19xx-1989
BK’s long years of dedicated service to SWE began in 1968 when she joined as a Member-at-Large (MAL). As the MAL Representative to the Council of Section Representatives in 1972-73, she started the MAL Newsletter that became one of her trademark accomplishments.
She was a member of the 1973-74 SWE Executive Committee (predecessor to the current Board of Directors) and served for the following two years as National Secretary. Between 1976 and 1985, she chaired several Society committees, including Career Guidance, Publicity, Nominating, and Women in Government. She also served as Alternate MAL Representative, MAL Newsletter Editor, and member of the Fellow Selections and Nominating Committees. She was a Charter Member of the South Ohio Section and later was instrumental in chartering the Kansas City Section.
BK was SWE President-Elect in 1985-86 and served as the Society President for 1986-87. During her presidency, she expanded her long-standing communicator role by starting the President’s Panorama, a newsletter written by the Society President and distributed to the Board, Section Presidents and Representatives, and Society Past Presidents. Another accomplishment that was a source of pride for her was establishing the Resnik Challenger Medal and the Resnik Scholarship in memory of SWE Senior Member Judith Resnik, one of the NASA astronauts killed in the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.
At the time of her death, BK was a private consultant in electronics and electronic warfare. She previously completed 38 years of civil service employment with wide experience as an engineer and a manager; her specialty was electronic warfare, data acquisition, storage, and processing. She received the Meritorious Service Medal from the United States Air Force in 1967 and 1983.
BK was a strong supporter of women’s rights and engineering as a career for women throughout her career. She helped to “spread the word” through active participation in numerous other technical and professional organizations. She was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; a charter member of the Association of Old Crows (a professional organization of people working in electronic warfare); past chapter president of Federally Employed Women; a past officer at both chapter and national levels of the American Business Women’s Association; a past member of Zonta International; a member of the Federal Executive Association, Equal Employment Opportunities Committee; and was the first woman elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Engineering Societies.
- B.S. in Engineering Physics, University of Kansas
- Fellow Life Member of SWE
