SWE Objectives

About SWE
The Society of Women Engineers is a non-profit educational, service organization dedicated to making known the need for women engineers and encouraging young women to consider an engineering education. Geographic area comprises primarily Austin, and San Antonio and surrounding areas. Check out our calendar for upcoming events for speakers, networking opportunities to meet other women engineers and career guidance activities working with young girls.

Objectives
* Inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the public in general of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them.
* Assist women engineers in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement.
* Serve as a center of information on women in engeering.
* Encourage women engineers to attain high levels of educational and professional achievement. working with young girls.

President's Letter, Nov 2009
I recently attended the SWE National Conference “We09” that was held in Long Beach, CA. Our section was invited to showcase our Girl Scout event at the Outreach Expo held at National Conference; our event was held this past April at the Girl Scouts headquarters in Austin and focused on green technologies. Outreach Chair Suzanne White, who planned and led the event in April, was unable to attend the conference, so I was happy to step in and represent our section to share best practices from the success of our event with both student and professional sections. We were also in the running for the 2009 Girl Scouts Program Award and later that night at Celebrate SWE, we found out our section won! In celebration of our win all SWE members who volunteered for the event will receive a copy of the award to display…because without all of our volunteers hard work our section could not have put on such a great event! Please make sure your mailing address is current under your profile on the National website.

This is a great time to start planning to attend the National Conference for next year, which is the 60th Anniversary of SWE’s founding and will be held in Orlando, FL. The links are already active on the SWE National website for those members that might be interested in presenting a session or workshop. Those who do present are offered credits toward conference costs, so it is a great way to save money in tight economic times. If your company is interested, the link is active for those interested in participating as an exhibitor at the career fair.

The section is now focused back on our upcoming local events, so please stay tuned we have some great things planned for members in the next few months. Mark your calendars for the Region C conference which is being held in Dallas, February 5th-7th, 2010. If you are interested in attending but would like to carpool or share a room to limit expenses please let us know and we will start a list to match our members.

Penny Parang
President, Southwest Texas