The Society of Women Engineers awards members for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the society. Our 2013-2014 Awards are listed below.

Michelle Troy – Superior Supporter Award
Over 4 years ago, Michelle first volunteered to help with GESTEM and asked to be placed in the area of most need.  She was teamed up on registration and started to dig in.  Not long after she started working on GESTEM, she found that she was leading the registration efforts even though she was new to the group and it was her first event.  Since that time, Michelle has continued to be a great champion of GESTEM and provided great leadership for registration.  Registration is one of the most complicated areas of GESTEM planning and requires interfacing with schools, managing huge amounts of student data and getting everything started on event day.  Michelle has been a wonderful support to the efforts of SWE-RMS by improving the registration experience each year she has been involved and continuing to step up when needed.

Kitty Elshot – Newcomer Award
Kitty Elshot moved to the SWE-RMS area in February 2013.  She attended the September 2013 mini-conference and has since jumped into section activities with both feet.  After hearing about the GESTEM outreach event over lunch at the mini-conference, Kitty successfully secured a Gold level sponsorship from her employer, Emerson Process Management.  She also volunteered to serve on the GESTEM committee, specifically focusing on making our corporate partnerships more successful.  We are implementing her idea of providing group photographs for corporate teams at the event, against a SWE backdrop that she had made and donated to the section.  She has also agreed to serve on the FY15 Executive Council to continue her involvement.

Christi Wisleder & Jessica Wray – Fundraising Award
At the beginning of FY’14 the Executive Council appointed Christi & Jessica as the co-chairs of the brand new Fund Development Committee. The committee goal for FY’14 was to research local grant opportunities, streamline fundraising efforts among our large events (GESTEM, GLTW and the Mini Conference) and develop other fundraising opportunities for the section. Both Christi and Jessica jumped in feet first and have made a huge impact over the course of less than a year. Together they have revised our section fundraising prospectus, created a monthly partnership with Canvas and Cocktails in Denver, organized the Macy’s Day ticket sales and are in the process of planning a dedicated Silpada fundraiser. Over the course of the year Christi and Jessica have helped the section raise over $5000 in unspecified donations and provided support for the direct fundraising activities of GESTEM, GLTW and the Mini Conference.

Yvette Woodworth – Professional Development Award
Yvette has contributed to several SWE-RMS programs, and continues to expand how she participates in the programs offered by the Programs Committee. As the 2012 President of Northrup Grumman’s internal women’s professional group, WINGs, she spear headed efforts to establish a partnership with SWE RMS Programs Committee to co-host an innovative Speaker Event. The success of that event in 2012 resulted in a second event in 2013 where Yvette was instrumental in supporting the strong partnership between SWE and WINGs current president. Yvette was the inspiration and co-creator of a new mentorship program in 2013, and has mentored nine SWE members. She is also an active leader on the 2014 Mini Conference Team.

The first Speaker event with Major Mom at NG took place in May of 2012 at their facility in Aurora, CO. Yvette was the main lead for NG working with us to co-host this event. It was very well attended with approximately 15 SWE members and 13 NG WINGs members.  The event was so well received that the attendees requested an encore presentation. Yvette was instrumental in connecting us with the current WINGs president to again co-host a presentation with Major Mom on June 5, 2013. There were 16 NG employees and 7 SWE members in attendance – another well attended event where the members had the opportunity to network and socialize. The success of the first event inspired another SWE member to co-host a Major Mom Presentation at their company that was also very well attended by SWE members.

In an interview with Yvette in late 2012 for the SWE RMS Programs digest segment “Women of Wisdom”, Yvette shared that she loves mentoring. This revelation led to co-creating a mentoring program utilizing the format of the existing Collective Wisdom Groups. We co-created an application form, how the mentoring program would operate, and who to offer these initial programs to. In Jan 2013, Yvette co-mentored with Erica Messinger the first Mentored Collective Wisdom Group comprised of five SWE Professionals with 0 – 5 years experience. In June 2013, she began mentoring a second group of four SWE Professionals with 5 – 10 years experience. Members in these groups have high praise for what they are getting out of the groups, and the difference Yvette has made for them in being their mentor. Yvette continues to be an active co-creator in expanding the mentored CWGs.

When the Programs Committee put out requests for volunteers to support the 2014 SWE RMS Mini Conference co-hosted with the Colorado School of Mines collegiate section, Yvette was quick to respond. Even as the team is just getting launched, she has already been actively seeking sponsorship funding from NG for the conference, and has graciously offered to support any of the roles on the team. Given our past experience in working with Yvette on events, we can count on her for a high level of professionalism with ease and grace, especially in establishing a supportive relationship with the collegiate members.

Yvette Woodworth has made significant contributions to the professional development of SWE RMS members and their affiliates including those of us on the Programs Committee in terms of her leadership in co-creating innovative programs, supporting strong relationships, and promoting SWE.

Agata Dean – Outreach Award
Agata stepped up to be the main contact for the SWE college section at CSM this year. She took over all of the projects related to SWE that Candace had been working on before she retired.  One of the projects was helping me to secure rooms for the Girls Lead the Way event.  She also recruited several of the college members to help with the Girls Lead the Way Saturday at CSM.  Being on the 2nd year that we have put on this event it was a great success with over 100 girls from high schools from around the state participated. We received many positive comments and the School of Mines would like to see this event continued.  Agata participated with every aspect of the event and help to make this joint project a big success.

Please join us in congratulating our previous award winners!