Senate Meeting update February Meeting
During the February meeting in Chicago the Senate voted on and approved on the following motions/amendments:
Creation of Senate Secretary – added a secretary position to the senate to take care of all administrative duties including communication to the senate, agenda preparation, minute documentation, etc.
Senate Procedure – outlines composition of senate, duties of officers and members, meeting procedures, etc.
Changed procedures to allow senate to take care of nominating ballot (as opposed to nominating committee) for senate positions.
The Annual Strategic Planning Review Session also took place to discuss what goals & objectives SWE is to focus on in FY12 – SWE has an ongoing 3-5 year planning horizon strategy that can be seen on the SWE website.
A 5th goal was added this year as an emerging opportunity: SWE is a first choice organization for supporting women in engineering and technology as seen by the retention and growth of its membership.
Out of these 5 goals, 4 objectives were set as a top priority for next fiscal year:
GOAL #1 – Growing the Profession – Outreach
1.1 Increase the number of women feeding the engineering/technology schools by starting a community college program and middle / high school pilot program
GOAL #2 – Professional Excellence
2.4 Increase recognition of SWE members as influential and sought after leaders as measured by the number of members participating in prestigious and influential positions, including committees and advisory boards inside and outside of SWE.
GOAL #4 – Inclusive Global Community
4.3 Restructure volunteer opportunities that are adapted to the diverse lifestyles and priorities of our members as measured by increase volunteer participation.
GOAL #5 – Membership
5.2 Increase international membership to 1000
Because of the emphasis on membership growth in the coming months, the senators had breakout groups and discussed different groups that could be targeted as possible SWE members including
Pre-College
Companies/Universities
International
Mega Issues were also discussed (all encompassing topics important to SWE) and the senate provided recommendations on the following mega issues:
MI 112 – How can SWE provide assistance to unemployed members?
MI 114 – To what extent and in what areas should SWE venture beyond STEM to issues relevant to SWE’s mission?
MI 106 – How can we empower women engineers to be successful on their own terms?
The following mega issues were placed in the strategic plan for next year
MI 107: Building awareness of gender-based bias issues in the workplace
MI 109: Work-life balance in global work world
MI 110: Work-life balance in 24/7 world.
MI 116: Inspiring industry to provide creative ways for women to contribute while attending to family needs
MI 117: Showcasing benefits of professional membership for existing and new members
MI 118: How can our members, sections, and corporate supporters manage a win-win supportive relationship at all levels of SWE to maximize benefits to each group while upholding the SWE brand and organizational structure?
MI 119: How can SWE enhance interactions between collegiate and professionals?
MI 120: Do we want to consider a pay per service membership model? If yes, what would it look like?
MI 121: How do we change the conversations from what member value SWE provides to how engaged are our members?
If you have any questions about any of the above information please direct them to one of your Region Senators.
Thanks to the region A senators for authoring this post.
I like the idea of SWE seed programs at high schools. I think it would definetely inspire them to pursue engineering. Needless to say smart girls in high school are still not “popular” and having a support system like SWE would definetely help.
Paola
March 2, 2011