SWE Magazine: Winter 2009
Posted by RCCE-D on January 29, 2009
I received the winter issue of SWE Magazine two Fridays ago. Never before have I identified myself to as many articles as I have in this one. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy SWE magazine and I agree that the articles are interesting, engaging and informational, but, being the guy that I am, not many articles are meant to speak out to me. Which is fine – this is the Society of Women Engineers, I expect that. However, in the winter issue I’ve found articles that seem to be written directly for me.
First was the “Engineers Week 2009” – it provides information about diverse activities that go on during E-week as well as links to websites dedicated to outreach activities; many of which have resources you can use during your own E-week activities. I’ll be making some of those websites available here on the Blog soon.
I’m a philatelist (I collect stamps)… and I found the article on the USPS Black Heritage commemorative stamp series very interesting. I’ve known about the series for a while, and I own some of them as part of my collection (not many, though – my collection is pretty small), but I had never read about the history of the series per se.
The Conference Highlights article was a nice way to go back to my first conference… and to see some of the things I didn’t have the chance to see, especially the Achievement Award Acceptance Address from Dr. Melanie W. Cole.
It was inspiring and at the same time saddening to read the “In Memoriam” article on Mabel R. Esteves Velazquez, P.E. I get excited when I read about other Puerto Ricans, and it’s saddening to have lost a woman who promoted SWE wherever she went. Mabel is truly an example to follow.
Finally, in the SWE scrapbook section, I found the article on MASWE (Men’s Auxiliary of the Society of Women Engineers) pretty interesting. A bit of history of my gender’s involvement with SWE, and I found that refreshing… especially when I read what MASWE President George Hannan wrote in a letter to members: “When a man applies for membership in MASWE, in a way he is saying, ‘Women engineers are welcome in all field of engineering! I am going to help women engineering students complete and obtain their degree in the field of engineering of their choice!’” That still rings true today, and one of the reasons I’m still in SWE after almost four years.
Heather Williams (UNF Section President) said
I’m going to have to look more into the MASWE. I didn’t know that group had a name. Our section has many males in its group (about half of us). I know they’ll be interested in hearing more about this.
I have a deep appreciation for the men that are involved with SWE. I feel like we’ve really accomplished a SWE goal by gaining so much support from men towards our cause. SWE is forming into a group that isn’t quite so segregated anymore. Mission accomplished!