FY 11 Motions at November Senate Meeting

Hello Region D!

This year there are several Amendments to the Society Bylaws presented to the Senate for a vote at our meeting on November 6, 2010. Some of these amendments are to clean up language in the Bylaws as a result of changing to the Senate governing body. Others change the requirements for serving in leadership positions, or open up the 'pipeline' to leadership. There are also amendments about voting rights and how to remove leaders from their positions. The Senate motions will be posted under the SWE Communites under Region D Senators and then the file is under Resouces for your review. http://communities.swe.org
Please feel free to make comments in the Discussions to let us know your feelings on these issues.

thanks,

Region D Senators

Welcome to the new fiscal year-

Accomplishments to date:
Completed virtual training (3 sessions offered)
Participated at the Collegiate leadership forum (CLF) training for collegiate Senators
Formed the Mega Issues Committee (MIC)
Prioritized the Mega Issues for FY11

The MIC will work on 3 issues this year;MI106 How can we empower women engineers to be successful on their own terms?-

Haley Carney is on this team working on it. Check in for updates!

MI112 How can SWE provide assistance to unemployed members?

MI114 To what extent and in what areas should SWE venture beyond STEM to issues relevant to SWE’s mission in the area of public

The MIC is on track to be able to dialogue on this topics in Orlando.

We are anxiously waiting to find out what the bylaws changes will be for this year. They must be posted 45 days before conference. We are hoping to get them a few days early.

Write your suggestions, we would love to hear it!

What Is a SWE Senator?

Hello fellow SWE members!

I hope that for all of you, your falls are off to a great start! I am really looking forward to representing your views and opinions this year as a SWE Senator. First, I would like to give you a few details about “What is a SWE Senator?” and then I would like to share some of my SWE goals for this year with you!

1. What is a SWE Senator?

The SWE Senate is responsible for the following:

· Charting the strategic direction of SWE by developing long range goals

· Developing statements of external policy on critical issues and positions

· Voting upon recommendations received from the society

· Approving changes to the society emblem, number of regions, region boundaries, and bylaws.

The SWE senate meets twice in-person; one meeting is at the annual Society Conference and the second meeting is held in early February. The Senate is comprised of 34 voting members; 20 professionals, 2 Members at Large (MALs), 2 International Members, and 10 Collegiates.

SWE Senators are expected to attend Senate meetings, conference calls and training sessions. We are also expected to participate in senate discussions and actively seek the opinions of our respective constituents. As a Region Collegiate Senator (RCS), I am expected to solicit collegiate senators for next year, participate on the Region Collegiate Team (RCT) and communicate with other RCSs!

2.  SWE Goals:
A) Increase Membership:

As a society, SWE’s goal this year is to reach 21,900 members. I would love to see Region D pass the 1000 Collegiate Member mark. Why? If we are able to get 1000 collegiate members this year, we will gain another collegiate representative for our region. Not only that, but we will be able to share the benefits of SWE membership with more of our peers in Region D! I think a great way to increase membership this year, is to promote the Collegiate to Career Membership program. For more information on this program, check out:

http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=940&Itemid=277

B) Improve Inter-Region Communications:

I hope to work closely this year with your RCR, Dyani and Sarah, and RCCE, Christina, along with your Region Collegiate Team to improve our communication strategy. As a region, I want us to be well-connected, so that I can best represent your views to the SWE Senate!

If you have any questions for me or would like more information about the role of the SWE Senator, please leave a comment on this post, or email me at haley.carney@swe.org

This blog is replicated from Region G

FY10 Update

FY10 Senate Accomplishments:

•1st Senate Training
 •1st virtual meeting
•Fully staffed leadership team: Communications chair, Mega issues chair and chair elect, Governance chair
•2 face to face meetings
•October conference – bylaws updates and mega issue kickoff •
January meeting – business meeting and mega issue presentations
•Logistics handled by deputy speaker, leadership team and staff
•Deliberated and voted on 27 motions •4 motions handled virtually •3 motions voted electronically
•Participation in Strategic Plan Review
•Considered 5 mega issues; completed recommendations on 3
•Commissioned 4 task forces; completed objectives on 3
•CRF, Training, Governance, Role of the Alternate
•Monthly newsletters
•Communication plan adopted and updated for FY11

FY10 Challenges•Created controversy with closed session during October conference meeting
      •Alternates, many senators and stakeholders confused and dismayed

•Focus on 5 mega issues somewhat overwhelming for new senators
•Timing of virtual meetings / conference calls
      •10 day lead time difficult to guarantee attendance
      •Timezone challenges
     •Senators not attending all required meetings

•Communications
     •Missed 1-2 monthly newsletters
     •Not enough communication to board
     •No reports prepared for regions
     •Not enough direction given on regional role to senators, unsure what was being done/communicated to regions by senators
     •Some documentation not provided to senators as required by procedures.
     •Transition for mega issues chair completeEstablished a baseline of expectations

FY11 Improvements:

•Improved training for FY11 Senate
•Improve communication with BOD
     •Provide Senate links to BOD reports / scorecard
     •Include BOD on all Senate communications
•Improve communication with Regions
     •Improved direction on communication with Regions
     •Provide updates to Senators suitable for region communications
     •Request appropriate information from sections/regions
•Start Mega Issues in July
     •Monthly conference calls
     •Dialogue on mega issues at conference meeting

FY11 Goals

•Prioritize/select mega issues by July 1 

•Provide BOD with feedback on SWE services from regions/sections 

•Complete role of alternate task force recommendations 

•Commission task force on CRF levels / SWE reserves 

•Update procedures at Nov meeting 

•Bylaws changes at Nov meeting 

•Qualifications for Speaker / Deputy Speaker 

•Better understanding of senate as “voice of the members” with stakeholders