In March, the Affinity Communities Board approved the newest Affinity Group – Women in Engineering (WIE). WIE started as a Community of Practice in January 2006 and now has over 60 members. The COP is used to discuss current articles in the media, volunteer opportunities, and future WIE events. All ASME members are invited to join the WIE COP in order to stay up-to-date on women in engineering activities.
The Women in Engineering Affinity Group has several goals under its mission:
- To assist the ASME in meeting its Vision to be the “premier organization … to our diverse communities throughout the world” and its Mission to “better enable its practitioners to contribute to the well-being of humankind.”
- To establish a network of ASME members who wish to work together on promoting women in engineering on the local, national, and international level.
- To create a conduit for current and future ASME programs and activities that focus on women in engineering (ie: Girl Scouts, Diversity Action Grants, SWE, FIRST, E-Mentoring, etc.).
- To promote outreach programs to ASME’s membership through ASME publications (email, ME Today, Mechanical Advantage, Capitol Update, etc.) in order to encourage more Society-wide participation.
- To encourage women to become involved at their local section level and/or with a technical community.
- To support the network of ASME female volunteers – from the student section to the Society level – in order to encourage them to remain active and to help them recruit and retain more members for the Society.
- To hold networking events at national and international ASME meetings (SAM, IMECE, etc.).
- To maintain the WIE COP to allow for discussion of current topics, promote programs, receive feedback, and solicit new volunteers.
The Women in Engineering Affinity Group’s goals are far-reaching, and we will be working with several groups within and outside ASME to meet our goals including the Center for Leadership & Diversity, the Center for Public Awareness,
and the Society of Women Engineers.
The Women in Engineering Affinity Group will be having its official kick-off at SAM 2007 in Toronto. All ASME members interested in participating with the WIE group should plan to attend the Think Tank session on Sunday, June 10th, from 4:30pm to 6:00pm – “Teaching Women Engineering: A Double Standard?” We will continue the discussion started at the Think Tank Session on the WIE COP after SAM.
The Women in Engineering Affinity Group will also meet at the Opening Reception after the Think Tank session and make plans to have dinner at 8pm that evening. If you are interested in joining us for dinner or would like to know more about the Women in Engineering Affinity Group, please email Loretta McHugh at HawkesL@asme.org.
- Originally printed in the K&C Communique. Written by Loretta McHugh.
