Senate

10/25/2011

WE’11 was a busy and exciting time for the senate! The Senate Meeting was on Saturday, Oct. 15^th. Here is a brief overview of what the senate has done so far this year.

Year-to-date:

Motions Passed:

• S-1201 Delegate Senate FY13 Nominations to Society Nominating Committee- allows the society nominating committee to complete FY13 senate nominations for Deputy Speaker & Senate Secretary
• S 1202: Contingency Reserve Fund Revision- changes current reserve fund to an emergency fund and a special projects fund
• S 1203: Amendment to Procedure for Review of SWE Member Conduct to Update Composition of Ethics Committee- expands pool of eligible members for Ethics Committee
• S 1204: Sections in Good Standing- defines professional section “good standing” within bylaws
• S 1205: Collegiate Sections in Good Standing- defines collegiate section “good standing” within bylaws as having at least 10 members, current bylaws, an elected counselor, and filed annual reports
• S 1206: Committee Charters- all committees must have a charter, but procedures are optional
• S 1207: Deputy Director of Regions Vacancy- clarifies that a vacancy will be filled consistent with BOD vacancies, by the Senate within 60 days
• S 1208: SWE Membership Rates for Low and Lower Middle Income International Members- recommends that the BOD  gives a 66% membership discount to  members in Low income countries and a 33% discount to members in Lower Middle income countries

Additional Information:

• Senate Winter Meeting (Sat February 11) in Houston in conjunction with Annual Strategic Plan Review (ASPR) meeting
• Kickoff of Role of Alternates Task Force will be occurring soon and is looking for members.

Senate Mega Issues were discussed

• MI 00116 -How can SWE inspire companies to provide creative opportunities for engineers who want to contribute in their industry and attend to family needs?
• MI 00121: How do we change the conversations from what member value SWE provides to how engaged are our members?

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, concerns or would like to make a motion for the next senate meeting!  Bylaws amendment motions are due November 11^th and other senate motions are due December 30^th. Again, I’m more than happy to answer any questions!

Thanks,

Liz Buzzard, Region H Collegiate Senator

 

12/13/2010

Region H Section Presidents:

SWE National is in the process of evaluating the programs and services offered by the Society, and has asked the Senate to gather feedback from our regions. Your opinions are needed as SWE tries to evaluate how to make all of our services valuable to members.

As Region H Senators, we have created a survey to gather opinions on these programs – which ones add value to your SWE membership, and which could use some improvement. Please respond to the survey below. We would also like your assistance in distributing the survey link to your own section’s officers and members so that we can get a broad perspective on how these programs are used within all membership grades. The survey link may also be found on the Region H Blog Senate Tab.

Survey Link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SZ76KLD

ATTN: Professional members, please provide the Senate with your feedback with the survey at the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7F55B7F

11/14/2010

Wondering what happened at the Senate Meeting Nov. 6^th at the Annual Conference in Orlando?  Well, here is a snapshot summary and how the changes will affect you.

Bylaw Motions Passed:

• S-1101 Member Voting Rights – just spells out the voting rights of members and who has these rights
• S-1103 Collegiate Candidates for Region Officer Positions – collegiates will have the ability to be eligible through the nominating committee for region officer positions
• S-1104 Collegiate Candidates for Professional Section Positions – collegiates will have the ability to be eligible through the nominating committee for professional section positions
• S-1105 Collegiate Candidates for MAL Positions – collegiates will have the ability to be eligible through the nominating committee for MAL positions
• S-1106 Collegiate Director Position on Board of Director – the currently guest position of Collegiate Board Representative has become a permanent voting position on the Board of Directors and the selection process will be completed as previously done
• S-1108 Senate Speaker Eligibility – increased the number of candidates eligibility to apply to be senate speakerS-1109 Board Eligibility – increased the number of candidates eligibility to apply to the Board of Directors
• S-1110 SWE Code of Conduct – requires all members to abide by the Society’s code of conduct and leaders to the Society’s code of service
• S-1112 Editorial Changes by Bylaws Committee – allows the bylaws committee to make editorial changes to passed motions to ensure they are within the bylaws requirements/format

Failed:

• S-1102 Region Officers Voting on Region Council – region officers voting procedures will remain the same
• S-1107 Disbanding a Committee by the Board of Directors – BOD has already addressed this situation with a procedure

Additional Information:

• Ruthann Omer and Jonna Gerken were passed by the senate as special senators and they will have full voting senate rights
• S1111 Senate Procedure will be voted on at the February face to face meeting in Chicago

Senate Mega Issues were discussed

• MI 00106 – How can we empower women engineers to be successful on their own terms?
• MI 00112 – How can SWE provide assistance to unemployed members?
• MI 00114 – To what extent and in what areas should SWE venture beyond STEM to issues relevant to SWE’s mission in the area of public policy?

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, concerns or would like to make a motion for the next senate meeting!  I’m more than happy to answer them.

Thanks,

Allison Machtemes, Region H Collegiate Senator (amachtemes@gmail.com)