Description

Founded in 1950, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a not-for-profit educational and service organization, committed to the engagement and advancement of women in careers in engineering.  Although the number of women entering STEM fields is growing, only 22 percent of students entering engineering programs are women. Further, in 2018, women accounted for only about 13 percent of the total engineering workforce, a percentage virtually unchanged since 2013. SWE champions the value of diversity in engineering; offers opportunities for professional development and networking; contributes to public discourse on women in engineering; and aims to inspire women to achieve their full potential as engineers and leaders.  
The Luce Foundation knows SWE well, having previously approved 11 grants, totaling approximately $550,000, to the organization. Three of these were Higher Education special grants awarded to support SWE’s Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering (ALWE) program. SWE now seeks renewed support for ALWE. 
Increasing the number of women in higher education leadership roles remains an important means of addressing continuing barriers to full participation of women in STEM disciplines. Launched in 2011, the ALWE program is a training workshop offered at SWE’s annual conference that introduces academic leadership and administration as a potential career path to women engineers at all stages of their careers in higher education. ALWE centers on specific issues of academic leadership development and management skills that are typically not components of graduate engineering education, such as the role of academic department chairs and deans; the “business of universities”; strategic finance; organizational dynamics; negotiation; leadership effectiveness; and strategies for maintaining an active research program while serving in an administrative role. 
SWE expects to offer ALWE to at least 45 participants each year over the next three years. They will attend the annual conferences and participate in hybrid learning opportunities in the twelve months following the conferences. The grant will cover their conference registration fees, instructors and facilitators, and other program costs.