International Member Team (IMT) Newsletter Society of Women Engineers Third-Fourth Quarter FY 2010 Volume 2, Issue 2 Special points of interest: Message from the Coordinator Calendar of Events IM Team Activities IM Team Contact Information News and Articles from Around the World Message from the International Member Coordinator Dear SWE Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, As we close out another year with the SWE IMT, I want to take this opportunity to thank those who have volunteered and given so much time and energy to SWE and to this group especially. YOU make this team what it is and YOU are a key part to all of our accomplishments. So THANK YOU to everyone on this team and thank you for helping to make a difference for other women around the globe! And as we move into a new year, it s time to get excited for new leadership and volunteer opportunities. As I sit here and write this article, my successor has not yet officially been named though we have a pretty good idea who she may be and we are all very excited for the change in leadership and new opportunities which will open up to even more women around the world. Some of you who are already supporting our group have expressed an interest in continuing in your same role or branching out into other areas. Thank you! Your continued support will keep us on track for continued positive growth. For others who have not yet been involved, consider volunteering for one of the open positions available. We are always looking for additional help as little or as much time as you can give there s a team within our group looking for your talents. Additionally, think about those around you, those you work with and live near or others you may keep in touch with from afar. Are they aware of SWE s activities internationally? I take every opportunity possible to speak about our growing international activities making people aware that there is a team of exceptional women within SWE working to make a difference for other women around the world. Let others know of our expanding international activities any chance you get! Once again, thank you to our volunteers for all of your hard work and efforts! I m thrilled to announce that Jennifer Patterson was named the new FY11 IMT Coordinator! Best of luck to Jennifer in the upcoming SWE year. I m looking forward to continuing working with this team in a different capacity and wish each of the pilots and others continued success! Warmest Regards, Michele Plattenberger International Member Coordinator IMT Calendar of Events Professional Development Grants : Proposals Due July 1st, 2010 See information on page 7. WE10 Registration and Hotel Information: http://we10.swe.org See information on page 2. FY11 IMT Meetings will be announced soon! In this Issue: Message from the Coordinator 1 IM Team News 2 WE10 Conference 2 Member Spotlight & IMT Facebook & LinkedIn IMT Member Stories 4-5 PD Grants Update 5 Senate Update 6 3 Membership and PDG Updates 7 Announcements 6-8 International Member Team Best Newsletter Award WE09!!!
Page 2 SWE IM Team SWE Pilot Group Updates! Submitted by Michele Plattenberger, Japan Pilot Co-advisor SWE continues to focus on groups in the pilot phase of our international expansion including a group each from Germany, Japan, and India. Check out all of our newsletters for information on activities and progress for our pilots. News from the Germany Pilot Group In March 2010, John Deere sponsored a Professional Development Conference in Manheim, Germany. There were approximately 30 participants, both German and foreign. Participants enjoyed the conference and our own Siddika Demir, SWE President Elect 2011 supported the event. Anca Eisele is continuing to investigate partnerships with other Women's organizations. Japan Pilot Group/Affiliate Update SWE has continued maintaining strong relationships with the J-WIN organization and for this newsletter we have many stories and photos from the JWIN activities. SWE s activities have impressed JWIN members so much that they hope to encourage their network which comprised of female office workers and students. Currently the J-WIN members are getting ready to participate of WE10 so all SWE members can expect to see our SWEesters from Japan in Orlando, Florida next month of November. Please see page 5 for more updates from J-WIN. India Pilot Group Update SWE Headquarters are seeing membership increase from Cummins employees in India. The team is beginning to meet with other businesses in the Pune area to open up more opportunities and schedule activities. Pilot Program for International Collegiate Interest Groups By Stacy Woodson The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Membership Committee has a task force who is developing a pilot program for international universities and colleges interested in having a SWE affiliation. International Collegiate SWE members who are interested in forming a group on campus would be able to become a SWE Collegiate Interest Group (CIG) under the proposed pilot program. Over the last few years SWE Headquarters received requests for international CIGs from five different universities from around the globe. The task force is currently developing the program and is looking for additional interested groups. A questionnaire will be sent to the five interested universities and others who are interested to get a better understanding of the potential CIG members. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about starting an International Collegiate Interest Group please contact Stacy Woodson at swoodson@hrgreen.com. For more information about the general requirements of setting up a CIG please visit the following link: http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=689&itemid=205 Loved WE09? Then get ready for WE10!!! Date: November 4-6, 2010 Location: Orlando, Florida The International Member Team will have a booth at the Career Fair. We will be looking for someone to lead overall coordination of booth activities. Members should plan to have some kind of display for the booth showing activities/ events in their countries. Registration for WE10 is now open, to register online please visit http://we10.swe.org/. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! SWE needs friendly people who want to meet other people, experience teamwork in action, and help drive the success of our conference! And you can earn registration credit! Sign up to be a volunteer at the WE10 in Orlando. Positions are awarded by first-come, first served method. The WE10 committee will do their best to match what you select, but there are no guarantees. We appreciate our volunteers! To sign up please visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/zjhmr3r
SWE IM Team Page 3 Introducing International Members For this IMT newsletter issue, the team would recognize International Team members from across the world that are leaders in their communities. TERESE I. IHENACHOR Terese I Ihenachor from Nigeria recently received an award from VIVA L'AMOUR Lions Club International District 404B in Nigeria for her service to Humanity. Congratulations to Terese! For future member spotlights please send member information to Anca Eisele at EiseleAnca@JohnDeere.com. By Megha Inugala (meghanelakonda@yahoo.com) Connect with fellow SWE members, Participate in discussions and Network with professionals through Facebook and LinkedIn SWE National groups. There is a SWE International sub-group as well in LinkedIn! Click on the images or links below to join: SWE National Connect with the SWE National group on LinkedIn by searching for SWE under Groups. Owner: Betty Shanahan. http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homenewmember=&gid=69390 SWE International SWE National SWE International is a subgroup within the SWE National group for international members. Owner: Betty Shanahan. http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homenewmember=&gid=2193640 Become a SWE fan on Facebook by searching for Society of Women Engineers. http://www.facebook.com/pages/society-of-women-engineers/29752126120 SWE Social Networking Groups Find LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites on the SWE website. http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=764&itemid=275
Page 4 SWE IM Team SWE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT GRANTS Submitted by Ogubor Odegua Florence, SWE Member from Nigeria odegua_dec@yahoo.com The SWE Program Development Grant (PDG) is a system that allows SWE members from different parts of the world to contribute in achieving part of SWE objectives by carrying out SWE s mission related projects in their various communities. As a recipient of a SWE Program Development Grant, I have been able to extend SWE s mission in Nigeria. A mission that encourages and empowers girls to study engineering and improves the career of women in engineering. Between 2008 and 2009, I was able to carry out the project titled Secondary School Outreach Program-Increasing Awareness of the Engineering Profession among Secondary School Girls in Nigeria. This project took part in four states namely: Abuja, Lagos, Edo and Oyo States. Large populations of girls were reached in the process and they were all enlightened about the engineering profession by different women engineering professionals. There were also visual presentations of history of women engineers, where the girls saw documentaries on women who have attained great heights in the field of engineering. This program, however helped a lot to boost the confidence in most of the girls that attended, this was observed from their post event evaluation. Many of them reported that before the event, they had been scared about making engineering their career choice, because they always thought it was a masculine profession. But they were however relieved and gained a better understanding of the profession after the event. I therefore urge SWE members from different countries who are eager to volunteer for SWE PDG s to try and come up with meaningful projects that could be sponsored through the Program Development Grants and use the opportunity to impact their community. I also advice that the rules for acceptance of SWE grant proposals should be made less rigid, so that more members would be encouraged to keep working for the organization, by obtaining the Program Development Grant, because it is A TRUE OUTREACH SUPPORT INSTRUMENT. The following photos were provided by Odegua from the SWE Professional Development Grant events.
Page 5 SWE IM Team J-WIN TODAY Submitted by Azusa Ishida, J-WIN Member ishida_azusa@cat.com J-Win* held an annual conference on March 10, 2010 in Tokyo. The third annual conference of J-Win* since its launch three years ago. Twelve featured working groups introduced their activities, and a famous female journalist gave a speech on Global Leadership. After the conference, we enjoyed a fantastic networking party. J-Win Diversity Award winners were announced, and the participants celebrated their great achievements. We, the engineers team, presented our 2009 activities and our action plans for 2010, along with the commitment to the J-Win slogan: Women to the TOP. Through the activities of both establishing a community that extends company boundaries such as SWE, and encouraging young girls awareness on engineering as one of the most interesting career fields, J-Win is aiming at increasing the number of female engineers in companies. At the end of our presentation, we sang a song, "Hail Holy Queen", with the lyrics written based on the memorable words given by some senior executives who were our role models. One of our members who was good at singing gospels was the main vocalist, and the other members accompanied her with backup chorus, shouting Oh, engineer". We hit upon this idea from "It s a small world, which was modified by the SWE international team at WE09. This performance brought a sense of deep fulfillment to the whole audience. Engineers team members Presentation material for gospel in J-Win s 3 rd annual conference, Tokyo, Mar 2010 Uchinaga-san* and Engineers team members Networking party in J-Win s 3 rd annual conference Tokyo, Mar 2010 (*J-Win s chief director) Engineers team members Singing and dancing in J-Win s 3rd annual conference. Tokyo, Mar 2010 Currently, the rainy season, known as Tsuyu in Japan, has begun. Many colorful and beautiful hydrangeas seasonal flowers for June, make us so excited to prepare for WE10 as well as the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. SWE s activities have impressed us so much that we hope to encourage this network which consists of female office workers and students. Also we would like to give women engineers in Japan meaningful experience and create a community, which supports women engineers. Currently, we are moving activities forward to create this community organized into two teams.; the Career Support Team and the Student Encouragement Team. The Career Support Team will provide many solutions and opportunities to female office workers for growing Women to the Top. There are four groups, (1) SWE study group: following SWE s activities (2) attending SWE events: planning to attend and exhibit at WE10 (3) the mentoring group: creating appropriate mentoring systems which is an important activity for a new community (4) the forum group: planning some events for women engineers. The Student Encouragement Team will encourage students to work for companies as women engineers. Also this has two subgroups (1) the caravan group: working at colleges to introduce the students on how women engineers work in companies (2) the promotion of women engineers career group: publishing stories about us to introduce the students to many options for working at companies as women engineers. There is also a preparatory committee, which consists of several people from these two teams. The committee coordinates the output from both teams and we are animatedly discussing how to build up a women engineers community in Japan. Now we are planning and preparing to attend WE10 in Orlando and we re looking forward to having the first exhibit at WE10 and we hope to be successful with our network, of course including you, just like J-Win Engineers Network Members Japan s national FIFA team! Let s have fun together at the WE10 s IMT booth! * J-Win (Japan Women s Innovative Network) was founded in April 2007 as a Non Profit Organization, with an objective to promote diversity as an essential corporate business strategy and to build networking and learning opportunities beyond each talent s business expertise. Approximately 250 professional women in both engineering and non-engineering from 90 J-Win member companies participate in J-Win networking groups, and 20 engineers carry out technical work groups to promote engineering as a desirable career for women.
Page 6 SWE IM Team By Katie Herta, International Members Senator (katie.herta@conti.de) The Senate met for two days in January (22nd and 23rd) in Chicago. Both International Senators, Katie Herta and Anca Eisele, participated. The first day was the Strategic Review where the future trends and direction of SWE were discussed. Future Mega Issues where discussed during this time. On the 23rd, Senate was held in session for the whole day. Two Bylaw Amendments passed: S1019 Voting Rights for Collegiate Members and S1020 - Alternate Senator Terms of Office. Next the Motion S1021 Finance Committee Review was slightly amended in wording, but was also passed. The majority of our discussion was on the SWE Oath of Office and Code of Conduct. It is a piece of legislature that will give SWE those two "Rules of Conduct" (Oath of Office and Code of Conduct) for its leadership; which compared to other major engineering societies is currently absent in SWE. Due to the intense discussion, a new Motion was created in which a BOD (Board of Directors) Task Force should look into both pieces of legislature and report back to the Senate by the end of FY10. If you want further details on any of the motions, please let one of your senators know. The Motion on the SWE Oath of Office and Code of Conduct will be made available on the Communities website for further discussion. Just before and after lunch, the day continued with presentations on the Senate Mega Issues (MI 104- Creating Volunteer Lifecycle Partnership, MI 109-Global Work/Life Balance, MI 110-24/7 Technology Work/Life Balance, MI 106-Success on Your Own Terms, MI-105 Successful 2020 Workforce). A discussion has been added on 17.03.2010 to our International Community website regarding the following proposed New Mega Issue: " To what extent and in what areas should SWE venture beyond STEM to issues relevant to SWE's mission in the area of public policy?" Please contribute your thoughts on this. Remember that you can submit any Mega issue that you wish via the Communities, SWE on Facebook or LinkedIn. Last but not least, if you are interested in what it means to be part of the Senate, here is your chance. There are a few committees that are looking for additional support. If you are interested, please contact myself or Anca (EiseleAnca@JohnDeere.com) and we can get you in touch with the Committee leaders. ICWES15: Call for Papers ICWES 15 - The 15th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists 19-22 July, Adelaide 2011 The National Committee for Women in Engineering, Engineers Australia and the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES) have joined forces to host the 15th International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES15), to be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 19-22 July, 2011. The Conference is held every three years, and attracts engineers and scientists from all over the world, providing a unique opportunity to exchange information on their work and environment. The Conference will be a unique opportunity to showcase the achievements of women in engineering, scientists and technology and to lead the way towards a sustainable future. Abstract submission deadline is December 1, 2010. The abstract acceptance notification will be done by January, 10, 2011. For registration, more information and abstract submission go to: www.icwes15.org.
Page 7 SWE IM Team Don't Forget: Renew Your SWE Membership From the IM Team Membership Lead Jennifer Patterson (jennifer.patterson@epfl.ch) The SWE fiscal year ends on June 30th, so don t forget to renew your membership. You can do so online at www.swe.org through the member services center. Simply click on the link for Member Services on the main SWE website, log in using your SWE user ID, and select membership renewal. You can easily select and deselect options to create a customized invoice and then pay online. If you renew before June 30th, you will even receive a discount. As you are thinking about renewing your SWE membership, I d also encourage you to get more involved with the International Member Team. If you are located in Germany, India, or Japan, contact your pilot group representative to find out more about activities being planned. Or, if you are located elsewhere in the world, consider joining the International Member Team and participate in our monthly online conference calls. The official call for team members is included in the call for SWE committee members, which goes out in July. Keep an eye out for the announcement or contact the international member coordinator directly to join. SWE IM Team Professional Development Grants Submitted by Jennifer Patterson International Membership Lead (jennifer.patterson@epfl.ch) An important reminder that the next deadline for SWE s Professional Development Grant Program is coming up 1st of Every Month. Are you interested in putting on events but are unsure about how to obtain funding? One possibility is a SWE Program Development Grant. Any international member can apply for grant funds, even if you are not affiliated with one of the pilot groups. You can obtain information on Program Development Grants through the SWE Communities at http://communities.swe.org/cop/ ProgramDevelopmentGrant/. If you would like to apply for a Program Development Grant and have questions, please contact me at jennifer.patterson@epfl.ch. What are Program Development Grants and how do you apply? Funds can be used for outreach activities, for professional development activities, or for diversity issues and training, and the proposal should address one of SWE s strategic goals. Program Development Grant proposals should include an executive summary; project description, benefits, and costs and resources; deliverables; metrics; project life; and budget. An explanation of each of these items, proposal forms, and the proposal submission procedure can be found in detail on the SWE Communities (http://communities.swe.org/ COP/ProgramDevelopmentGrant/). Now you can also submit repeated events not just new events!
Page 8 SWE IM Team Visit the SWE National Website at www.swe.org Create Your SWE Username Don t miss any SWE mailings or emails including the SWE magazine and messages from the IMT. Please create your SWE username at www.swe.org under Member Services. FY11 IMT LEADERS WANTED! Hello to all IMT members around the world! Please take the time to consider the following positions for volunteer participation: Membership Lead (including coordinating Member Highlights for newsletters) Newsletter Editor (including creating a team to support this activity) IMT Booth Planning Lead (lead for booth activities at conference) Website Lead National PDG Committee Liaison SWE Communities Liaison Facebook/LinkedIn Liaison For more information please contact Michele at mplatten1999@gmail.com. Message from the Editor We are always looking for interesting stories and articles to share with the rest of our readers. Have you recently moved to a new area of the world and want to talk about your experience? Are you wondering if there are other SWE members in the area? Would you like to start a SWE network? How about just reconnect with SWE friends from home? We want to hear from you! Tell us and your fellow SWE members all about your new experience whether it s new for you in the U.S. or outside of the U.S., we d love to hear about it! Eileen M Vélez-Vega, Newsletter Editor eileen.velez@swe.org For additional information on the IMT or any information found in the newsletter please contact eileen.velez@swe.org.