To address the need for more women in academic leadership positions in engineering and foster the professional growth of women in academia, SWE developed the Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering (ALWE) program.
The overarching purpose of ALWE is to provide female academics in engineering with tangible skills and knowledge needed to pursue, acquire and gainfully maintain institutional leadership positions at a university. SWE also hopes this program provides women with skills to help them grow personally as leaders.
The upcoming ALWE program will begin in August 2023 and conclude in April 2024. ALWE will host 50 professional academic SWE members during the upcoming program. To support the professional development of women in faculty roles, participants who successfully complete the program will receive a registration grant to attend the WE24 Annual Conference.
Learn more about the ALWE program below.
What are the Benefits of Attending ALWE?
Participants in the ALWE program experience year-round workshops with interactive sessions that provide best practices to advance in academia while creating opportunities and mechanisms to network across institutions. Based on these best practices, attendees of ALWE are able to accomplish the following by the end of the program:
- Identify the roles and responsibilities associated with holding leadership positions in academia given opportunities to participate in sessions with academic leaders during the planned program events
- Describe a viable path to leadership given the unique career labyrinth at their institution
- Immediately apply skill development topics discussed in ALWE program events, such as negotiation, to advance into leadership roles within academia
- Evaluate various methods of leading others through difficult and dynamic leadership challenges given specialized programming with expert guest speakers
- Prepare to engage in a mentoring or sponsoring relationship, whether formal or informal, given learning opportunities on the nature of these types of connections
- Compose a Capstone project summarizing their unique leadership development challenges and opportunities and including a desired pathway to leadership
- Articulate a vision and plan for leading change within their sphere of influence given coaching opportunities and given participation in the Communities of Practice program
- Learn negotiation skills to use in pursuing an institutional leadership position
- Identify a network of support of and for other women in academia given the online forum and given ten or more opportunities to connect with other ALWE participants
Who Should Attend ALWE?
The intended audience for the ALWE program are women in the early and mid-stages of their careers at academic institutions. This includes:
- Postdoctoral Appointments
- Assistant Professors
- Associate Professors
- Full Professors
- Instructors
- Lecturers
This project is partially based upon work supported through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. and Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
