Sonora Region Weekly Notes
November 23, 2008 to December November 1, 2008
Upcoming Events
Hot News!!
Region Resources & Links
COR Information
Upcoming Events
Call for FY09 Sonora Region Award Submissions- December 1, 2008
Region Award Nominations are being accepted until December 1. Please go to the region web site or forum for complete award packages information http://swe.org/regionb/awards.html. The awards committee is still seeking judges for 2008 awards. Please contact the Region Awards Coordinator Deb Willems at RegionB_Awards@swe.org if you would like to join the committee or if you have any questions or suggestions on this year process.
FY09- Section Reports #2 Due January 30, 2009
The first of three section reports will be due on Friday January 30th. The section report form is attached. One of the goals for the region this year is to have all of the section reports completed on time. If you have any questions about how to complete the report or what information to include, please contact any of the region officers
Annual Strategic Plan Meeting January 30, 2009
All COR Representatives are
invited to attend the Annual Strategic
Plan Meeting on Friday January 30, 2009 from 8am to 5pm. If you are in attending
the entire meeting, please RSVP to Betty Irish at The first of three section
reports will be due on Friday January 30th. The section report form is betty.irish@swe.org.
FY09 Region Conference- January 30- February 1, 2009
REGISTER TODAY!!! The 2009 Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Sonora Region Conference is coming to Albuquerque!!! The Region Conference is a three-day professional development event that will provide women engineers across the Southwest and West Coast the opportunity to learn, grow, and network. The 2009 SWE Region Conference will be held from January 30th to February 1st at the Marriott Uptown in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Registered attendees will have access to: Keynote Speaker, Virginia Connolly PE, SWE President FY09, Keynote Speaker, Jill Tietjen PE, Past SWE President and co-author of: Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America, 20+ breakout sessions, workshops, and presentations, Career Fair, For additional registration fees, individuals can attend industry and sight-seeing tours on Friday, January 30th. Please visit the Conference website today to REGISTER!!! and receive the early-bird discount! Link to Conference website: http://www.swecnm.org/RegionBConference/index.html. Hotel rooms are now available at the Marriott Uptown for the 2009 SWE Region Conference. Book your room today by visiting www.marriott.com/abqnm. The group code for the conference room block is ORAORAA. The negotiated room rate is $119 plus tax per night. It is very important that you book in the conference block to help meet the contractual obligations with the hotel. If you encounter any problems booking in the block, please send an email to Fran Stuart (frances_s@yahoo.com). Finally, as a volunteer-hosted conference, we are still seeking corporate sponsorship and career fair participation. If your company is interested in sponsoring and/or participating, please contact Sarah Tuite (tuitesc@cdm.com) today. We look forward to seeing you all in Albuquerque in January! If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Kerrie Greenfelder at GreenfelderKL@cdm.com.
Hot News!!!
Self-nomination for Wow! That’s Engineering! 2009 Events- December 1, 2008
Is your section looking for an outreach event that will really energize girls?
Do you need help in organizing your first outreach event?
And, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the event was funded for you?
SWE’s Wow! That’s Engineering! is the answer!
Reminder: Wow! That’s Engineering! self-nomination deadline is December 1, 2008
Three high-visibility Wow! That’s Engineering! signature events will be held in 2009. Host sections will be provided support, both financially and with organizing the event through SWE Headquarters. The Outreach Committee has created a Wow! That’s Engineering! FAQ from questions received during the SWE National Conference (attached). If you have other questions, please contact SWE Outreach Committee Chair, Allison Pedersen, Allison.pedersen@swe.org. Applications (found at http://aspire.swe.org/images/banners/Wow%21%202009%20application%20Final.doc) for the Wow! That’s Engineering! signature event are due to Allison by December 1, 2008.
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 Communites 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.
Region Outreach Program- A SWEeter Future
Today we begin 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!
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!
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. I have one and when I decide I want to change network providers, I just change the pointer for my SWE alias. I like the extra spam filter that SWE has….
IRS Form 990- Sections with gross receipts of $25,000
Check the "Region and Section Resources Community" for the IRS Form 990, which is required for sections and regions with annual gross receipts of $25,000 or higher. This form is required to maintain tax exempt status.
COR Information
Senator Elections
The decision has been made by the GFIG that all Senators, collegiate and professionals, will be elected through the national election process this year. The regional nominating committee will be responsible for providing HQ the names of the Senator candidates to place on the national ballot. Thus, you'll only need to elect your RCR(s) and RCNE at region conference.