Registration for WE19 in Anaheim, CA on November 7-9 is now open! Check out our WE18 recap post to find out what conference is like and then register on the WE19 registration page!
Let us know if you’re going by filling out the Dallas SWE Conference Coordination survey. If you’re interested, we can help you find roommates, share rides to the conference center from the airport, and put you on the Dallas SWE groupme, so we can tagup while we’re there! If you have questions about WE19 or travel coordination, please email us at dallas.swe.org.
Are you interested in developing your skills as a leader? Giving back to your community? Making lifelong, intelligent, supportive friends? Consider joining one of the Dallas SWE committees! If you have 5 minutes a month or several hours a week, we have a position for you! These positions offer opportunities to become more involved in our organization, to build your leadership and communication skills, and to expand your network. Since Dallas SWE is purely volunteer run, any and every committee could use your guidance, input, and help. Committee Chair positions are open on the following committees:
The Frontiers of Flight Museum celebrated the 50th
Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 2019 at Moon Day. The museum
collaborates with the National Space Society of North Texas to hold the largest
annual space-themed exposition in Texas. Moon Day honors the past, present, and
future of space exploration with a full day of family-friendly, entertaining
STEM programs and activities. Over three dozen exhibitors participated in Moon
Day, including the Dallas SWE section. And we had a blast! Visitors
participated in our Comic Catapult challenge. While this challenge didn’t
really launch them into space, the visitors built catapults and learned the
concept of energy, gravity, and the Laws of Motion. A huge thank you to the
amazing SWE volunteers for their help in making Moon Day 2019 a resounding
success.
Our 2019 membership appreciation event was held at PINSTACK Plano. We had the pleasure of recognizing several of our members for outstanding contributions to our section as we dined on a delicious spread and cake. Afterwards, some chose to take on our bowling lanes while others found their way to PINSTACK’s large array of other games. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn a little bit more about each of our members as well as get inspired about involvement with our newly elected FY20 leadership team.
Dallas SWE has 2 exciting events coming up this month to jump into the new fiscal year. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Dallas SWE FY20 Officer Meet and Greet Brunch
Save the date for the Dallas SWE FY20 Officer meet and greet brunch on Sunday, August 25 at 12 PM, location TBD! Food and drinks will be available for individual purchase. Registration link and additional details can be found here.
August Professional Development: Networking Night at PepsiCo & Frito Lay
Join Dallas SWE for our first professional development event of the year with PepsiCo and Frito Lay on August 27 at 6 PM at the PepsiCo and Frito Lay Headquarters. Registration link and additional details can be found here.
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!
