The SWE Graduate Community would like to recognize GradSWE at the University of Arkansas with a GradSWE New Group Award for their commitment to the SWE Core Value of Inclusive Environment, for providing supportive opportunities to a diverse network of graduate students navigating their current experiences and future careers, led by a diverse, dedicated team.
GradSWE at the University of Arkansas (UArk) was started by Gurshagan Kandhola and Karla Morrissey in 2018. They realized that there were many highly motivated female engineering graduate students at their school, but not many events tailored to meeting the needs of these graduate students. From their first event - “Confessions of a Grad Student,” a well-attended discussion where students found common ground - to the numerous personal and professional development events since then, GradSWE at UArk is creating the space its founders envisioned where graduate students can participate in extracurricular activities that improve their graduate school experiences. The group has expanded to a team of 10 dedicated officers and over fifty members enrolled in their listserv. They seek an inclusive environment and diverse membership as well as leadership, with male and female officers coming from a variety of fields, including statistics and materials science.
Highlights from the past year include a Building a Successful Relationship with Your PI panel, where tips and strategies provided clarity for students experiencing struggles in their lab, and a Brunch Social, which brought together students from in and outside of STEM with a shared interest in improving graduate student life. In collaboration with the rest of the UArk SWE section, GradSWE hosted an industry event with Engineering Compliance & Construction, Inc. (ECCI), where the owner and two project engineers from the company shared advice for future career success, including how to navigate a male-dominated work environment. GradSWE UArk’s other event collaborators include the UArk Association of Women in Science Chapter and Graduate Professional Student Congress.
This year, multiple members had the opportunity to attend WE19 in Anaheim, CA and WE Local Salt Lake City. By engaging with the larger GradSWE and SWE communities through participating in sessions and networking, as well as the Collegiate Leadership Institute and Collegiate Competition programming, students returned inspired and with a desire to get more involved. We look forward to seeing how the group continues to empower students at Arkansas and engage with SWE locally and internationally!
Congratulations to GradSWE at the University of Arkansas! To learn more about this group, check out their webpage!
