Networking With SWE Alumni

On Saturday, January 28^th, SWE alumni and students gathered together for a delicious dinner at the UCLA Career Center. While there was delectable food and the awesome company of SWE-UCLA and SWE-LA alumni alike, there were considerable worries on the students’ minds. With Evening with Industry just around the corner, many mentees expressed concern about how they could better prepare themselves for networking with college recruiters. Their fears were laid to rest after a wonderfully informative presentation about how best to network was given by Rachel Morford, SWE-LA’s president. Rachel interwove personal anecdotes of her many experiences and opened up the discussion with all the other attending alumni, who chipped with their own stories.
After the presentation, the students practiced their newly gained tips by networking with the alumni seated at their tables. The situation was very similar to the actual Evening with Industry event, with a two-to-one (student-to-alumni) ratio. However, unlike EWI, jobs and internships weren’t at stake; the mentees found it easier to speak casually with the alumni, and some were able to gain some wonderful mentor connections!
We were pleased to welcome Aditi Gobburu, our SWE-UCLA Alumni Board Chair, and Bill Goodin, our Faculty Adviser. Special thanks to Rachel Morford, the SWE-LA President, for taking time out of her busy schedule to give us a wonderful networking presentation, Missy Brost, the SWE-LA Vice President, for helping us promote our event, and Brian Guerrero, the UCLA Career Center’s Associate Director of Employer Relations & Customer Service, for his amazing assistance in hosting the dinner. Thanks also to these alumni: Rowan Hettel, Gisselle Gaitan, Melissa Yee, and Alison Ballance. The evening would not have been possible without you!

Amy Lin

Mentorship Chair

A Night With the Professors

On the evening of January 23, the Major Chair Committee from the Society of Women Engineers at UCLA held a Professor Dinner. The Professor Dinner was a sit down dinner event that required RSVPs to ensure that there was enough room for both students and professors. At least one professor from each of the seven engineering departments was confirmed to attend. Unfortunately, one professor was unable to make it the day of the event. However, the professors that did come to our event came with enthusiasm and willingness to answer many questions from students. Amongst the Quiznos and drinks, lots of chatter was heard across the room about classes the students were taking, the types of research professors were conducting, and more. In addition to talking to professors in a small group setting, students were able to talk amongst themselves and get feedback from their peers. In years past, the Professor Dinner was commonly popular amongst undergraduate students looking to network with professors and obtain research opportunities. This year, the event was popular with undeclared engineering majors wanting more insight from professors about which engineering major to choose. Other surprising guests included graduate students, who came to talk to professors about their path to becoming a professor. In future years, we hope to gather more interest from students and professors for this amazing networking event.

Virginia Wei

Internal Vice President