Professional Development

A Legacy of Professional Development

SWE’s professional development programming has evolved from technical presentations in the Society’s early years to a wide array of opportunities today, helping women thrive in diverse roles and work environments.

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Professional development activities in the 1950s and 1960s primarily featured technical talks at section meetings and the Society’s annual convention.

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Emma Barth, right, leads a professional development session at the 1960 SWE Eastern Seaboard Conference in Philadelphia.
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The schedule of SWE Boston Section programming in 1956 included lectures on lighting chemistry and quality control.

In its early decades, SWE helped its members find jobs in a field that did not always welcome them, from providing resume and interview advice to sharing job postings and engaging their networks to find amenable employers.

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The March 1961 issue of the SWE Newsletter reprinted an article from Industrial Relations News explaining that 81 percent of personnel administrators were reluctant to hire women engineers.
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Dorolyn Lines, chairman (president) of SWE’s Denver Section, asks employment committee chairman Ruth Shafer what kinds of chemical engineering jobs might be suitable for women in a March 1958 letter, after local employers claimed the work was too dangerous for women.
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In a March 1956 issue of the SWE Newsletter, the chief engineer of Kennecott Copper Corporation invited applications from SWE members, noting that his company was interested in giving women engineers “a serious try.”

The Society co-hosted a series of conferences in the 1970s focused on workforce reentry, management, and upward mobility, and hosted its first leadership conference in 1980.

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SWE co-hosted a series of Women in Engineering conferences in the 1970s exploring women’s potential in engineering, barriers to and strategies for upward mobility, and preparing for workforce reentry.
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Adele Scheele leads a session during the 1976 SWE Upward Mobility Conference in Easton, Md.
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From left, past President Lois Graham, Margaret Eller, Amogene DeVaney, and Betty Lou Bailey attend a joint meeting of SWE's Women in Academia committee and the American Society of Engineering Educators at the 1981 SWE national convention in Anaheim, Calif.

Professional development programming at SWE section events and annual conventions expanded in the 1970s to include career and leadership skills, which remain a strong focus today.

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The Florida Section inspired members to fulfill their professional potential at the Tenth Annual Florida State Symposium for Engineers & Scientists in 1983.
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The Denver Section hosts a professional development conference in March 1984 titled, “Communication: Meeting the Challenge.”
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Participants listen to a development session at the 1979 SWE national convention in San Francisco.

SWE expanded its professional development offerings in the 2000s to include webinars, podcasts, accredited continuing education units, and leadership retreats for women engineers in academia and industry.

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Since 2006, SWE has offered webinars that provide professional growth in a convenient format.
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Following SWE’s first Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering program in 2015, SWE launched its eXXec program for female executives as well as its High School Leadership Academy and Collegiate Leadership Institute for students.
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SWE created podcast episodes for its Advance Learning Center in the early 2010s and launched Diverse: A SWE Podcast in FY15.