Group members at a 2017 SWE Region H Conference.

The Illinois Institute of Technology student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) was selected to receive the Best Collegiate Section Award from the SWE Chicago Regional Section (CRS). The annual award is given to recognize and encourage the achievements of the eight collegiate sections in the region. In addition to Illinois Tech, SWE-CRS received applications from Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University (NIU), and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Awards are based on the communication between the chapter and the Chicago Regional Section, as well as an essay describing how the chapter’s activities and outreach have aligned with SWE’s goals of professional excellence, globalization, and advocacy.

Some of the activities highlighted in the essay that set Illinois Tech apart from the rest included the Luncheon Learn Series, a day event with Girl Scouts of America, and their partnerships and network with professionals and other organizations to help members succeed at recruiting processes. The activities organized by SWE-IIT aligned with SWE’s objectives to promote the engineering profession and encourage women to reach their full potential as engineers and leaders.

This dedication resulted in a large increase in the membership at Illinois Tech over the last year. The group was selected to receive the 2017 SWE Region H Collegiate Section Award for Membership Growth amongst medium-sized institutions. Region H is the largest region with over 5,000 members in 17 professional sections and over 50 collegiate sections from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, and South Dakota.