Welcome to the SWE Region F Blog!

My name is Katie Miller, and I’m the RCNE (Region Collegiate Newsletter Editor) for Region F this year. I’d like to welcome you to the Region F blog, and ask you to come back. On the blog, we’ll have monthly Hot Topics relevant to you, posts from the Region Governor on region business, and posts from your RCR (Sharon Vuong) on how the region collegiates are doing.

-Katie Miller

February Hot Topic- Getting People Out When It’s Cold Out

It’s February: the semester is in full swing; there’s snow everywhere. How do you encourage SWE members to come to events?
The first, and most important thing, is understanding why your members joined SWE. What are their favorite types of events: outreach, networking, social? Now is the time to roll out one of their favorite events. Don’t know what your section members are interested in? Send out a short survey asking what their favorite events have been in the past and what they’d like to see the section doing. I recommend Google Docs for easy, free surveys with unlimited participants. Then, think about how to make the events as easy as possible for your section members to attend. Also, never underestimate the power a personal invitation can have! Mention to a SWE member you know from classes that she should really come to Event X, and chances are much higher that she’ll attend than if she just received a mass e-mail and saw flyers.

What’s worked for you?
Discuss!
-Katie
(rcne-f@swe.org)

Get more involved in SWE! Run for a Regional Officer Position!

Sharon and I are your Region F RCR and RCNE this year. You should consider running for our positions, and for the new position of Senator. What the positions are and what they entail is all spelled out below, e-mail me ( rcne-f@swe.org ) with any questions!
SENATOR

At National Conference this year the Council of Representatives (COR) voted to create the position of collegiate Senator, one to serve in each of the ten regions. Senators will serve on the National Senate (the new body in FY10 replacing the current COR).

What does the Senator do?

· The Senator is a vital collegiate voice within the Region and to National leaders in SWE.

· Serve as the collegiate voice for the region on the National Senate. They will help set the direction for the society working with 2 Professional Senators from the 10 Region, 2 International Senators, and 2 Special Directors.

· Attend 2 face-to-face Senate meetings at National Conference and in the spring, as well as monthly conference calls.

· Trained with the other Senators

What does it take to be Senator?

· Member of SWE for at least 2 years and in good standing

· Be a collegiate member during term (graduate or undergraduate)

· Have been in a leadership role in their section, region or national SWE. Acceptable leadership roles:

o Officer at any level

o Committee chair at section level

o Committee member at regional and/or national level

· Have attended at least one regional or national conference

· Good Academic Standing

How/When Do Candidates Apply?

Elections for Senator are unique from those for RCR/RCNE and will follow the timeline outlined below.
Date Event
Dec 11th Call for nominations
Jan 21st 2nd call for nominations
Feb 1st All nominations due
Feb 13th Publish nominees to region and allow for petition process
Mar 1st Photos and bios of all nominees sent to SWE HQ
Apr 1st Electronic ballots sent to all collegiate members
Apr 30th Voting ends
May 15th Winners notified

Please click here to get started on your (online) Collegiate Senator application.

RCR

There will continue to be 1 RCR in Region F with more than 1,000 collegiate members by Dec 31st 2008.

So what do the RCRs do?

· Vital collegiate voice within the Region and to Region leaders in SWE.

· Serves on Region Council as the voting collegiate member for the region.

· Serves on the Region Collegiate Team working to make sure collegiate and section interest and concerns are discussed among the region leadership and plans are made to improve the region collegiate experience.

· Prepares the Collegiate Report to the Governor 3 times a year after collecting Collegiate Section Reports. In regions with 2 RCRs sections will be split between the 2.

· Leads the Collegiate sections of the Region meeting at the National and Regional Conferences.

· Works with other RCRs and RCNEs on yearly goals to improve the collegiate experience in SWE.

· Attends Collegiate Leadership Forum (CLF) in the summer to receive Leadership and SWE Training.

What does it take to be RCR?

· 2 Years in SWE

· Current Paid Member

· Collegiate Member in FY10 (Graduate or Undergraduate Member)

· Good Academic Standing

· Interest in getting involved in SWE at Regional and National Level

· Ability to Travel (CLF – paid, National – some help available in some regions, Region Conference – some help available in some regions) In Region F, this isn’t an issue, as funds are available for National Conference and Regional Conference if necessary.

Please click on this link to get started on your RCR or RCNE application.

RCNE

There is 1 RCNE in each region. They maintain the Region Collegiate Blogs and support the RCR(s).

So what does the RCNE do?

· Maintain the Region Collegiate Blog, by working with the Region Web Master, Region Governor, RCR and Collegiate Sections.

· Write and Post Monthly Hot Topics on the Blog – Topics could include Membership, Fund raising, Rewarding Members, Program Ideas, etc. You don’t have to know all the answers there will be resource to help write these.

· Work with Collegiate Sections to get 2 postings/articles a year from each section.

· Serves on the Region Collegiate Team working to make sure collegiate and section interest and concerns are discussed among the region leadership and plans are made to improve the region collegiate experience.

· Prepares Report to the Governor 3 times a year updating the Governor on the blog, region collegiate team and other happenings.

· Works with other RCRs and RCNEs on yearly goals to improve the collegiate experience in SWE.

· Attends Collegiate Leadership Forum (CLF) in the summer to receive Leadership and SWE Training.

What does it take to be RCNE?

· 2 Years in SWE

· Current Paid Member

· Collegiate Member in FY10 (Graduate or Undergraduate Member)

· Good Academic Standing

· Interest in getting involved in SWE at Regional and National Level

· Ability to Travel (CLF – paid, National – some help available in some regions, Region Conference – some help available in some Regions)

How/When Do Candidates Apply?

Please click on this link to get started on your RCR or RCNE application.

January Hot Topic: Regional Conference

Hi Region F!

This year’s Region F Conference will be held on April 4, 2009 at Smith College. Last year, my school (Olin College) hosted the Regional Conference and it was awesome. It gives you a chance to easily meet other members of SWE, both collegiates and professionals. Our Region F Conference is set up as follows: Registration will open sometime in the next month or so (I’ll be sure to post more info when it’s available) with prices around $20 for Collegiate members and $40 for Collegiate non-members (although these haven’t been set yet). As a freshman, several SWE Officers at Olin encouraged me to come to the Regional Conference, and that’s when I really started to get involved with SWE. The Regional Conference will have a keynote speaker, sessions on everything from technology to etiquette to networking, a Career Fair, more sessions, and an optional Keynote Dinner. The Career Fair is great, as many companies come for the sole purpose of hiring students for internships and jobs. This will all take place on April 4, the Saturday. On Sunday is a Region Business Meeting.

So, here are some tips for attending the Regional Conference:
1) Talk to your school about subsidizing the costs for members to attend. Since it is a professional and academic development conference, many schools already have programs in place. Consider using the funds the school provides for first-year students, to encourage them to get involved with SWE.
2) Carpool as a school to get there, or e-mail me (rcne-f@swe.org) if you’d like to coordinate a bus or rides with other SWE Sections!
3) Once registration is open, you will be able to sign up for room-share, where you can sleep in a Smith student’s dorm room for free if needed.
4) Get the word out! Make sure to make is as fun as possible.

Thanks for reading!
-Katie
Region F Collegiate Newsletter Editor

December Hot Topic- Rewarding Members

As the semester comes to an end and everyone is busy with end-of-the-semester stress, it’s a really good time to think about doing something for the SWE Members in your section. At Olin, we always hold an end-of-the-semester Study Break. We just bring food, and people come, get a chance to talk to each other, and have fun. Another thing to think about is writing notes to your officers or members thanking them for a great semester. Ideas to help de-stress are always great, particularly for first-years going through their first finals. Host a study party, offer to help with assignments, etc. Just make it clear that you are there to help.

November Hot Topic- National Resources

You may be wondering what SWE does as a National organization? Why should you pay $20 a year to be a SWE member when you’re just involved in your section? Well, SWE has a lot of power, respect, and resources as a National Organization, more than you can imagine. Did you know SWE was founded nearly 60 years ago, in 1950? It’s a huge network of women engineers focused on making engineering a desirable career for women through outreach, awards and recognition, scholarships, training, Conferences, webinars on everything you could imagine, and an online career center.

I’m writing this post from the SWE National Conference in Baltimore. The SWE National Conference is every year around November, and more than 5000 SWE members attend. It’s amazing to see so many female engineers and have an opportunity to get to know them and their stories. There is also a huge career fair of companies who are excited to interview and hire you for summer internships or jobs after graduation. You can attend sessions on leadership, technology, and outreach, take tours of nearby companies, and attend meetings where you can learn about this amazing organization. You can also get to know your RCR’s, RCNE’s, and hear the SWE President speak. You get a much better feel for how SWE works as a national organization.

Be sure to explore SWE Communities, SWE Outreach, SWE Outreach, and our Region’s website.

Thanks, and have a great semester!
-Katie

What is SWE Communities anyways?

SWE Communities is a cross between Facebook and file-sharing, where you can go to find other SWE members that have something in common with you. This can range from being on the same national committee to sharing a love of autocross. To log on to SWE Communities, go to SWE Communities and log in with your username and password. You can share files, find out what’s going on in a committee, and, most importantly, join the Region F SWE Community to find all the documents that you’ll need, including Annual Reports, Financial Reports, and the SWE Bylaws template. To join a community, log in and then search for Region F, and join! Once you’re in a community (any community), you can adjust the notification settings, and have e-mails sent to yourself at different times depending on how important the information is to you. For example, I adjusted my notification settings so that when Sharon posts a new Document, I’ll get an e-mail within a day. You could change this to within an hour, week, month, etc., depending on when you’d like to be notified. To do this, click the “Notifications” link to the right of the title in any community.

How to Change your SWE User ID

How do I change my username so it’s not a random number so that people can recognize me on SWE Communities?

1. Log onto the SWE Home Page.
2. Click “SWE Member Data Services“.
3. Under “Membership Management”, choose “Profile Update“.
4. Login with your current info.
5. Scroll down and update your User ID to something more descriptive. Also, enter your password.
6. Scroll to the bottom and click “Save and Close”- All done!

October Hot Topic – Making the Most of SWE Resources

Hi everyone!

I’ll be writing about how to make the most of SWE Resources. We’re all incredibly busy, which is why SWE has a lot of programs and resources in place to make it easier for you as individuals and sections to get what you want out of SWE.

• SWE Communities: http://communities.swe.org/COP/Public  SWE is happy to announce SWE Communities, a new, cohesive way to help you accomplish all your SWE needs: hearing about what’s going on in SWE, networking, and a great way to get involved in different SWE communities. Log in with your membership login and look around! Join as many communities as you’re interested in!
• Resources for Outreach Events: http://www.swe.org/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=115 This is a great resource for helping to plan Outreach Activities!
• SWE Scholarships: http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=230&Itemid=128 SWE offers scholarships for students in most any engineering or computer science major. Look around, see what you can find!
• E-mails from SWE News, your RCR, and your Region Governor: It can be tempting to skip another e-mail in your inbox, but we do our best to make these e-mails as to the point and useful for you as possible. It’s the easiest way to stay in the know about what’s going on that affects you!
• Collegiate Leadership Coaches: e-mail Darlene Yerdon- dyerdon at us dot ibm dot com, the head Collegiate Leadership Coach, to set up modules on everything from leadership to outreach to help your section out. They’ll bring food, too!

Hope this helps! And, as always, e-mail Sharon Vuong, your RCR, or myself, Katie Miller your RCNE, at rcr-f@swe.org and rcne-f@swe.org with any questions!

Hope your semesters are going well,

Katie Miller

RCNE Region F

Attracting and Retaining Membership: September Hot Topic

One of the biggest problems collegiate sections face is attracting and retaining membership. My section (Olin College) has always found that the best way to attract students is at the beginning of the year. We table at the annual Club Fair, which helps us convince first-year students to join our mailing list. Then, we host a “Study Break” (these are common at my school; they are basically excuses to take a break from studying and have fun) where we buy food and tell everyone about what our section does. Then, we have mini breakout sessions where people can learn more about specific ways they can get involved. We’ve found that this is a great way to let people know about what we do and how they can get involved. Our section has always struggled with maintaining membership, but recently we started making committees and encouraging first-years to be involved. This has helped them feel more valuable and encouraged them to pursue further leadership roles. We’ve also had success working with other professional societies and campus organizations. If you have any other suggestions of things that work in your section, please post them! We’d love to hear from you.

-Katie Miller

RCNE Region F