For more than 20 years, the University of Notre Dames student section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has encouraged women in the College of Engineering to reach out to one another and to the community. This year, the Notre Dame SWE is hosting the 2005 Region H Conference, whose theme is “How SWEet it is!”
Region H is the largest of the SWE sections, with more than 2,800 professional and student members. Open to all SWE members and local professional engineers, the event will be held at the University from Feb. 11 to 13 (Friday to Sunday). Conference planners are expecting 600 SWE attendees.
In addition to a banquet and career fair, Notre Dame SWE members have planned a slate of activities highlighting four key areas: professional life, technical knowledge, diversity and personal life. Sessions will include topics related to networking, leadership development, integrated business and engineering, alternative energy methods, Web site design, international relations, conflict resolution, finance, biotechnology, team building, cardiovascular health, interviewing skills, work/life balance, and the transition from college to the workplace.
Featured speakers include Peg Billson, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Aircraft Landing Systems; Vi Brown, president of SWE; Barbara Cosgrove, acting general manager of customer support for Boeing Shared Services Group; Nancy Ferris, director of the Foundation Science Center, Research and Development at the Eastman Kodak Company; Nicole Petratos, vice president and director
of the radio products accessories division of Motorola, Inc.; Betty Shanahan, executive director and chief executive officer of SWE; and Mary Stevens, vice president of engineering and quality at Herman Miller, Inc.
Notre Dame Jennifer Keegan, a junior in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Laura Beauchamp, a senior in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, are the Region H conference coordinators.
The conference is open to the engineering community and registration forms are available online at http://www.nd.edu/~swe/regionh/reg.htm . The registration fee for students is $35 ($25 for SWE student members and $110 ($85) for SWE members) for professionals for the full conference package. A one-day package is $60.
Conference sponsors include Abbott Laboratories, American Electric Power, Biomet Foundation, The Boeing Company, Caterpillar Inc., Eastman Kodak, General Electric, Herman Miller, Guidant, Hewlett Packard Company, IBM; Motorola, NiSource Inc., Northrop Grumman CorporationElectronic Systems and Ship Systems, PPG Industries, Raytheon, Rockwell Automation, Rolls-Royce, St. Pauls Travelers, U.S. Cellular, Whirlpool Corporation, and Xerox Corporation.
Founded in 1950, the SWE is a nonprofit educational and service organization. Its mission is to increase awareness of the opportunities for women in engineering while also helping them achieve their goals. Career guidance, mentoring programs, scholarships, awards and service projects are some of the tools that both the national and university sections employ to encourage and support women in engineering.
There are 11 regions of SWE. Region H, the Heartland Region, is composed of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Within Region H, there are 11 professional sections and 45 student sections.
More information on the conference is available at http://www.nd.edu/~swe/regionh .
TopicID: 9363