Letter from the FY22 President

by Christi Wisleder, FY22 RMS President

​FY22 has been a year of learning, growing, and pivoting for SWE Rocky Mountain Section. In reflecting on this past year, RMS met this year of transition and uncertainty with a level of fierceness and an abundance of accomplishments.
Before sharing more on our year in review, I’d like to recognize our outstanding Executive Council for being the dedicated leaders they are.

• Maureen Masiulis, Vice President, kept RMS up to date on our procedures, ensured member recognition, and reminded us of SWE’s support system after the devastating wildfires in Boulder Valley.
• Ashley Pietz, VP of Membership, connected and supported RMS members and hosted signature member events that were safe and inviting during fluctuations of pandemic guidelines.
• Jannine Rouw, VP of Outreach, shared new outreach opportunities, tracked current outreach programming, and supported decreasing barriers for student attendees.
• Lisa Woodward, VP of Professional Development, planned technical tours to find the SWEet spot with virtual/in-person events and served as the collegiate connection for the local university sections.
• Kaitlin Chapman, VP of Professional Enrichment, enriched members minds with virtual leadership events and strengthened collegiate partnerships with co-hosted speaker sessions and a conference.
• Jessica Anderson, Secretary, documented our discussions and important decisions, kept the EC on track to address action items, and helped expand RMS communication efforts.
• Jennifer Buechler, Treasurer, kept RMS budgets and finances in order, no small feat considering the number and scale of events, and streamlined the reimbursement process to also reduce contact.

This Executive Council demonstrated their commitment to SWE’s core values and service to RMS’s 575 members through dedication and perseverance.
​

At the start of each fiscal year, RMS holds a section strategic planning meeting where we review our plans, goals, and overall direction for the upcoming year. This session is held as early in the fiscal year as reasonable to set the section’s strategy. The FY22 meeting included virtual breakout group discussions on our three signature focus areas of Membership, Outreach, and Professional Development and three areas for revitalization and reenergization of Marketing/Branding/Communication, Collegiate Outreach, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Discussions were held regarding key decisions for the year, including how to best balance section activities that added value and excited members, while balancing virtual and in-person settings. It was clear that the year was going to be a challenge, both logistically and professionally. Additional levels of thought, effort, and creativity were required from our board to ensure our members benefited personally and professionally with a lineup of impactful activities.

After a year of planning and implementation, how did RMS do? We rocked it. Here are some highlights on how RMS met the FY22 strategic plan.

 Signature Focus 
RMS has three distinct signature focus areas, as readily apparent with our second Vice President roles. These strike a balance in supporting our ongoing events and activities and focusing on expanding within these focus areas.

Membership
The membership goal for the year was to reconnect in-person and get new members engaged. After being remote for more than a year, our members were itchy to get to see each other beyond artificial light, a fuzzy camera, and glitchy internet service. There was a good mix of social connections and member benefits with our Welcome Back Picnic, our first in-person event since February 2020; Winter Social, where members met for a “crafternoon” of fun to engage in holiday themed crafting and chatting; and Local Socials, including a local summer hike and book club meetup.

The most notable membership event of the year was the FY21 Presidential Celebration. RMS planned and hosted the belated FY21 Presidential Celebration to pay tribute and celebrate Heather Doty as the 58th President of SWE. The event committee originally planned an in-person event for March 2020, but after the uncertainty and constantly changing protocols due to the pandemic, the committee rallied together and quickly pivoted to host a Mardi Gras themed celebration in September 2021. The committee put on a celebration that recognized Heather for her SWE service while ensuring the health and safety of all attendees and staff during the ongoing pandemic remained a priority.

Outreach
RMS supports an extensive list of K-12 outreach opportunities. The past year we focused on expanding SWENext through advertising and funding. The RMS SWENext website landing page was updated, and the general flyer to advertise for SWENexters was posted. Our SWENext Chair connected speakers to the Evergreen SWENext club and included slides to run during the GESTEM event. To continue forward, you can expect to see some new SWENext swag and RMS members promoting SWENext at YES!fest this fall.

The GESTEM signature event was back in person this year to continue introducing young women in Colorado to diverse careers in STEM through hands-on activities. The FY22 event hosted 640 7th grade girls on the Auraria college campus. Volunteers facilitated 29 workshops across 6 focus areas including Power It, Tech It, Build It, Examine It, Conserve It, and Explore It. Even after one historically top sponsor decided not to support GESTEM financially this year, the committee was able to recruit 12 corporate partners to sponsor the event, which keeps the event free and equitable to students. 27 organizations provided materials for their workshops for 72 students. The event brought together students from underrepresented schools and engaged them in interactive activities with real professionals.

Professional Development
RMS typically hosts an array of professional development events ranging in content. While we knew members wanted to reconnect in person, the shift to largely virtual events the previous year were very appealing to some members in our large geographic footprint. With the goal of finding the SWEet spot with virtual and in-person events, RMS hosted a mix of events. In-person events included a 3D printing tour, and a joint event with DU and IEEE WIE. Virtual events included a professional enrichment session on G.R.I.T., a co-hosted event with Merrick’s MPWR, and a tour of Otterbox. RMS was also able to partner with Jo Miller to offer an emerging leaders webinar series that provides a proven, pragmatic roadmap to identify, embrace, employ, and amplify authentic leadership strengths at a discounted rate to members. The great balance of in-person and virtual events offered a good mix of professional development opportunities.

RMS co-hosted Spring Summit with local collegiate section Colorado School of Mines for their first in-person, post-pandemic event. Spring Summit is a one-day conference for engineers, technologists, and partners to connect through professional development workshops, inspirational speakers, and networking opportunities. The committee designed a high-impact event with the theme Your Golden Shadow: Find Your Hidden Potential. Keynote speakers were engineering educator and inclusivity advocate Dr. Kate Youmans on Uncovering the Hidden Potential of Empathy in Engineering and author, podcast host, CEO and Founder of Bossed Up Emilie Aries sharing insight into beating burnout to help employees build resilience and sustainability in their careers and lives.

Revitalization and Reenergization
Beyond RMS’s signature focus areas, there were a few areas identified specifically for revitalization and reenergization. These areas had not quite met their full potential and could use some focus to better serve our SWE community.

Marketing/Branding/Communication
RMS developed a strategy focused on marketing, branding, and communications with the goals of Grow Support Committee, Graphics Galore, and Post with a Purpose. RMS added a Communications Chair and Marketing Chair to our organizational structure with committee members to support both roles. RMS adopted a Marketing and Communications plan that outlined the new Marketing Chair and Communication Chair roles, committee roles, section focus areas, and details to use SWE brand guidelines. RMS secured a Canva Pro account to create visual graphics and added accounts for all communications and marketing focused roles. All SWE brand logos, colors, and fonts were added to the Canva account to streamline compliance with brand guidelines. Graphics were added to most social media posts and other communication platforms.

RMS marketing committee leveraged Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter to broaden social media presence, which included 3 focused campaigns for our signature events in additional to sharing other events and news. RMS posted 48 posts on LinkedIn company page, generating 14,622 impressions, 190 reactions, 8 comments, 59 shares, and 361 page views. In FY23, the LinkedIn page added 107 new followers, a 61% increase. The Facebook company page added 50 followers with 47 posts in FY22, and the Facebook linked group grew to 260 members with an average of 7 posts per month. RMS exceeded all goals within the strategic focus area of marketing, branding, and communications and is looking to continue to build off the current momentum.

Collegiate Outreach
The focus on collegiate outreach involved encouraging collegiate to professional transitions, holding shared collegiate and professional programs or socials, and supporting mentor programs. While RMS specifically invites collegiates to attend many of our hosted professional development events, we intentionally hosted events to engage them. Colorado and Wyoming SWE members across 9 sections, including collegiates and professionals, were invited to meetup on the evening before WE Local Albuquerque for a selection of locally baked cookies. The RMS Gear Up Partnered Speaker Series that caters to collegiate and early professionals received a 2022 WE Local Award for the joint professional/collegiate event co-hosted with Colorado School of Mines section.

RMS partnered with Colorado State University to mentor collegiate members at the university over the course of the academic year to provide a professional resource, sounding board, and industry mentor. RMS provided 5 Counselors to mentor and coach local collegiate sections; they exchange best practices on topics including membership retention, effective outreach, communication, member support, and professional development.

Looking forward, collegiate outreach will continue to have a heavy focus within our RMS section. With the restructuring of the Executive Council, we added a Vice President of Collegiate Engagement position to ensure continued support of our STEM collegiates.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are strongly rooted in the Society’s mission, and because SWE is in itself a diversity organization, the focus on DEI can sometimes be overlooked. The FY22 goals for RMS looked to focus on this topic in a way that complemented everything else RMS already does. The first goal was to decrease barriers to attend RMS events. RMS sponsored memberships for retired or unemployed members that were experiencing financial hardships, preventing them from being part of SWE. The membership picnic was family friendly, allowing attendees to bring children instead of finding care. Children’s tickets to Spring Summit provided parents/guardians the opportunity to attend the conference without the concern of caretaking obligations, and unemployment registration included reduced ticket price. With a continued focus on including virtual events, geographic and time barriers, such as those for working parents, were reduced.

RMS also strategized to co-sponsor diversity partner events and be a silent partner to other events. You may notice that RMS website resources page now highlights SWE’s diversity membership partners. RMS highlights local diversity partner events when they may be of interest to members, such at the SHPE Colorado invitation for the 4th Annual Posada Navideña 2021 holiday celebration to enjoy latino cuisine, “piñata” prizes, and music. RMS was represented on the 2021 Rocky Mountain Virtual Water Summit session panel for Workplace Collaboration Boost session DEI/Leadership track for attendees to learn about cultural humility and fostering a sense of belonging. Local ASCE chapter hosted an Inclusion and Diversity in the Workplace panel on the concept of equity and equality in the workplace and how understanding leads to better inclusion, and RMS was part of the panel. Through the Local Socials, RMS hosted a virtual local social event featuring a discussion about “Picture a Scientist”, providing new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

RMS and Merrick’s women’s ERG and DEI groups hosted a virtual presentation on Diversity and Identity: Current Trends and What to Expect in the Future. The session featuring Marie Villescas Zamzow focused on sharing about:  what are students learning today that will be reflected in the workspace tomorrow; will people become more “open and affirming” towards different identities as time goes on; and steps to take to help break the cycle. Attendees included a diverse audience, covering different genders, sexual identities, and races.

The End of FY22
Our closing event for FY22 was an opportunity for members to beat burnout while leveraging their inner creativity. Local, family-owned, Sipping N’ Painting Hampden hosted RMS for an afternoon to create masterpiece Dragonfly paintings. This fun-filled social event also served as a fundraiser to support future RMS K-12 outreach, collegiate outreach, and professional development events. Dragonfly symbolizes change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization, fitting for the transition and uncertainty where FY22 started. Dragonflies are also associated with good fortune and prosperity. Cheers to a prosperous new year!