By, Sharlene Brown SMIEEE 2021 Chair, WIE Senior Member Elevation Drive

IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) continues its implementation of its Senior Membership Elevation (SME) Drive for 2021 to which we seek your support.  The SME Drive for 2020 was a huge success because of your valuable participation.

The SME Drive committee assisted 366 women across IEEE with their application through reference assistance.  Additionally, the total WIE SME at the end of 2020 was increased to 1255 from 1149 in 2019.

The Goal of the 2021 Drive is to increase the assistance given to women across IEEE from 366 to 439 or by 20%.  As part of the goal, we also plan to increase WIE members elevated to IEEE Senior Member for 2021 by 10% over the total number of WIE members elevated to IEEE Senior Member in 2020 which is 126.

How can WIE achieve this?

We aim to achieve the goal through your participation of nominating eligible members to be elevated to SM rank and the hosing of workshops.IEEE Women in Engineering can earn financial rewards for nominating a member for Senior Member Grade. When selecting the Nominating Entity, IEEE Women in Engineering.

Senior Member benefits include:

• a letter of commendation to your employer on the achievement of Senior Member grade (upon the request of the newly elected Senior Member);
• an attractive fine wood and bronze engraved Senior Member plaque to proudly display;
• a discount toward one new Society membership;
• announcement of elevation in Section/Society and/or local newsletters, newspapers, and notices.

The Women in Engineering SME Drive Team will host a series of workshops to implement the SME 2021 Drive.  The workshop will be held with WIE Committee, TAB Presidents, Societies and Councils, WIE Affinity Groups Chairs, Young Professional Region Directors amongst other groups.

We look forward to working together with you to make the Senior Member Elevation Drive for 2021 a continued success.  Please stay tuned for more information.