The Society of Women Engineers
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE), founded in 1950, is a non-profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. It consists of women and men who are graduate engineers as well as those with equivalent engineering experience and/or those interested in supporting SWE's mission. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for their life changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders.
SWE originated when small groups of women engineers and women engineering students began meeting independently in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Nearly 50 women from these groups came together on May 27, 1950, in New Jersey at Green Engineering Camp of the Cooper Union and formed the Society of Women Engineers.
The Rocky Mountain Section
The Denver Section of the Society of Women Engineers was chartered in 1954 and renamed the Rocky Mountain Section (RMS) in 1986.
The section has been active since its founding, hosting two SWE national conferences, several regional meetings, and establishing the Certificates of Merit Program in Colorado and Wyoming. The section has been recognized nationally by the Society with awards in the areas of Career Guidance, Newsletter and Professional Development. Section members have served or are serving as national officers, directors and committee chairs.
In 1994, the Pikes Peak Section was chartered to serve the growing number of engineering professionals in the Colorado Springs and other communities in Southern Colorado. The Pikes Peak and Rocky Mountain Sections work cooperatively to provide a variety of both continuing development and career guidance activities to members throughout the states of Colorado and Wyoming. For more information about the Rocky Mountain Section, please read the SWE-RMS Brochure.
SWE's Mission:
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Stimulates women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders.
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Expands the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life.
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Demonstrates the value of diversity.
SWE's Objectives:
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Encourage women engineers to attain high levels of education and professional achievement.
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Inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the general public, of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them.
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Assist women engineers in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement.
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Serve as a center of information on women in engineering.
SWE's Key Issues:
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Leadership - Provide opportunities for members to develop leadership and management skills to enable them to achieve their maximum potential and further their ability to attain increasingly important positions of responsibility.
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Education - Provide programs to encourage girls and women to enter engineer and encourage members to attain high levels of achievement in their fields.
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Visibility - Increase visibility of SWE and its programs to members, the technical community and the general public.
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Diversity - Develop programs to encourage and sustain increase participation in the fields of science and engineering reflective of our diverse population.
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Resources - Increase the Society's resources for the purpose of supporting high quality programs and services to meet its goals.
For more information about the Society please visit www.swe.org or call (312) 596-5223.
To Donate to SWE RMS, to help support our non-profit programming, click the button below.
