Overview
The Leadership Development Program (LDP) is designed to cultivate and empower emerging collegiate leaders within the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Through a comprehensive curriculum based on the SWE Leadership Competency Model, the program equips you with the essential skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to thrive as an influential leader both within SWE and in your future careers.
As key contributors to SWE’s leadership pipeline, LDP participants play a crucial role in ensuring that the perspectives and needs of Collegiate members are not only represented, but also actively shape the Society’s direction. By fostering their leadership potential, the LDP strengthens SWE’s ability to sustain a dynamic and inclusive community that embraces diverse voices, fosters innovation, and drives meaningful impact in the engineering profession.
Email collegiate-director@swe.org with any questions.
Goals
The LDP will help you achieve the following outcomes:
- Self-Leadership and Personal Development
- Beginner: Be able to lead oneself effectively by demonstrating autonomy, adaptability, and responsibility in diverse and challenging environments in their section or workplace.
- Advanced: Identify personal development strategies and emotional intelligence skills to grow as a holistic leader in diverse and challenging environments in their section or workplace.
- Team Collaboration and Interpersonal Skills
- Beginner: Develop foundational team collaboration and interpersonal skills by seeking out mentorship opportunities and cultivating unique communication styles and listening skills
- Advanced: Leverage their communication strengths to guide others and seek out opportunities for feedback to refine their interpersonal and team collaboration skills.
- Strategic Leadership and Organizational Change
- Beginner: Improve their financial literacy and be able to appreciate diverse perspectives and stakeholder impacts.
- Advanced: Apply project management and strategic planning skills while also identifying nuanced issues and navigating diverse perspectives and stakeholder impacts to drive effective outcomes through the advanced project.
Learning Format of the LDP
The LDP runs each year from August to June and consists of monthly cohort meetings focused on leadership topics, buddy pairings to network with other collegiate leaders, hands-on experiences to contribute to improving the Society, and opportunities to connect with SWE leadership.
Who Can Participate in the LDP?
Participants should have the following qualifications:
- Be a paid SWE Collegiate member
- Have a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0
- Demonstrated leadership potential (in and outside of SWE)
- Interest in developing leadership competencies and overall SWE knowledge
- Desire to continue a SWE leadership journey both in and out of their Collegiate Section
Applications are typically open between July-August each year. Email collegiate-director@swe.org with any questions.
