From Membership to Leadership

Leadership in an engineering or technical society offers benefits beyond participation. While one’s membership supports personal and professional growth, stepping into leadership stretches you in new ways and broadens your perspective on how the organization functions and achieves its goals. You can practice and refine your skills in a welcoming environment, expand your network, and become a resource for others. These experiences often translate directly to your career. You will become a better communicator, sharpen your planning skills, increase your understanding of organizational dynamics, and learn fresh ideas for teamwork and inclusion. 

When considering leadership opportunities within an engineering or technical society, consider your preferences:

• Strategic vs. tactical — Do you like shaping vision and goals (the “what” and “why”) or executing detailed plans (the “how”)?
• Commitment length — Do you want a short-term project or long-term involvement?
• Social interaction — Do you prefer contributing solo (like reviewing scholarship applications) or working collaboratively (like planning an event)?
• Location — Would you rather engage locally, in person, or virtually, with those in other states or countries? 
• Past experiences — What activities have you enjoyed before? Where would you like to challenge yourself?

Be intentional; start small 

Involvement in the Society of Women Engineers’ leadership can start small. In the early career or new member phase, it means joining a committee or volunteering for a specific task. Based on your interest, SWE has leadership roles in professional development, community building, outreach, advocacy, and beyond. It feels like starting a new job — you’re learning the basics, figuring out where your skills and interests fit, and contributing where you can. 

As you get further along, the scope grows. Midcareer members step up to lead subcommittees, explore new committees, and build partnerships across the organization. It is the SWE version of moving from “just doing your job” to collaborating across departments or institutions and tackling projects that require bigger-picture thinking. 

When you hit the senior or lead level, you’ve become a go-to expert. At this stage, it is less about doing and more about how you help others succeed — setting policy, sharing insights, serving as a resource, and mentoring future leaders. What often starts at the local level can evolve into regional and global leadership, where vision, strategy, and influence are just as important as hard work.

Nicole’s local path to global leadership

My SWE journey played out this way. I got involved in my first year at the University of Pennsylvania, attending general member events and joining the educational outreach committee. During this time, I built relationships with others and made an impact through volunteering. I rose through the ranks of my collegiate section and eventually became section president, also taking on collegiate leadership roles in SWE’s mid-Atlantic region. 

These experiences helped me become a hands-on leader who could manage programs, energize a team, and deliver meaningful results. For example, the 16-person executive board I led hosted 42 professional development, outreach, and social events, a 31% increase from the previous year. From there, my impact grew in roles with expanded scope and geographies. After graduating, I became collegiate director on the Society’s board of directors. This opportunity challenged me to think strategically, build cultural awareness, and lead initiatives on a global scale. 

You can practice and refine your skills in a welcoming environment, expand your network, and become a resource for others. These experiences often translate directly to your career.

As a professional SWE member, I am drawn to teams focused on professional development, event planning, and collegiate engagement. They empower me to create growth opportunities for others, bring big ideas to life, and inspire future engineers. I now chair the SWE editorial working group, the team responsible for the publication you’re reading now. Through this role, I hope to leverage the connections I’ve made, and lessons learned, setting strategy that shapes the future of SWE Magazine and amplifies others’ voices. 

I share my story as an example that the journey toward SWE leadership often begins locally but can expand to national and even global stages. Each step builds credibility, expertise, and courage.

Beth’s leadership evolved in stages

In contrast, I refer to myself as a late SWE bloomer. As a nontraditional community college student, I had not encountered SWE early in my educational journey. When I transferred to the University of Massachusetts, I was eager to join SWE and was paired with a SWE big sister who I’ll call Caroline. 

I showed up for my first SWE meeting with optimism; I thought it would be a great way to get involved, to the extent I could, in university life and to meet other classmates. Caroline was not as excited. She seemed shocked when we met, as I was, after all, about the same age as her mother. Caroline was clearly jarred. I recall it as an awkward and uncomfortable encounter.

I still remember Caroline’s confused, almost nauseated look, which triggered every insecurity I held as a nontraditional community college transfer student. I left that meeting before it was over, certain I did not belong, and I blamed myself for thinking that I would.

That was the beginning — and the end — of my SWE collegiate experience. 

Perhaps I should have tried harder to soothe Caroline’s unease or to fit in. Maybe I was overly sensitive to a trivial encounter. But that day, SWE seemed unapproachable and unwelcoming to me. And while not the case for me now, it can sometimes be the case for some of my students and colleagues. 

GET STARTED

I did not join SWE until almost 10 years later. Although a SWE member since 2008, my leadership journey did not start until 2014, when I became faculty advisor for the Springfield Technical Community College Affiliate, the fourth community college charter in the nation. I presented at SWE conferences on the importance of community college women in SWE and in engineering, advocating for their full inclusion and championing their potential. I joined the SWE women in academia committee (now the academia working group) in 2017 to represent community college faculty and expand academic collaborations. And I now chair that working group and co-lead the Community Colleges affinity group. 

My circuitous leadership pathway has been without a set trajectory but rather driven by my desire to give voice to nontraditional engineering pathways, which are typical of community college women. I have published on these topics, as well as conducted research in precollege engineering education. I am grateful for new opportunities to represent educators and community colleges as a SWE editorial working group member.

Belonging invites leadership 

Diversity in leadership is important and consistent with SWE’s core values of inclusion and mutual support. How can we support and inspire future leaders from diverse backgrounds and nontraditional spaces? Can we shape first SWE experiences, as SWENexters, collegiates, or early-career volunteers, in ways that promote and leverage leadership potential?

What do nontraditional members in SWE see as requisite leadership qualities? How do credentials like degrees, titles, and awards inhibit some, especially those not following a traditional STEM path? Is there a hierarchy or pecking order in leadership? Are there cultural, class, or societal differences that make leadership less appealing or relevant to members seeking roles? To some, yes — real or perceived, and likely unintentional. But they are there. 

A sense of belonging drives leadership. It motivates people to become leaders because it transforms an organization from something they participate in to something they feel part of.

When individuals feel welcomed, valued, and connected, they are more likely to invest their time and energy to help an organization thrive. Belonging fosters trust and confidence, making it easier for someone to take on new responsibilities, develop skills, and see leadership as a way to give back. A sense of belonging can create reciprocity: Leaders who once felt included want to include others. In this way, belonging doesn’t just motivate someone to lead. It sustains that desire. 

Members from underrepresented and nontraditional groups often lack a sense of belonging, which can be a barrier to leadership. SWE’s Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering, Ignite Leadership Program, and Collegiate Leadership Institute successfully address this barrier, developing leadership skills and leveraging strengths to overcome the deficit mindset so well-embedded in individuals who are habitually excluded. Intentionally focused efforts to engender belonging for all members are crucial in societies and organizations.

As leaders and advocates, we can ensure that every member sees leadership pathways as approachable, accessible, and meaningful. Each of us can contribute to the culture of inclusion that reflects the full breadth of SWE, encompassing every background, career path, and lived experience.