council and committee chairs). It is expected that the President manages the Dallas SWE email account and attend as many Dallas SWE meetings/events as possible. Estimated time commitment: 5-10 hours per week.

Executive Vice President (1-year term)

The Executive Vice President shall assume the duties of the President if he/she is temporarily unable to serve, arranges meeting locations and speakers for monthly professional development programs (Programs Committee) and provides oversight and guidance to the Nominating Committee. Estimated time commitment: 1-5 hours per week.

Vice President of Membership (1-year term)

The VP of Membership welcomes new members, oversees member recruitment and retention programs and social activities (Membership Committee), and coordinates award submissions (Professional Awards Committee). Estimated time commitment: 1-5 hours per week.

Vice President of Outreach (1-year term)

The VP of Outreach creates, organizes, and manages outreach events (Outreach DYW Committee), coordinates the scholarship and certificates program (Outreach STEM Committee), and oversees the creation Outreach awards submissions (Outreach Awards Committee). Currently, our Outreach events include two large Design Your World conferences and a handful of smaller events each year. Estimated time commitment: 5-10 hours per week during peak activity (DYW event planning).

Treasurer (2-year term)

The Treasurer is responsible for the collection, distribution, and safekeeping of section funds via an annual budget approved by the executive council, preparing reports on the financial position of the section including an end of year financial report submitted to the Society and the IRS, and providing guidance and oversight to the Fundraising Committee and Scholarship Committee. The Treasurer also works with the Investment Committee to manage Dallas SWE’s annual funding of scholarships. The Treasurer’s term is 2 fiscal years. Estimated time commitment: 1-3 hours per week. 

Secretary (1-year term)

The Secretary maintains the records of the section, coordinates communications on behalf of the section (via the Dallas SWE website, email newsletters, and social media accounts), and provides oversight and guidance to the Webmaster and Social Media Committee. Estimated time commitment: 1- 5 hours per week

Investment Committee –  2 position (3-year term)

The members of the Investment Committee are charged with providing historical perspectives and guidance on Dallas SWE’s financial investment accounts, primarily to ensure future funding of scholarships. This is the only Dallas SWE committee whose members are elected instead of appointed. Estimated time commitment: <1 hour per month

March Member of the Month: Elizabeth Gjini

Congratulations to Elizabeth Gjini, Dallas SWE’s March 2021 Member of the Month!

Elizabeth Gjini has been a SWE member since 2015 when she first started college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She got involved right away by joining the executive board of her collegiate section. Throughout her four years at school, Lizzy served as Freshmen Representative, Corporate Relations Director, President, and Outreach Directory. She loved planning professional, outreach, and advocacy events for her classmates. Outside of SWE, Lizzy was a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women and was the captain of the Rensselaer Cheerleading Team. She also is a massive Disney and Taylor Swift fan 😊

Through SWE, Lizzy was able to obtain an internship at Texas Instruments as a Customer Quality Engineer. It was then that she fell in love with Dallas. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Lizzy took a leap of faith and moved from her hometown in New Jersey back to Dallas. She worked part-time at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science where she got to teach people about engineering and science topics. Her favorite exhibits to work in were the ChallENGe Lab and the Gems and Minerals Hall. It was honestly one of the coolest things she has ever done. But she didn’t give up on looking for a full-time engineering career.

After attending the annual WE20 virtual conference, Lizzy got hired by Schneider Electric to be part of their Global Supply Chain Development Rotation Program. She started her new job in January at the Foxboro, MA location where she is a Production Supervisor. Even though she is now living in Massachusetts, Lizzy has stayed involved in Dallas SWE. She is currently the fundraising chair for the Design Your World committee.

Lizzy is also involved in the Society Outreach Committee where she is the lead editor of the Celebrate SWE Outreach publication. You can check out last year’s issue here. It has been a great opportunity to learn new skills and meet other SWE members from around the world.

“SWE has surrounded me with so many amazing women who have supported me through the toughest moments of my life. I will forever be grateful for their encouragement. It is because of SWE that I have learned to be kind to myself and never give up.”

Elizabeth Gjini

January Book Club Recap

On Saturday, January 23rd, a group of Dallas SWE members got together over GoToMeeting to discuss Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Talking To Strangers”. This book analyzed different interactions between strangers and discussed how they can go wrong because of certain circumstances. The group had a very thoughtful discussion about the book and was able to draw on their own experiences to decide how the lessons from this book could be applied to their daily lives.

Pathways to College Registration Open!

Pathways to College 2021 Registration is open for High School Seniors! P2C21 will be held virtually on Saturday, 2/27 from 11am-2pm. Students can register here. Scholarship applications are due 2/17 so don’t delay. Information on application available after registering for the event. Dallas SWE is partnering again with NSBE DFW and SHPE DFW, and P2C21 aims to encourage membership to our professional organizations while helping to prepare high school seniors for their future.

This year, we are gathering advice to share with the student on how to effectively transition from High School to College. If you have advice you would like to share, please send in your thoughts through this Google Form. With students facing new complications, like COVID-19, we value input from all our members, professional and collegiate!

Katie Mills Quoted in DCEO Article on Women in Tech

DCEO recently released an article titled “Women Leading Tech and Innovation 2021” in which Dallas SWE’s Treasurer Katie Mills was quoted! In it, she was able to provide statistics from SWE Research and points out the importance of mentoring for an equitable future in STEM. See the full article here or check it out in print in the Jan/Feb issue of DCEO.

JEOPARDY with Dallas SWE, E-WEEK EDITION! Member Social

I’ll take “Women in Engineering” for 100, Alex!

Come join us on February 24th from 6:00-7:30pm for a virtual friendly game of JEOPARDY! as we celebrate National Engineer’s Week! Founded by NSPE in 1951, Engineers Week (February 21–27, 2021) is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.

Dallas SWE will be hosting multiple rounds of JEOPARDY! testing your knowledge of Engineering, quirky inventions, women in STEM, SWE history, and even about our very own amazing members!

Come ready for a night of fun, learning, and competition with the best engineers around!

Register below or go directly to the Eventbrite here. Registration closes February 22.

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