SWE - Winter 2008 - (Page 7)

VIEW FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUITE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO: Betty Shanahan Encourage. Enhance. Excel. SWE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: President/Michelle Tortolani XM Satellite Radio Inc. Medtronic Retired President Elect/Virginia Connolly, P.E. Secretary/Fran Stuart Treasurer/Linette Patterson Dell, Inc. C ongratulations to the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) on its 25th anniversary. I was honored to be part of their three-day conference and anniversary celebration, held in Lagos in early November. Nigerians tend to greet you with, “Hello. You’re welcome!” and the greeting certainly reflects the acceptance and inclusion I experienced throughout my visit. My trip was a continual blending of the new with the familiar. The long flights and hot, humid days coincided with Chicago’s first snow flurries of the season, reminding me that while the world may seem small, our planet is large with diverse climates and seasons. This was my first visit to Nigeria, and I enjoyed being immersed in the rich culture, expressed through food, dress, music, and many languages. Some of the conference presentations highlighted the important economic and engineering challenges that APWEN members address — from delivering potable water cost-effectively to increasing the local benefits stemming from Nigeria’s oil and gas resources. Our differences became part of an interesting background, or mosaic, as I became absorbed into the APWEN community. Sharing our experiences, dreams, and passions as women engineers transcended geographies and cultures. Invited to speak to both APWEN’s student and professional members, I selected material that I hoped would translate culturally. Interestingly, my first day there convinced me that the differences among women engineers are minimal, and that what we share is quite profound. My presentations were essentially the same as those I give to SWE members. Educational outreach and supporting women during their engineering studies are passions of both SWE and APWEN, and the source of a relationship between the two organizations that goes back to 1991, when ICWES 9 was held in Warwick, England. At ICWES 9, APWEN founder Engr. (Mrs.) Idiat Amusu met former SWE president Arminta Harness. As their friendship continued, Arminta Harness shared SWE’s materials for collegiate sections and outreach with Engr. Amusu. An instructor of food technology, Engr. Amusu leveraged SWE’s material at her university. Although I can provide dozens more anecdotes to illustrate our similarities, I believe the most compelling indicator is the taglines of the two organizations. If we were to replace “Aspire. Advance. Achieve.” with three words that begin with “e,” we’d probably select “Encourage. Enhance. Excel.” — the tagline for APWEN. Betty Shanahan SWE Executive Director & CEO Directors/ Bernice Brody, Professional Development, IBM Semahat Demir, Ph.D., External Affairs Siddika Demir, Education, Bechtel Helen Patricia, Membership Initiatives, Kennametal Inc. Director of Diversity and Inclusion/Natalie Thompson Goldman Sachs & Co. Director of Regions/Nora Lin, Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems Speaker of the Council/ Melissa Tata Dell, Inc Collegiate Representative/ Angela Nickels FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact: The Society of Women Engineers 230 E. Ohio St. Suite 400 Chicago, IL 60611 312-596-5223 Fax 312-596-5252 http://www.swe.org E-mail: hq@swe.org Visit our Web site at: SWE (ISSN 1070-6232), Magazine of the Society of Women Engineers, is published quarterly with an extra issue in October by the Society of Women Engineers, 230 E. Ohio St., Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60611. Annual subscription rates: SWE members,$10.00 included in dues; SWE student members, $7.50 included in dues; non-members, $30.00. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: SWE, c/o Society of Women Engineers at the above address. Copyright 2008 Society of Women Engineers SWE WINTER 2008 7 http://www.swe.org http://www.swe.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Winter 2008

SWE - Winter 2008 Heritage Club President’s Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Readers’ Forum EWeek 2008 New Faces of Engineering The Leaky Science and Engineering Pipeline Why Do Women Leave the Engineering Work Force? A Greener America = New Growth Fields for Engineers The Off-On Ramp Revolution Recognizing the Historic Contributions of African-Americans Membership Information & Calendar A&B Women in Tune with Technology: SWE 2007 Conference Overview Keynote Address Achievement Award Region, Section, and Collegiate Awards SME Bowl and SWE Anniversaries Engineering World: Point of View: Why I Blog Career Toolbox Book Review SWE Smiles Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Winter 2008

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