The SWE Affinity Groups’ (AGs) mission is to bring together communities that share similar interests and backgrounds that support the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) strategic goals of SWE.
SWE Affinity Group goals:
- Develop a sense of community in the Affinity Groups, fostering an inclusive environment where people discuss experiences in their engineering career, online and offline.
- Provide professional development opportunities enabling and sponsoring leadership experiences, networking, and mentorship.
- Empower members through highlighting accomplishments and supporting diversity in the SWE leadership pipeline, awards, and scholarships.
SWE Affinity Groups are organized into DE&I AGs and Business & Interests AGs. DE&I AGs are focused on the needs of social minority populations and support initiatives tailored to serve these communities. Business & Interests AGs are loosely centered around the members’ business environment and career experiences.
For the month of March, we are excited to highlight SWE’s Late Career & Retiree (LCR) Affinity Group, a Business & Interests AG.
March is Women’s History month, and March 1 is the national “ReFIRED not Retired” day. For the SWE Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group, “ReFIRED” means we continue to be fired up for life. This is in keeping with our energetic members – even though many may be retired from their careers, they are very busy! They volunteer, RV around the country, bird-watch, and more. Watch our stories about being Refired, Not Retired. Read more of our stories in the latest newsletter.
Get to know the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group!
What are the overall goals of the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group?
- To close the gap in programming for the late career and retiree SWE members demographic, including, but not limited to: topics suitable to this demographic, seasoned leader programs, and more technical pathways.
- To channel/capitalize on a deep commitment by these SWE members to giving back and offering opportunities to connect at the global, national, and local levels.
- To address these SWE members’ concerns about the lack of appreciation and acknowledgement given to long-standing members of the organization.
- To have a pulse on the needs, recommendations, and concerns of late career and retiree members.
- To be a pathway for communication to SWE’s BOD (Board of Directors).
Does the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group have regular meetings? If so, when and how often? What takes place during a typical meeting?
The LCR Affinity Group has both quarterly all member meetings and monthly leadership team meetings. During the monthly leadership meetings, we plan for upcoming events, address ways to further engage members during conferences, at the local section, and in between through our Connections committee. Approximately twelve people attend each Leadership Team meeting.
The quarterly member meetings are open to all members. We generally have approximately 40 people attend. Topics range from current business updates to fun social activities. For January, in addition to having time to network with each other, we learned to use Jamboard to brainstorm answers to our DE&I Minute and to suggested improvements to our activities. Read more about it in our January-February newsletter.
How is the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group working to reach and include new members?
We have been hosting a session during the annual conference. Our members have made presentations at the WE and WE Local conferences. We have a Facebook group with 356 members and publish a bi-monthly newsletter. We send e-blasts periodically to all SWE members who have opted in to the Late Career and Retiree list in their Communications Preferences on the SWE website.
Why is the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group important to its members?
This is a place where late career and retirees can connect with each other and feel their contributions to SWE are still valuable. The collective experience of the members of the LCR make us a natural source of leadership and guidance for the other affinity groups. It’s a place where we talk about topics of interest to us. We’re working to provide our members and local sections with productive ways to reengage and provide value to both the sections and the LCR members.
Where would you direct those interested in joining or learning more about the Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group?
- Check out our this page for links to all our contact points.
- Join our Facebook page
- Check out our website.
- Read our last Newsletter, and subscribe to stay up to date.
- Join our meetings by sending an email to swe4vintagemembers@gmail.com
- Our next Monthly Leadership Meeting is April 16th, and our next Quarterly All Member Meeting is June 25, 2022 at 2pm PST / 5pm EST. Remember to look for us at WE Local Buffalo and WE22!
