Best Practices Sharing
This document encompasses the Best Practices Sharing amongst the FY10 collegiate sections at Annual Conference.
MEETINGS
1. Minnesota State - Mankato: In 2009 our section has hosted a few different events where we made participants to compete with each other. We found that it is best to try the activities beforehand in order to set up reasonable constraints for the participating teams and to avoid any confusion during the competition.
2. U of North Dakota: We are also planning on being involved with Red River Valley Habitat for Humanity: Women Build, in which women build a house with green materials for a family in need in the Red River Valley area. The other thing that we are planning on doing is to participate in a can structure project and donate all the food raised to the local food shelf.
3. U of Iowa: We’ve been focusing on planning meetings that will support members during their job searches in the weeks before and after our local career fair, in addition to the career fair at Nationals. We have two meetings before the career fair where we bring in engineers or recruiters from different industries who will be recruiting at our fair. They provide resume and interviewing advice, in addition to advice on how to approach recruiters at the fair. Afterwards, we have HR representatives from local companies come to explain how to evaluate benefits packages, appropriate negotiations, and 401k management. This has been successful because it provides something for our lower- and upper-classmen. In the first couple meetings, the new members get valuable interviewing and career fair advice, while the experienced members still have the chance to meet company representatives who will be recruiting at our fair. The follow-up meetings covers the more confusing parts of job offers, especially full-time. Things like vacation vs. compensation time, 401k matching percentages, and second interviews are all covered.
4. Marquette: One of our best events of the year is always our “Women in Industry Night.” This is a night where a panel of professionals answers any and all questions anyone might have. It also gives a glimpse into different career paths one could take with their engineering degree. We will definitely continue to have our “Women in Industry Night,” we would also like to expand a bit and have a key note speaker night focusing on the accomplishments of just one MU graduate.
5. Kettering A: Our school was host to the LITE (Lives Improve Through Engineering) girls, we invited them to our first SWE meeting so they could get a feel for the topics that get brought up on our agenda.
6. UW-Milwaukee: One event that was executed well was a tour of the Harley Davidson Manufacturing Facility in Milwaukee. Five members of our section attended and were given a technical tour of the engine assembly plant. This tour exposed students to the manufacturing process of a well known corporation as well as the inner workings of a reputable local company.
7. UW-Madison: Another great event that started last year was “Spirit Day”. This was an entire day full of community service activities. There were multiple events planned throughout the day and members were able to attend any or all that they wanted. At the end of the day, there was a celebration of all the great things we did throughout the day! This event brought in a lot of members because of its flexibility and we were able to get a lot of volunteers and really help out the Madison community!
8. Evansville: One of our most successful programs has been our Career Forum, which attracts a large amount of students attending the University of Evansville and employers in and around the state of Indiana. Students and employers are involved in Q&A sessions, and networking is encouraged after the sessions. We hold four different sessions for each class, each with a specific message aimed at the students. For example, the sophomores are involved in a discussion with professionals about co-ops and internships. Our organization works with the university's Career Services, who help co-sponsor the program. The event is held in late January.
9. Purdue – West Lafayette: In the past, our section has been very successful in helping our members grow professionally. Each year, around the time of our large engineering career fair, we hold professional development informational events. At one event, multiple companies come to present on topics beneficial to students (i.e. How to Ace an Interview, Work/Life Balance, What to do and what not to do during an Interview, How to work a Career Fair, Is Graduate School for you?). This gives companies the opportunity to interact with students and gives students the opportunity to rotate and listen to multiple information sessions. Our second professional development opportunity allows companies and students to network in a casual atmosphere. Snack food is provided and companies representatives and move about the room to mingle with students.
10. Walk the freshmen to the location
11. Have raffles
12. Free Food (always works!)
13. Give plenty of heads up about the date/time of event
FUNDRAISING
1. Kettering A: We have been selling the “Love an Engineer” t-shirts and we’ll be putting together survival kits in 2 weeks.
2. Northern Illinois: Our T-shirt sale was one of most successful activities that we did last year (school year 2008-2009). The purpose was to increase our funds so we can plan our future activities. Our section, together with IIE section, organized this sale at our campus. First we decided on the style, color and size of the print and t-shirts. Then, we advertised our sale dates at our campus by posting fliers and announcing it in classrooms. All t-shirts were pre-ordered so we didn’t have to spend any extra money. For security purpose, all orders have to be picked personally by buyer(s), and paid in cash or check. Also, buyer had to sign and date a form that he/she received requested t-shirt size(s). We set pick up dates which were also advertised. At the end, each section made a pretty good profit. This year we are planning to have another t-shirt sale with favorite professor’s quotes on the back. We are hoping to get all professors approval to do this.
3. Lawrence Tech: Our best fundraiser is the Cider and Donuts Sale which we do every fall. The proceeds of this fundraiser are put towards our “Giving Tree” which the school organizes. Usually this is done the beginning of October for seven hours on one day, and it is required that members work at least one hour. We do our best to get the donuts and cider donated by a local business; therefore, we are able to put all the money towards our gifts. Usually we raise enough money to purchase gifts for four children. We have also recently teamed up with our student section of SAE, providing both of the small organizations to come together and discuss campus activities, networking events, and much more.
4. Oakland: We are fundraising with another engineering organization. We will be selling Oakland Engineering T-shirts.
5. Southern Illinois: Last semester we had our first annual Mr. SWE competition. We had 10 male competitors compete in talent, nerdy dress, teacher impersonations, and brainteasers as well as a can collecting portion. We were able to raise over 300 canned food items for a local food pantry, and we were able to get several students and faculty members involved with SWE and helping the community.
6. University of Iowa: Locally, we have had problems retaining members during the spring semester, and attendance at fundraising activities. We are also having an issue with our expected attendance for Long Beach this year falling below the attendance to Baltimore last year, since it’s definitely a more expensive trip. Although Long Beach is a beautiful place, from the collegiate perspective, it would be appreciated if the costs of attending were considered as well, or more travel grants were awarded.
7. IUPUI: Last semester, we had our biggest event of the year. It is called the Opportunity Banquet. It is an annual event and has been going on for 6 years at IPFW. This event serves as a major fundraiser for our organization and enables us to send various students on both SWE regional and national conferences. It consists of a career fair, a nice sit-down dinner and then a lecture/talk by a renowned speaker. We invite various area companies to this event, as well as students, faculty and stuff of the university, students from other schools and the general public. At the career fair, a lot of students find internships and even full time positions and most of all, they get to network with various companies from the Northeast Indiana area. Last year, our speaker was an astronaut and she showed and explained a video of one of her expeditions to outer space. This was very interesting. We had a record turnout at this event; more than any other year since we started doing the Opportunity Banquet. And most importantly, we raised money for our organization for the next school year.
8. South Dakota State: We also plan to sell the shirts we designed again.
9. T-shirts
10. Sam’s Club Grants
11. Pancake Fundraiser – themed (ex. orange pancakes for Halloween)
12. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
13. Write lots of letters to companies (200-400) for sponsorships, knew before summer who was going and mailed letters to companies, asked engineering departments to pay for mail, include expense summary in letter
14. Within school ask for money from diversity committee
15. Host Alumni Tea and ask for donations
COMMUNICATION
1. Valparaiso: Hold summer meetings via webchats (we chose WebEX because officers could logon, and chat via microphone or text, or call in. The flexibility ensured our officers could remain connected).
2. UW-Milwaukee: As mentioned above our best activity this year has been an internal improvement with the start of Officer Planning Meetings. Each meeting consists of each of our six officer and coordinator positions meeting for approximately two hours every four weeks over the summer break. Meeting the demands of each individuals schedules was difficult, but it seems to have paid off as we now have our first three events planned before classes have returned. Our meetings will continue through the school year but will follow a more intermittent schedule since the communication through officers will be more frequent on campus.
3. Michigan State--What: Great Lakes State Conference
4. Goal/Purpose: Allow all sizes of SWE sections to get together to meet other SWE women in the region and share ideas for recruiting new members, fundraisers, and fun activities for SWE.
a. Where: Michigan State University
b. When: April of each year
c. Who: SWE Members from University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and Western Michigan University. We try to reach out to as many universities that are close enough to make it to MSU for the day long conference.
d. How: This conference in funded by donations from companies that specifically donate to support this program. It is also funded by charging each participant a minimal fee which covers the conference, food for the day, and a t-shirt.
e. Success: The conference has grown in attendance over the past two years and we hope to be able to include even more sections this spring. We also continue to get positive feedback from those who do attend the conference and we have made a few changes to improve the activities and find speakers who will appeal to everyone.
5. MSOE: One thing that we tried last year was to do a Lunch and Learn where we invited alumni, staff, faculty, and multiple other professionals to come and network with students. We were able to open this to our entire campus of students and had a good number of students attend. It was beneficial to our section because it got new members for us. It also left a positive impression upon our faculty and staff who can promote our section this fall to the new underclassmen. We plan on doing this again this upcoming year for at least our members and hopefully for the entire campus again. We hope to increase our number of students attending this year.
OUTREACH
1. Northwestern: NU SWE hosted the Second Annual Summer Technology and Engineering Program (STEP). STEP is a 3 Day day-camp for girls going into 8th and 9th grades to encourage them to explore careers in the field of engineering. This year’s program theme was sustainability. Twenty-five girls from the Chicagoland area came to the Northwestern campus and participated in grad student taught lessens, attended tour of Northwestern Labs and the Chicago Center for Green Technology, and competed in design challenge with the opportunity to present their design/product to faculty and family at the end-of-program banquet. We are very proud of this program and the outlet is serves as to introduce young girls to the many opportunities in engineering. All the planning, recruitment, and fundraising that goes into STEP makes it a year-long project for our section, under the leadership and creativity of our Summer Programming Chair and her committee.
2. Wayne State: With the instatement of our FutureSWE! Event program, WSU SWE is very excited with its first FutureSWE! Event. We also had our 2nd Annual Green Technology Symposium (GTS) this past April. Both events required funding. FutureSWE! was funded through the PDG grant program from SWE and GTS was funded through local companies who participated. We are very proud of both of our events. The 'Best Practice' we could share would be utilizing school contacts. Both of our events had our dean(s) involved heavily in the planning, organization and execution of the programs.
3. U of Michigan: Scout Out Day is a day-long event that introduces junior Girl Scouts to engineering through fun and creative hands-on activities. It also provides resources for Girl Scout Troop Leaders and the parents of the young attendees. The Fall 2008 Scout Out Day had a significant impact on the community that it targeted, as well as on our section. The efforts of our volunteers made it possible to encourage girls to excel in math and science classes. Hands-on group activities emphasized the importance of teamwork, and the Girl Scouts were encouraged to work with others to build friendships outside of their troop’s social circle. By leading different activities, SWE volunteers stimulated the girls to help develop their problem solving skills, and taught them to think critically. In this way, the volunteers acted as a knowledge source and supported the girls when they were working. During a student panel, our SWE volunteers served as inspiring role models – from the feedback received in a survey conducted to all participants, they truly made the audience believe that girls can be engineers, too.