A couple dozen women who are engineering graduates enjoyed the chance to reconnect and remember their time on campus during the inaugural gathering of the UW-Milwaukee Engineering & Applied Science Women Alumnae group.
The group gives grads a chance to network, meet other women engineers and faculty, and learn about engineering programs for women.
They also heard about the efforts put forth at UWM to help attract women to the field of engineering, which is predominantly male.
The women who gathered at the Innovation Accelerator building in Wauwatosa heard about programs at the university including EnQuest, an engineering camp on campus for high school girls; Girls Who Code, which focuses on teaching girls about computer science; and Engineers Without Borders, which brings students to Guatemala to work on projects.
At the event, Kathy Scheibe-Powell, an executive at Rockwell Automation and a 1978 materials engineering graduate, talked about how she and a few other women helped found the UWM chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.
“We thought this was interesting, we thought there were opportunities there,” Scheibe-Powell said. “Because there were so few women, it was nice to have a reason to get together, a legitimate reason to get together, and really try to improve ourselves and give ourselves some opportunities.”
Gina Dundun, global project manager at GE Healthcare and a 1993 UWM graduate in industrial engineering, talked about the importance of attracting women to the field.
“I love UWM and I love to give back, and I love to see women succeed in a role that can make money, and that is something I think is missing in the world,” she said. “There’s jobs there. You don’t have to rely on anyone. … I think it’s empowering as a woman to be able to take care of yourself and your family. I don’t feel constrained by the finances of my life.”
