Penn State Society of Women Engineers wins national award for 9th year

November 10, 2022

By Mary Fetzer

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the ninth consecutive year, the Penn State Society of Women Engineers received the Outstanding Collegiate Section Gold Mission Award at the SWE national conference. The event (WE22) is the world’s largest conference for women in engineering and technology, and the Gold Mission Award is the highest collegiate recognition within the organization. 

SWE is a national organization of student and professional members. The society’s mission, according to its website, is to empower women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders. SWE aims to advance the image of engineering professions as a positive force to improve the quality of life and demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion.  

“Penn State SWE members epitomize the SWE national mantra to ‘advance, aspire and achieve,’” said Cheryl Knobloch, director of the Penn State Women in Engineering Program and a Penn State SWE chapter adviser. “This prestigious recognition distinguishes Penn State as a model for other collegiate chapters, and we appreciate our students' steadfast efforts to emulate our Penn State values.”

Penn State sent 23 leadership team members to WE22, which took place Oct. 20-22 in Houston. The event included a career fair, informational sessions, networking activities and an award reception. Keynote speakers included Phyllis Schneck, vice president and cyber chief information security office at Northrop Grumman; Nancy Post, vice president for embedded software and solutions for the Intelligent Solutions Group at John Deere; and Michele L. Sullivan, HarperCollins Leadership author.  

“Penn State SWE’s leadership team is dedicated to creating opportunities for our members to grow both personally and professionally,” said Kaitlyn Hartman, undergraduate student in biomedical and mechanical engineering and director of personal development for the Penn State SWE. “SWE is a community of supportive women that share in their struggles and strive to inspire one another. The Gold Award showcases our chapter’s amazing advocacy, mentorship and development initiatives, which have helped me and so many others to grow as women in engineering.” 

The Penn State Student Section of SWE was founded in 1975 and is one of the largest active engineering organizations on campus, with more than 250 members, according to the group’s website. The group participates in THON, Homecoming and other campus-wide events. It connects with corporate sponsors to engage in professional development sessions and is involved with engineering networking receptions and career fairs at Penn State.  

“Our visionary student chapter is deeply committed to professional excellence, and they consistently generate innovative programming to support our College of Engineering community,” Knobloch said.

 

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“This prestigious recognition distinguishes Penn State as a model for other collegiate chapters, and we appreciate our students’ steadfast efforts to emulate our Penn State values.”

— Cheryl Knobloch, director of the Penn State Women in Engineering Program