Women learn about jobs in engineering

Donning their best business attire, members of the Society of Women Engineers congregated at a banquet hall in the Penn Tower Hotel last night for the organization's third-annual Corporate Dinner. In spite of the event's name and setting, however, those in attendance seemed universally aware that the atmosphere of the meeting was meant to capacitate a less formal, more personal sort of interaction between students and the representatives of 10 participating corporations. "The Corporate Dinner provides the opportunity for students to interact with company representatives on a non-confrontational basis," said Engineering senior Jill Korschgen, an SWE Board member. Keynote speaker Leann Mischel, the assistant vice president of business optimization at First USA bank, gave students advice on how to pursue happiness in the workplace. Mischel spoke of her experience in business. She has also worked as an independent management consultant for organizations like the Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Army and co-founded a plastics research and manufacturing corporation. Before her speech, Mischel described what had drawn her to the dinner and what she saw as its purpose. "I'm very interested in seeing other women succeed," Mischel said. Attendees should "make connections with people in business, and the people you go to school with." Other corporate representatives said they appreciated the dinner's casual atmosphere and its focus on women, who are statistically underrepresented in the engineering field. "We need more women engineers," noted Tracey Fletchman, the representative from Johnson and Johnson's. She said her corporation "is actively supporting SWE to try to liaison its membership." Engineering senior Sarah Winnacker, the president of SWE, explained that women make up only 27 percent of engineering students at Penn, 19 percent of engineering students nationally and only 5 percent of the country's engineering workforce. With a membership of 120, the group meets regularly for similar career-related events, activities involving the SWE's national organization and in order to participate in community service activities. Engineering senior and SWE Board Member Jenny Li, who organized the dinner, said she was enthusiastic about its results. "I got a lot of really exciting feedback from members," she said.

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