Partnership

A Legacy of Partnership

SWE’s valued partnerships with industry, professional associations, and nonprofit organizations have propelled its mission and vision forward, enabling the Society to offer programs and services at a level its founders couldn’t have envisioned in 1950.

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.

Employers informally supported SWE until 1961, when the Society introduced corporate membership to raise funds for a headquarters office in the United Engineering Center in New York City.

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SWE members at Ford Motor Company work on the SWE Detroit Section newsletter in 1955.
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Bell Telephone Laboratories and General Electric became SWE’s first corporate members in 1961.
Office
When SWE moved into its new headquarters office in 1961, it was short on extra funds. Executive Secretary Winnie White, seated center, largely furnished it with cast-off furniture and equipment from the other societies moving into the United Engineering Center.

Generous funding from corporate partners has bolstered the Society’s financial support and improved programming for its collegiate members.

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SWE President Naomi McAfee accepts a grant to fund the Bertha Lamme-Westinghouse Scholarship. Westinghouse and RCA funded SWE’s first corporate-sponsored scholarships in 1974.
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SWE President Gloria Montano speaks about SWE’s efforts to fill the engineering pipeline during a May 1998 event at the National Press Club announcing a grant from Exxon Education Foundation to support engineering education initiatives.
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Support from corporate sponsors has enabled SWE to host special events for collegians at its conferences.

SWE has long partnered with other professional societies and nonprofit organizations to further its mission to reach aspiring engineers and support their professional advancement.

Girl Scout Patch
The SWE Hampton Roads Section collaborated with the Girl Scouts Colonial Coast Council to develop an engineering patch in 1992. Having provided input on STEM activities since the 1970s, SWE and the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. signed a memorandum of understanding in 2001.
Glass Ceiling
In the 1990s, SWE collaborated with the National Society of Professional Engineers to overcome barriers to women’s upward mobility. Together, they debuted a 90-minute video and training session, The Glass Ceiling, at the 1997 SWE national convention.
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A partnership between SWE, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Women in Engineering ProActive Network received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2023 to support the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative.

The Society established the Corporate Partnership Council (CPC) in 2003, creating a forum for SWE to share its expertise on promoting diversity in the workforce while being strengthened by guidance from industry partners.

CPC Charter Members
The Society’s CPC launched with 23 charter members. At the end of 2024, the SWE CPC included 130 corporate and governmental members.
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Seven CPC members joined SWE and iRelaunch to introduce the STEM Reentry Task Force in 2015, offering return-to-work programs for those returning to engineering after a career break. More than 30 companies participated at the end of 2024.
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The Philadelphia and Drexel University SWE Sections hold a joint “Transition to College” high school outreach event in 2019, funded by a SWE program development grant. SWE’s corporate partners generously fund these micro-grants to help SWE sections, affiliates, and members run professional development and outreach events.

SWE’s multinational corporate partners have furthered the Society’s global engagement, sharing industry trends and working to develop new intervention strategies to promote diversity and inclusion within local contexts.

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Representatives from 18 companies and three universities attend SWE’s 2012 “Step Forward!” professional development conference at the John Deere Forum in Mannheim, Germany. SWE members in Germany began the annual event in 2005.
Roundtable India
SWE and its corporate partners hosted a series of roundtables in India in December 2019 to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on the workplace.
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Attendees network with SWE’s corporate partners and exhibitors at the 2023 WE Local Barcelona conference.