"...Encouraging Women to Achieve Their Utmost in Careers as Professional Engineers and as the Leaders of Tomorrow..."

What is SWE?

The Society of Women Engineers originated over 50 years ago 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, at Green Engineering Camp of the Cooper Union in New Jersey and formed the Society of Women Engineers.

SWE is a non-profit educational service organization dedicated to making known the need for women engineers and encouraging young women to consider an engineering education. The organization's four objectives are as relevant today as they were almost 50 years ago:

• To inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the public in general of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them.
• To assist women engineers in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement.
• To serve as a center of information on women in engineering.
• To encourage women engineers to attain high levels of educational and professional achievement.

The mission statement, adopted in 1985, states: The Society of Women Engineers stimulates women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expands the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in the quality of life, and demonstrates the value of diversity.

SWE has an international membership of more than 14,000 in 79 local sections and 277 student sections. SWE Corporate membership is available to organizations which employ engineers and are interested in supporting the goals of the society.

Who can join SWE?

While most SWE members are women engineers or women engineering students located in the United States and Puerto Rico, anyone who supports the organization's objectives may apply for membership. SWE has members in every state as well as in more than 20 foreign countries and U.S. military locations overseas. U.S. citizenship is not required. Membership was opened to men in 1976 (previously there was a men's auxiliary, known as MASWE).

Membership grades and qualifications are the same for men as they are for women. Membership grades are: Student Member, Affiliate, Associate, Member, Senior Member, Fellow, and Honorary. Applicants are assigned to the highest membership grade for which they are eligible. An application, which can be printed, completed and submitted to Society Headquarters, may be accessed from the Society's homepage.

After submitting an application, an individual is automatically assigned to either the Section which covers that geographical area or, if the area isn't part of a Section, to the Members-at-Large. Some Sections, particularly SWE's older Sections, cover vast areas. Many times two or more separate metropolitan areas are part of the same Section, but meetings and activities may be concentrated in only one. Members in an outlying metropolitan area may seek to form a separate Section with a more localized focus.

Information from the sections entitled "What is SWE?" and "Who can join SWE?" was quoted directly from the Society's website, specifically page http://www.swe.org/SWE/Atlarge/swe_info.htm .