The Society Of Women Engineers

Karen Horting is currently the Executive Director and CEO of Society of Women Engineers, going on eleven years. She started out as director of fund development, working with all of the programs Corporate Partners, then moving into the Deputy Executive role back in 2006 and then into the CEO role January, 1, 2014. Prior to that, Harding worked at a couple of scientific organizations, again, in similar roles working with fund development, working with government agencies and corporations, to definitely focus on diversities in careers. In an interview with Horting, we asked when the program was started and what some of the challenges which women engineers have experienced in the industry and this is what she had to say: “The organization was started in 1950 because I think the founding members really felt that there just wasn’t support for women in the field, either in the existing organization and certainly within the institution or organization where they were working. They said, “Hey, we want to form and organization that’s going to foster the career development, the career advancement of women and also celebrate the accomplishments of women in the field. So it was really about creating that environment where women could support each other, to get the skills needed to be successful in their career, to build that all important social network that we know is so supporting and also important in career development and also to have an organization that was going to celebrate those accomplishments excessive. I think our mission today really follows that. Our tag line is Aspire, Advance, Achieve. I think if you look at our program and services and the things we do, it really falls into one of those categories. So whether it’s outreach and encouraging young girls to pursue engineering careers, as well as educating their parents about what a great career option engineering is, room to advance, which is helping women to get the skills they need to be successful and advanced along with building that important network and then achieve through our magazine and awards program, where we highlight the accomplishments of women in the field. Also, a really important piece of that mission for us is working with the employers of our members and working with organizations and helping them to understand: What does and inclusive culture look like? What are things to be aware of that may be different for women or other under-represented groups as compared to the majority culture within their organization; helping them understand it’s got to start at the top, but it’s got to cascade all the way to those first line managers in terms of what does it mean to create an inclusive environment and what are the things you need to be doing to have an environment where everyone feels they can be their authentic self?