Sonora Region Weekly Notes

April 5- April 18, 2009

 

Upcoming Events

Hot News!!

 

COR Information

 

Region Resources & Links

 

Upcoming Events

 

SWE OC Professional Development Conference- Saturday April 25, 2009

The annual SWE-OC Professional Development Conference will be held Saturday, April 25, 2009 from 8:15 AM - 3:30 PM at the Allergan Conference Facility located at 2525 Dupont Drive, Irvine, CA 92612. The registration prices are as follows:

 

$25 Professionals by April 1

$30 Professionals by April 18

$40 Professionals (at the door)

$15 Students/Unemployed/Retirees

 

Fee includes continental breakfast and lunch. See attached Flyer for speaker information

Register by April 1 and you will be entered into the early registration gift card drawing!

Register at www.swe-oc.org under the Professional Development tab. Questions or comments? Email us at sweocpdc@yahoo.com

 

 

SWE Region Meeting #4 via Conference Call

The fourth meeting of FY09 is scheduled for May 30, 2009 from 12 pm to 4pm. More details will be available soon including the call in number and online meeting tools.

 

FY10 SWE Annual Conference- Long Beach

Hotel blocks are open for the 2009 conference in Long Beach. Hotel rooms fill up fast and are more expense this year (~$200/night average), and most are within walking distance of the convention center.  Visit the conference website to learn more of the hotel blocks. http://we09.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=4

 

 

Hot News!!!

 

Region B Elections for FY10- Elections open now!

Section Reps, please take a moment to vote for the FY10 Region Council. Each section will have a vote for each representative. The link is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kyS2GYswhom_2fhZ2tYDYgpg_3d_3d. The elections will close on April 10.

 

Society and Region Elections for FY10- Elections open now!

All members of SWE, should take a few minutes to vote for the FY10 Society Leaders and the Region B Senators. To vote, visit www.cssconsult.com/elections/swe2010.

 

Call for Volunteers- Society Committee Members Needed- Apply by May 8, 2009

The call for FY10 Committee and Task Force Member Volunteer applications in now available.  The power of our committees and our volunteers is what moves SWE forward to do outreach, networking, and professional development.  Our committees and task forces are also a major aspect of our talent development pipeline process.  Make plans now to join our SWE volunteer team for FY10!  To indicate your interest, please complete the online volunteer interest form or go to  SWE Committees on the web site.  Please submit your form by May 8, 2009 .

 

SciGirls Mentors Needed

SciGirls® is a new national initiative that will inspire and enable girls ages 8-13 to discover the excitement of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Through the combined power of public television, the Internet, social networking and community outreach, SciGirls® will change how millions of girls view science... and themselves.

SWE has been contacted by the Science Editor from DragonFly TV (produced by Twin Cities Public Television).  DragonFly TV will be creating 13 half-hour episodes following middle-school girls as they dive into inquiry-based STEM at the best out-of-school programs in the nation.  DragonFly TV is planning to film 13 episodes across the country and would like to get SWE involved!  They prefer to highlight programs where there is an existing relationship between mentors and a group of girls, so are currently looking for SWE members already mentoring girls.  In addition, I did speak with the Science Editor regarding summer camps as I know many SWE sections do these - if there are camps where they could focus on a smaller group of girls, these may work as well.  Please let me know by Wednesday, April 15 if there is any mentoring program that your SWE section is already involved in and would be a good candidate for the SciGirls program!  I will then forward ideas to the Science Editor of DragonFly TV and work with her to select some SWE events/activities that we believe will work for the program. 

I have attached a flyer with full details.

 

Government Relations and Public Policy Committee- Region B Member Needed

The Government Relations and Public Policy (GRPP) Committee currently does not have members from Regions A, B and G.  RGs please encourage your membership to join this committee.

 

Does your Section sponsor collegiate transitions to professional? 

The region is collecting information on all sections that sponsor the first year of membership of collegiate transitioning to professional membership. We have 15 collegiate members that are interested in receiving their transition sponsored from either a section or the region. If your section does sponsor the transition, please reply to Jennifer Dugan at jennifer.dugan@swe.org

 

New Region Committee- Volunteers Needed    

The Region has established three new committees: The Website Committee, The Policies Committee, and the Finance Committee. The Website Committee will be working together to determine the setup of the new Region Website including content and layout. The Policies Committee will be working to update the Region Policies with the upcoming Senator changes. The Finance Committee will be researching better ways to invest and protect the Region money. This is a great opportunities to get your members involved, please pass this on to your membership. Anyone interested in participated on any of the committees can send an email to Jennifer Harris at jennifer.harris@swe.org. If you are also interested in being the committee chair, please note in your email. 

 

FY10 Region Conference- Phoenix, AZ

It's official!! The FY10 Region Conference will be hosted by the Phoenix Section. The dates are being determined and should be finalized by the end of March. If you have any ideas or comments, please reach out to Susie Kirkland at susie.kirkland@gmail.com

 

Region Outreach Program- A SWEeter Future

We are half way through FY09 and we have impacted 1640 students through the SWEeter Future Program for Region B!  Throughout FY09, the Sonora Region is tracking the impact we have on the future of engineering. Our goal for the Region is to impact 2000 children in grades K through 12.  With all of the sections throughout Region B participating, it should be easy to meet our goal! The Region Council has approved the a very generous outreach stipend for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place sections. The first place section will receive $1500, second place will receive $1000, and third place will receive $500.

 

We have set up a SWEeter Future Program Tracker, which can be found by visiting the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=i4M41sM6rK_2fLhHZH4IUU3Q_3d_3d

We ask that you visit this survey throughout the year to report all of the outreach activities of your section.  This simple survey simply asks for the name/date of your event, how many professional members attended, and how many K-12 attendees participated.  We've also included a "comments" box in case you'd like to include any lessons learned, best practices to share, etc.  All of the Program data will be collected by Lt. Governor, Kerrie Greenfelder, and a summary will be provided at the end of the fiscal year. Now for the best part….The section(s) having the most outreach impact by the end of the fiscal year will be rewarded with a stipend to provide a scholarship!  It's a win-win for everyone! If you have any questions about the Program, please do not hesitate to contact Kerrie.  We're looking forward to meeting our outreach goals for FY09!

 

Pictures from FY09 Region Conference in Albuquerque, NM

Take a look at the amazing pictures from the Region Conference in Albuquerque. The pictures can be found at the following link. The pictures timeline the events from Friday morning to Saturday evening. http://picasaweb.google.com/SWECNMnews/SonoraRegionConference2009?authkey=3ovi0sT9JKg&feat=directlink

 

Take the "Why SWE Survey"- Win a Prize for Participating

Take a moment to tell SWE why you are a member and what is important to you to continue your membership. We are looking for 500 participants to take the survey to tell us “Why SWE”. The results will be made into bookmarks and given to the region members as promotional material. The bookmarks can be used as a tool to inform others about SWE, promote membership, explain the benefits of SWE and gain additional participation in your section. Prizes will be given out to 5 members drawn at random from the participants. The survey link can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bcAo7ibTfqKCeEti5JikbA_3d_3d

 

Join the Sonora Region- B Community

Have you joined the SWE Sonora Region- B Community yet? The Sonora Region Community is a place to find information on upcoming region events, minutes from the region meetings, information on the region focus groups, and much more information. The community also offers a place to post discussions, ask questions, or take polls. To join the Sonora Region – B Community, logon on to My Communities from www.swe.org.  On the blue header titled My Communities, choose Manage Communities, choose Browse Communities S-Z, scroll down and click on the check box next to Sonora Region- B, then choose the join button. You will then be able to view all of the information for the Sonora Region. 

 

COR Information

 

Region Resources & Link

 

FY09 Calendar

The FY09 Calendar has been posted on the Region Websites. The calendar includes all of the Section Report due dates (September 5, 2008, January 30, 2009, and May 20, 2009) and the dates of the four region meetings. Any new events will be added to the website, so be sure to visit weekly. http://www.swe.org/regionB/events.html

 

Changing your SWE User ID

It is very helpful to people managing communities to be able to identify contributors.  Having users names 938863 and 773940 make it difficult for community leaders in the course of managing membership to a given community.  Therefore, here are instructions on how to change your SWE user id. Please go to the database at https://www.swe.org/MSC-SWE/directory.aspx. After you sign in, update your information and then scroll down.  In the lower left hand corner there is a link entitled Edit My Profile!  The second major heading below your preferred address is Member Service Center Login.  This is where you can change your User ID. Please choose something so people will be able to identify you like your first and last name. The kicker is that once you change your user ID, that is how you will have to sign in from now on.  Funny how that works, but then when you enter a discussion, people will know who you are . . . . . You may also want to take this opportunity to create a SWE alias for your e-mail. 

 

Usage of SWE Logo

It has been observed that the sections are misusing the SWE logo.  Please remember that the SWE logo can't be changed (different colors, shading the gear, etc.) and the logo can't be covered by something.  (For example, Goldie the Gopher from the University of Minnesota cannot be holding the SWE logo like it is his.)  If you have any questions about modifications made to a logo, please contact HQ.