1 September 2009

Hello lovely SWE members,

Well, it’s that time of year again – the time of year that marks the end of summer and the beginning of a new semester. We’ve all returned from interning, studying abroad, taking additional classes, or just plain relaxing and, hopefully, we’re ready to get back into the swing of things! And for the freshmen, this is a new experience that they are probably still getting used to – it is the responsibility of us older and wiser students to make sure this transition is as easy as possible!

Today, we hosted our third annual Tea with the Dean in conjunction with the College of Engineering, where the incoming freshmen, transfer, and graduate students were treated to an afternoon of SWEet treats and networking with faculty members, corporate sponsors, and of course, all of our superb SWE volunteers! We would like to welcome all of these potential new members to our section, and we look forward to getting to know you this year!

The executive board has been hard at work this summer getting ready for the new year in SWE -- we have lots of great ideas to implement, but we need your help to do it. We currently have 15 committee chair positions ready to be filled, including Purchasing, Mentoring, Awards Banquet/Holiday Dinner, High School Outreach, Middle School Outreach, and Girl Scout Outreach, Little SWE, Engineering Awareness, Community Service, Mr. Engineer/Date Auction, and Historian. Applications are due at the end of this week and can be turned in to any of the executive officers. Freshmen are highly encouraged to apply for these positions, as you are the future of SWE!

We have several initiatives that SWE will be focusing on this year, including Outreach, Member Recruitment and Retention, and Fundraising.

Outreach: Last year, we increased our number of outreaches from 3 per year to 5, introducing over 200 local girls to engineering and Georgia Tech. Our goal for this year is to continue reaching out to this large number of girls, but with a more streamlined approach to outreaches – we will increase the effectiveness of our events by choosing activities from previously conducted events around the country, and we will expose the girls to a wider variety of fields by recruiting volunteers from other organizations and featuring lectures from multiple engineering fields.

Member Recruitment and Retention: SWE can only be a successful organization if its members are willing to contribute it – we want to make SWE into what you want it to be! We have a number of programs that benefit our members: our weekly corporate meetings, our various social events (including the Awards Banquet, Holiday Dinner, Drop Day Breakfast, Mr. Engineer Contest, and the Date Auction), scholarships, Mock Interviews, Resume CD, and our Mentoring Program. How else can SWE help you? What would make more people want to join SWE?

Fundraising: All of the programs that we’ve listed cost money, and while we are receiving donations from our corporate sponsors, we still need to be aware of the current economic climate and how it affects us. We have plans to start a SWE store, where our members and members from other sections can order SWE logo products, including our famous “You Might Be an Engineer If…” t-shirts. We also plan to organize a green, waterless car wash to raise money. If you have any ideas on how to raise money, or would be willing to lead an effort, we’d love to hear them!

We’re looking forward to a great year in SWE!

Stephanie Stout

President, Society of Women Engineers

swe@gatech.edu

(678) 358-2175