Students enjoying Taiwanese bubble tea at the Summer Celebration Event to commemorate the 5 year birthday of Tufts GradSWE. In addition to boba, commemorative SWE-engraved champagne glasses, sparkling cider, bubble wands, beach towels, and more were given out (June 2021).
The hand-painted GSWE blanket was part of a take-home craft kit which included a fleece blanket, fabric paint, and iron-on patches (January 2021).
The Tufts GradSWE group is composed of strong, intelligent voices that often feel drowned out in the world of engineering, in academia, and within departments or research groups. Together, they try to address challenges that graduate women in engineering face and give members opportunities to advance their graduate careers from a social and professional perspective. To enhance inclusivity, they recruit graduate students of all degree programs and solicit their advice to ensure that all voices are heard, and acknowledge the value of every contribution. They varied event times to include members who have alternative schedules so every member can attend our events. Tufts GradSWE group is also a child-friendly group that includes graduate mothers in our community. All events are advertised as being open to any graduate student, regardless of gender orientation or department. To foster both professional and personal relationships, the group hosts monthly coffee hours to provide a safe environment in which members can network within GradSWE, as well as with post-doctoral students and faculty. They have reached out to the undergraduate SWE section in an effort to establish mentoring relationships and spent a year hosting mental health-related workshops and panels in an effort to put a spotlight on the challenges graduate students face, and strategies for overcoming them. In light of graduate students feeling isolated due to the pandemic-related restrictions, they have completely overhauled the usual programmed events. They began sending out care and craft kits to bolster the mental health and community spirit of members. Overall, Tufts GradSWE is a positive force on the Tufts University campus, supporting and honing the skills of an incredible community of undergraduate and graduate students in the same ways that SWE has done for 70 years.
Given the global pandemic, many organizations at Tufts have stopped hosting events, resulting in a decline in graduate student engagement in extracurricular activities. This has left students feeling more disconnected and isolated from their peers and departments than ever before. Tufts GradSWE has worked tirelessly to ensure that events continue with appropriate safety measures. By consolidating exciting event materials into take-home kits, students are able to virtually participate in all the activities that would otherwise have been in person. These “Craft Kits” have doubled the average participation of students in events, and GSWE received praise from Deans and other administration that heard about the kits from the Tufts Graduate Student Council. Additionally, 2020 was the pilot year of the highly successful awards program, where graduate students voted for peers that embodied service, advocacy, and engagement. For the first time since its inception, Tufts GSWE leadership were able to attend the annual conference and bring back helpful advice from professional development workshops to the Tufts campus. To encourage participation, they have been actively advertising internal and external events via email, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Finally, Tufts GSWE has sent out or is in the process of sending out over 100 self care kits intended to protect the physical and mental health of the community. The first round of care kits were distributed in the summer of 2020, and contained face masks and hand sanitizer. Subsequent kits have included hand sanitizer and masks, as well as self care items such as cozy socks and brownie mix. In every way possible given the strict regulations that are adhered to for everyone’s safety, Tufts GSWE has engaged students to bring together a temporarily virtual community in a time of great stress, with positive feedback from students, faculty, and administration at Tufts.
Learn more about Tufts GradSWE:
Website: https://sites.tufts.edu/gradswe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TuftsGSWE/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuftsgswe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuftsgswe/
Given the global pandemic, many organizations at Tufts have stopped hosting events, resulting in a decline in graduate student engagement in extracurricular activities. This has left students feeling more disconnected and isolated from their peers and departments than ever before. Tufts GradSWE has worked tirelessly to ensure that events continue with appropriate safety measures. By consolidating exciting event materials into take-home kits, students are able to virtually participate in all the activities that would otherwise have been in person. These “Craft Kits” have doubled the average participation of students in events, and GSWE received praise from Deans and other administration that heard about the kits from the Tufts Graduate Student Council. Additionally, 2020 was the pilot year of the highly successful awards program, where graduate students voted for peers that embodied service, advocacy, and engagement. For the first time since its inception, Tufts GSWE leadership were able to attend the annual conference and bring back helpful advice from professional development workshops to the Tufts campus. To encourage participation, they have been actively advertising internal and external events via email, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Finally, Tufts GSWE has sent out or is in the process of sending out over 100 self care kits intended to protect the physical and mental health of the community. The first round of care kits were distributed in the summer of 2020, and contained face masks and hand sanitizer. Subsequent kits have included hand sanitizer and masks, as well as self care items such as cozy socks and brownie mix. In every way possible given the strict regulations that are adhered to for everyone’s safety, Tufts GSWE has engaged students to bring together a temporarily virtual community in a time of great stress, with positive feedback from students, faculty, and administration at Tufts.
Learn more about Tufts GradSWE:
Website: https://sites.tufts.edu/gradswe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TuftsGSWE/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuftsgswe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuftsgswe/
 The hand-painted GSWE blanket was part of a take-home craft kit which included a fleece blanket, fabric paint, and iron-on patches (January 2021). |  As finals ramped up, GSWE distributed “Treat-Yo-Self Care kits to help stressed out graduate students relax with some sweet treats. Kits included skin care face masks, candles, chocolate, brownie mix, fuzzy socks, succulents and more (February 2021). |
