Dallas SWE is pleased to recognize Barbara Read as a Member of the Month for February 2019! 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 at dallas.swe@gmail.com.
Barbara Read currently works as a Senior Quality Engineer at Raytheon in Richardson, TX. Over her 30-plus year career, she has held a variety of roles in software engineering, systems engineering, and process improvement. She is an American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer. Barbara earned BS and MS degrees in Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Barbara is honored to be the current Collin College SWE Professional Counselor and welcomes the opportunity to support the collegiates and strengthen the ties between professionals and collegiates now that regions are dissolved. This position is especially meaningful to her, since she participated in initial meetings between Dallas SWE leadership and Professor Tripat Baweja, faculty advisor for Collin College SWE, when the section was forming
Barbara has held a variety of leadership roles since attending her first Dallas SWE meeting in FY12. During this time Dallas SWE has experienced healthy growth and won numerous section awards. She designed and led an activity for the first North Texas Design Your World – STEM Conference for Girls in May 2012. Barbara was the Dallas SWE Executive Vice President in FY13 and FY14, and was the primary individual planning the professional development meetings for the section. She served two terms as Dallas SWE President in FY15 and FY16, followed by Dallas SWE Section Representative in FY17. Barbara also served on the Dallas SWE Scholarship Committee and was involved in numerous STEM outreach activities. She has volunteered for several DYW – STEM conferences since that first one in 2012, Design It Build It, Engineer Week events, the Great Minds program, MATHCOUNTS, and Moon Day. At the Region C level, Barbara served on the Awards Committee and helped plan the professional sessions for the 2013 Region C conference. At the Society level, Barbara has judged scholarship applications of graduating high school seniors and has enjoyed volunteering at annual conferences.
Besides SWE activities, Barbara also serves as the Membership Chair of the DFW Association of Software Engineering Excellence. Barbara (Ms. Read) regularly volunteers for the Richardson Public Library Friends of the Library semi-annual book sale. She is also active in her congregation, serving as the president of the women’s group, singing in the choir and supporting School Accreditation studies. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, and solving puzzles.
My favorite thing about SWE: My favorite thing about SWE is the opportunity to network with women in technical professions who have similar experiences and share common interests in advancing STEM. I regret it took me so long to find out about the SWE organization and get involved.
Barbara Read
