STEM Equity

Internet2 Deal Gives Free Memberships to Society of Women Engineers

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/02/15

Internet2 wants to do its part to address gender disparity in STEM. This advanced technology community made up of universities, research labs, government agencies and corporations has struck a deal with the Society of Women Engineers to give up to 200 women free membership in SWE. To qualify, they need to be working in science, technology, engineering and math fields at higher education member institutions.

SWE is a not-for-profit organization that promotes women in the field of engineering. It has about 27,000 members, more than half of which are students. An annual professional member membership in SWE is $120.

"While women comprise 57 percent of professional occupations in the U.S., they represent just 26 percent of the computing workforce and a mere 6 percent are corporate CIOs," said Internet2 Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Florence Hudson. "Via the SWE@Internet2 community and the larger Internet2 Gender Diversity Initiative, Internet2 is taking an active step to move the needle on gender diversity in STEM fields."

Hudson announced the initiative during a University of Wisconsin-Madison event hosted by that institution's Office of the CIO and UW Women in Technology, a group that formed last year.

"We are thrilled to partner with Internet2 to bring more women into the SWE network and provide them access to our many resources that help women in STEM succeed and advance in their careers as technical professionals and leaders in their organizations," said SWE Executive Director and CEO Karen Horting, who also attended the launch event.

Shortly, an application process will be in place through Internet2 to allow universities that are members of Internet2 to sign up interested participants for the new program.