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Session 1592

THE BUILDING OF THE TOP NATIONAL MID-SIZE SWE STUDENT SECTION

Heather Storace, Pamela Maass, Kesa Black, Anne Ranes, Mary Anderson-Rowland, Dana Newell

Arizona State University

Abstract

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Student Section, established in 1976 at Arizona State University (ASU), struggled for most of its history. The strength of the organization fluctuated greatly with the strength of the student leaders that would come and go. During the last several years, however, the Section has developed a strong management system using industrial engineering principles, strong student involvement, and played a proactive role in the recruitment and retention of women in the Fulton School of Engineering. After SWE student officers attended the Student Awards Banquet at the SWE National Conference in the fall of 2002, they vowed to be named the top Mid-size SWE Student Section for 2003.

The Section created a management team of 25 women who led many recruitment and retention events. Over the past two years, there have been modifications to the Leadership Team based on the Section needs and now there are approximately 30 officers (executive board, five committees, and representative positions). The Section realized their goal in October 2003 by winning five national awards including top mid-size section in the nation! The authors will describe how and why the Section grew in members, its activities, and how its management system came to be. They will also discuss how the organization is developing leaders, increasing interest in engineering, and helping to retain women engineering students in the Fulton School of Engineering.

Key Words: Recruitment and Retention of Women Engineering Students, Society of Women Engineers, Student Leadership, Student Outreach by Students, Women in Engineering

I. Introduction

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Student Section at Arizona State University (ASU) was established in the fall of 1976. In 1976, 1,317 (3.4%) of the 38, 790 Bachelor’s degrees in engineering in the nation went to women.1 That year, 568 (3.5%) women earned Master’s degrees in engineering out of the 16, 045 total.1 And, 55 brave women (1.9%) were among the 2,838 students who earned Ph.D.’s in engineering that year.1 In the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, then known as the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 129 total women (8.5%) were enrolled in the School of Engineering as undergraduates and 32 (4.9%) were enrolled as graduate students that same fall.2

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Maass, P., & Black, K., & Storace, H., & Ranes, A., & Newell, D., & Anderson-Rowland, M. (2005, June), The Building Of The Top National Mid Size Swe Student Section Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14692