This year's Region H Conference is January 29-31 at the University of Illinois.

This is your LAST WEEK to register for the Region H Conference!
The registration deadline is December 1st!
Click here to register!

• Theme: Persevering Through the Years
• Location: Champaign, IL
• Date: January 29-31, 2010
• Cost: Just $45!

Registration is only $45 for collegiate members. This includes your hotel and food. The only thing your section will need to pay for is transportation–but wait! You can apply for a Travel Grant to cover your transportation costs! Email your RCRs about applying.

SWE Conferences are a great way to reward your active members and convince younger members to stay involved. It’s fun, it’s inspiring, it has a great career fair, and it’s great for professional development! Encourage other people to go!

Is your section having problems with too many male members? Here’s some solutions:

• Don’t try to discourage your male members. Instead, try to encourage more female members!
• Recruit women who are not engineering majors (architecture, computer science, natural & physical sciences)
• Hold a “bring-your-girlfriend” event
• Hold “girls night out” events, like movies and ice cream, that would recruit more women
• Talk to other womens’ groups on campus on how they recruit other women

Any more suggestions? Comment on this post!

To get help with your own section’s problems, comment on this post with an issue and we’ll help you work it out!

This year, the Council of Representatives (COR) has been replaced by the SWE Senate.

The Senate is the strategic body of the society. It consists of:

• Two professional Senators from each region
• One collegiate Senator from each region
• The Board of Directors
• The Deputy Speaker of the Senate
• The Deputy Director of Regions

In comparison, the COR allotted representatives based on the size of the section. Each professional section was guaranteed at least one representative. The problem was, collegiate sections received only one representative per region–the Region Collegiate Representative. COR representation was unfairly balanced towards professional members, even though collegiate members make up about 50% of SWE membership.

This change is a very good thing for us college students because it means we get more even representation.

At our November conference call, the RCRs and RCCEs talked a little about common problems SWE sections have been having.

One of the sections in Region J (Pacific Northwest) is having difficulties with officer transitions.

Is your section having problems with the same issue? Here’s some solutions:

• Post information on your position in a wiki
• Make a binder for your position and keep it somewhere safe
• Write an instruction manual on “How To Be President”
• Use a SWE email address (swepresident@yourschool.edu) for all of your communication, to eliminate “loss of contact information” problems
• Hold elections in the winter, and have new officers shadow the older ones
• Hold elections in the winter, and have office terms start in January rather than April
• Require an officer transition meeting where new officers learn about their duties

Any more great suggestions? Comment on this post!

To get help with your own section’s problems, comment on this post with an issue and we’ll help you work it out!

A Collegiate Interest Group is for people who want to have a SWE section, but don’t quite meet the qualifications. CIGs are for people who:

• Attend community college
• Attend a university that does not have engineering
• Attend a university whose engineering program is not accredited
• Attend college outside the USA

If you have friends who are interested in SWE but their school doesn’t have an engineering program, encourage them to form a CIG! The requirements for CIGs are not as strict as those for a collegiate section. For example, they only need four paid members–sections need 10.

The best place to get information about the CIG process is from the SWE website. Scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Starting a Collegiate Interest Group (CIG). Click on the application for becoming a CIG, and it provides the application and requirements.

There is no way to downgrade a section to a CIG, but we’re looking into it this year.

And now for an update on the Senate, from our Collegiate Senator Emily Carroll (U of Illinois @Urbana-Champaign):

The Senate has passed Motion S1014: Electorate for Collegiate Senators/Voting Rights of Collegiate Members.

This motion means that collegiate senator elections will be done at the same time and same way as the RCR and RCCE voting process. Each section President will vote on behalf of their section. This is different than last year, where every collegiate member could vote. The problem with this method of voting was that Senate nominees from large sections would have an advantage over those from small sections, since they could recruit members of their section to vote for them. The new voting method means that everyone has an equal chance to be elected Collegiate Senator.

The SWE Senate handles national society issues. They’re not as much legislative as they are strategic. The Senate handles SWE’s strategic planning.

Some duties of the Senate are:

• Strategic planning by identifying big issues we face (“mega issues”)
• Vote on recommendations SWE members submit
• Set dues
• Run the contingency fund (non-budgeted money)
• Change bylaws
• Update region boundaries
• Approve uses of the SWE logo

The Senate meets twice per year, once in the fall at Annual Conference and once in the spring. They also have monthly conference calls. They can hold special meetings at the discretion of the Speaker of the Senate.

Joining the Senate is a great way to get involved on the national level. You get to meet collegiate and professional members from across the country and set SWE’s future. The issues you discuss in the Senate influence the entire society. That’s a lot of power for a college student. SWE is trusting you to make good choices for us.

Applications for running for Collegiate Senator are coming out in January. Start thinking about running now. To find out more about the role, or what the Senate does, email our Senator Emily Carroll!

The “Leadership Pipeline” is SWE’s sucession planning program. The pipeline makes sure that every position has someone in it. Its purpose is to identify people who want to get more involved in SWE, and to  pair them with mentors in the positions they’re striving for.

Region H piloted the Leadership Pipeline two years ago, and now it’s been rolled out to all of the regions.

Reach for your SWE goals! If you’re interested in becoming an RCR (representative), RCCE (communications editor) or RCS (senator), let me know and I’ll get you in contact with the student currently in that position!

More about each position:

• The Region Collegiate Representative (RCR) keeps the Region Governor updated on all the collegiate sections. They collect reports, track membership, keep presidents in the loop, and answer questions about individual sections’ problems. Our region has two (2) RCRs.
• The Region Collegiate Communications Editor (RCCE) keeps you updated on what’s happening throughout SWE! She maintains the blog and serves as an alternate RCR. Our region has one (1) RCCE.
• The Region Collegiate Senator attends biannual Senate meetings to make sure the SWE Senate is informed on what collegiates want. She also particpates in other Senate-related conference calls. Our region has one (1) RCS.

Agilent Technologies has stopped funding its Agilent AfterSchool outreach kits. The current price ($4/kit) will only be honored for the remaining 100 kits of each type (there are 21 kits total).

If you want to use Agilent AfterSchool Kits as outreach for your section, order them fast before they’re all gone!

Once these 100 are sold out, only the most popular 7 kits will be available, at a 300% price increase ($22/kit).

When you’re holding really big outreach events, you might need a Certificate of Insurance. They make sure that SWE doesn’t go bankrupt if something goes wrong at the event. You should get a COI if your event meets any of the following criteria:

1. Length of 3 or more days
2. Overnight stay
3. Expected attendance of 100+ people
4. Outdoor event
5. Alcohol served
6. Children under 18 years of age attending
7. Inadequate student to chaperone ratio (varies –
   depending on age of children)
8. Day camp

In the past, our insurance company would pay the overage if the cost of insurance went over our set amount.
This year, they’re stopping.

If your event needs a Certificate of Insurance, you now need to get  an estimate, and your section will have to pay any extra charges (~ $0.50 per girl, for events of 100+ people). But every event is different, and you might have to pay less, or even nothing!

To obtain additional insurance, you should contact Michael Chan at SWE HQ (hq@swe.gov) and submit a form to get an estimate of additional insurance cost. Do this early, because your outreach chair needs to account for this fee in their event budget.

Life lesson: to avoid insurance fees, don’t hold dangerous outreach events.