Collegiate Support

A Legacy of Collegiate Growth

SWE has provided a platform for women studying engineering to grow personally and professionally, and has grown from just seven student members in 1951 to more than 20,000 collegians across the globe today.

Explore SWE's Legacy Below

Support Our Legacy

In honor of our diamond anniversary, consider making a donation this year in support of SWE’s ongoing mission. It can and will make all the difference.

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Showcase items such as commemorative shirts, pins, and other branded items celebrating the anniversary.

SWE provided important social and financial support as well as networking opportunities for the few women studying engineering in the 1950s and 1960s.

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The Purdue University student section sent a postcard reporting on its activities in 1958, which included a cider and doughnuts party and a joint meeting with the Purdue chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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SWE honorary member Lillian Moller Gilbreth presents the 1964 Gilbreth Scholarship to Valerie Petersen. The Society awarded more than 320 scholarships totaling almost $1.5 million in the 2024-2025 academic year, including more than 130 scholarships funded by SWE endowments and local sections.

Mirroring the growth of women studying engineering nationally, the number of college students joining SWE skyrocketed in the 1970s, from 370 at the beginning of the decade to more than 6,000 by 1980.

AllAlone
In a 1954 article in Parade, SWE Detroit Section member Lucille Pieti recalls being the only woman among 300 engineering graduates at Wayne University in 1950.
Student Chart
A chart from the Spring 1976 issue of the SWE Newsletter illustrates the rapid rise of college students joining SWE each year in the 1970s.
EngineeringManpowerBulletin April NO
The April 1981 issue of the Engineering Manpower Bulletin noted that the percentage of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in the United States increased from just 0.83% in 1970 to 9.70% in 1980.

SWE held a separate student conference just prior to or concurrent with the national convention from 1974 until 2000, when the professional and collegiate events were merged to encourage intergenerational networking and learning.

Student Conf Sessions
The 1976 Student Conference included a series of workshops about section leadership as well as professional development sessions on career planning, interviewing, and assertiveness.
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Electrical engineering professor Elsa Garmire and Marilee Wheaton lead a session on student section activities at the 1981 SWE Student Conference in Anaheim, Calif.
Negotiate Career Fair
Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award recipient Walter McFall led a popular conference session, “How to Negotiate a Career Fair,” from 1995 through 2009. His speeches were reprinted in SWE Magazine many times.

In addition to building opportunities within their sections, collegiate members have also honed their leadership skills at the Society level.

Student Vote
Following a 1975 bylaws amendment that also opened the door for male membership, SWE’s college members elected four students to serve on the Society’s Council of Section Representatives for the first time in 1976. The Society welcomed a collegiate representative to the board in 2007, a position that became a collegiate director with voting rights in 2011.
CLI
SWE added learning modules and live presentations on the Advance Learning Center to help collegians develop their professional and leadership skills.
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Collegiate Leadership Institute attendees gather at WE19 . The CLI debuted at WE13 with 110 participants.

SWE expanded its outreach and programing by welcoming collegiate affiliates from two-year community colleges and global universities in the 2010s.

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Members of the Mehran University of Engineering & Technology SWE Affiliate in Pakistan hold a screening of the documentary "A Girl in the River" in July 2016.
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Students and faculty from Essex County Community College in New Jersey gather for a SWE networking event in April 2023. The event was funded by SWE’s Community College Affiliate Support and Expansion (CCASE) Program.
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
The global collegiate affiliate at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid hosts its annual SWE event in September 2024. More than 130 professionals, collegians, and employers explored the challenges and opportunities in engineering.