Pictured, from left to right: Alicia Williamson, Naima Fagon, Andralyn Bowen Sandoval, Saleyah Peebles, Jaiden Myers
I am Alicia Williamson, a senior mechanical engineering technology major at Virginia State University (VSU), a historically Black college and university (HBCU), and current president of the VSU Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Affiliate.
The former SWE Executive Board worked hard to establish the 2016 affiliation and chapter by submitting all the documents necessary for VSU SWE to be an organization on campus. However, this effort did not make it to SWE Headquarters, and VSU SWE lost its status as a chapter as all VSU SWE Board members graduated, which led to the VSU SWE organization not having any current members as of Spring 2019. Due to COVID-19, the VSU SWE affiliation and chapter became inactive.
In the Spring of 2022, our advisor Dr. Joi Williams focused on membership and assembling a new Executive Board. I was the co-activities and fundraising chair at this time. The next year, in the summer of 2023, I became the president and Andralyn Sandoval became the vice president. We worked diligently to honor SWE as a global organization.
As a 2023 summer intern with the Corps of Engineers in Chicago, I coordinated and partnered with SWE Headquarters to see what we needed to do to re-establish our affiliation. We gathered and submitted all the necessary documents to become an affiliate chapter. During the 2023 fall semester, VSU SWE officially received affiliate chapter status, and our next goal is to achieve charter chapter status again.
From the Fall 2022 semester to the present, we have coordinated with various organizations to hold the following academic, social, and career readiness activities on campus:
Academic Events
- Study Jam: A silent headphone study session in the library during midterm week
- Being Black in STEM: A mental health discussion
- Engineering Leadership Council panel with Dr. Tia A. Minnis, VSU provost and vice president of academic affairs, in partnership with National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBHHhE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Mathematical Society (AMS), VSU Math Club, American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of VA, and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
- Setting Up for a Successful Semester: An Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) seminar
Career Readiness Events
- Promoting career expos at VSU
- Resume workshop with Colonial Webb
- Learn about aerospace with Lockheed Martin
- Promoting 2025 Boeing HBCU summer internships
- Networking 101 with Dr. Sodwell in collaboration with the VSU Honors College
- On site with Gilbane: Panel discussion with women who work in construction
- Professional development with Altria: Resume writing and mock interviews
- #WomeninSTEM panel discussion and letter writing activity to women you admire with Dr. Nafiseh Ebrahimi, Dr. Major (Retired) Elizabeth Batts, and Courtney Harris Armstrong
- NASA H20 event
- Creative problem-solving with Capital One
- NASA seminar and tour at Wallops Island in partnership with NSBE and NASA
Social Events
- Pizza party interest meeting
- Organization Bazaars and Yard Fest to gain members and share our mission to empower women through STEM
- Vision boards: Envision your semester or future goals
- Nutz, Boltz, and Totez Activity: Painting tote bags
- “Hidden Figures” movie night to celebrate women in STEM
- Decorating spooky cookies: Halloween general body meeting
- Yoga and wellness
- Homecoming kick-off parade walk with Mr. SWE, president, and vice president
- Paint and pamper party: destress after midterms
- CAD drawing session: draw your own personalized key chain
Community Service
- Freshmen move-in
- Campus clean-up
- Blandford Community Day
- Sussex High School visit
- American Red Cross blood drive
- Chesterfield Food Bank
- Justin J. Davis Heart Foundation’s Brunswick Stew fundraiser
- Girls in STEM Outreach program
- VSU Community Garden
- Hygiene product drive for women in need
- Annual Bra-ha-ha event for Breast Cancer Awareness
- Martin Luther King, Jr. service event: “Greater Happens Here” mural for VSU. A day on, not a day off!
- Mindfulness box decoration for elementary and middle school students
- Richmond Raceway field trip VSU STEM Summer Camp recruit session
- Mental health donation drive for Women’s Appreciation Month
- Voter registration drive with VSU Royal Court
- Agricultural Festival and Farmers Market
- International Dance Festival
- Cleaning the Ettrick Community Fridge brought by JJD Heart Foundation
Many more outreach programs and events are coming this year! My vice president and I, along with our members, have worked hard to re-establish these activities to ensure that we are women who love engineering, we are women in STEM, and we run the world.
You can visit the VSU SWE Instagram to see our work in action on campus and in our community!
Author
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Alicia Nicole Williamson is the president of the Virginia State University Affiliate of the Society of Women Engineers.
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