Using Professional Organizations to Advance Tomorrow’s Leaders

Women have long been breaking barriers and making astounding contributions to the engineering profession, so it seems implausible that it took over $150\text{years}$ since ASCE’s founding for a woman to be elected president. Yet I never viewed my election as a milestone but instead as a validation of how far we have come in accepting people for their abilities and skills, strengthening our profession. I broke down any glass ceiling perceptions that may have existed. Women now know there are no glass ceilings at ASCE or any other engineering professions, and in 2009 ASCE inducted its second woman national president as president elect.

The great thing about professional organizations is that they embrace those who volunteer and give back to the profession, whatever that profession may be. Seldom will there be a time where there isn’t a need for someone to step up and take on a leadership role—whether as an officer, a committee chair, or simply a member offering time to complete a needed task or volunteer activity.

As is true with any volunteer organization, however, one must devote one’s personal time to benefit from the opportunity that a professional society has to offer. For instance, an argument that I often hear from faculty, depending on the institution, is that no credit is provided for tenure track for “outreach activities” or “service.” Thus, they may incorrectly believe that if professional society involvement does not count toward tenure, there must not be any benefit to committing time that is perceived as better used “checking off” tasks mandated for tenure. Another argument I hear from individuals with all types of employer is, “I have no funds to participate in these activities.” While I can appreciate these concerns, leaders and leadership do not depend on whether “credit” or “funding” is provided. Rather, leadership is about leading, and leading often requires obtaining training and experience in doing so. Those interested in becoming leaders are self-motivated and look for opportunities to obtain leadership skills and leadership experience. Leaders will rise through the ranks, and leaders will be recognized. However, gaining recognition must start somewhere, and that somewhere might very well be professional organizations.

Professional organizations are a great place for a woman to be active and involved. Professional organizations offer several avenues to become active, including committees, editorial boards or newsletters, task forces, and officer positions, all on local, regional, and national levels. Typically, one might start at the local level. Actually, participation on a local level, while taking personal time, takes little money—the cost of gas and a lunch or dinner.

Professional organizations provide many opportunities to develop leadership skills, including the following:

Professional societies also provide several tools that can be used to capture knowledge, such as engineering journals in which peers have reviewed the research and writings of fellow engineers to advance the profession. While some consider membership alone not to contribute to the enhancement of the profession, by reading professional journals, one can indeed enhance one’s own knowledge base and use that knowledge to advance one’s institution, company, and/or the industry as a whole. In addition to professional journals, professional organizations offer continuing education, providing the opportunity to earn credit toward licensure continuing education requirements and to enhance specific engineering skills needed for an employment position.

Relative to public policy, professional organizations offer engineers an opportunity to learn about key issues affecting national, state, and local policy and assist and guide engineers in educating policy makers about engineering issues. Professional organizations also offer opportunities for engineers to assist the organization in communicating with policy makers and leaders on the local and national levels. Each of these components serves to develop and strengthen the leadership skills one needs to become a successful leader.

Great women have achieved great things in life, which they often attribute to their involvement in professional organizations. The oldest and perhaps the earliest example of how professional societies have assisted in enhancing women’s leadership skills is the story of Nora Stanton Blatch (1883–1971), who

“campaigned for suffrage—a women’s right to vote—at Cornell University, where she chose civil engineering as her major because it was the most male-dominated field she could find. She graduated in 1905.”

“That same year, Nora was the first woman admitted (although with ‘junior’ status) to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 1916, despite Nora’s success as an architect and civil engineer, the ASCE terminated her membership because she passed the age limit for junior status.”

“Nora brought her case to the Supreme Court, claiming that ASCE rejected her application for full membership, not because she was professionally incapable, but because she was a woman. She lost the case. It would be 11 more years before a woman, Elsie Eaves, gained full membership in ASCE, and another $76\text{years}$ before a woman, Pat Galloway, would become a president of ASCE.” (Hatch 2006)

Amelia Earhart was a prime example of a woman professional who leveraged her involvement in professional societies to develop her confidence, communication, and leadership skills. Amelia worked hard and believed in doing what needed to be done if she was a member of an organization. As a consequence, she was a member of three organizations. In addition to the Ninety Nines, she also joined the Society of Woman Geographers, an adventurous learned group, as well as Zonta International. We know now that part of the reason for not overcommitting was her secret planning of another “first” and the most important project of her life at that time—a solo transatlantic flight. Without public announcement, Amelia left Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, on May 20, 1932, the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh Day, the day he started his historic transatlantic flight. On May 21 she landed in Ireland and became known as “Lady Lindy.” This spurred her 1932 book, The Fun of It, which she actually wrote before she left except for the last nine pages (Earhart 2006). George P. Putnam, her husband and publisher, made a special offer to the New York Chapter of Zonta—an autographed copy for all who ordered through the club. Her ventures and “firsts” led to multiple awards. In a single year, 1932, she received nearly 20 different awards from all over the world.

Amelia continued to be a spokesperson for women in aviation. In September 1934, she continued her defense of women in aviation at a Herald Tribune annual $2\text{-day}$ forum. She talked about the lack of opportunities for women in aviation; examples she cited included the refusal of the New York University’s School of Aeronautics to admit qualified women and the fact that, in the industry itself, women were paid less for the same work and outnumbered 40 to one. In the audience was Purdue University’s president, Dr. Edwin C. Elliott, who had preceded her as a speaker. He was very impressed with her and invited her to come to Purdue to counsel the 500 women students on possible careers. Amelia was happy to accept. As a counselor at Purdue, she distributed a questionnaire that anticipated the present-day problems of career women. Now she became a role model not only to young women, but also to college students, allowing them an opportunity to expand their horizons and confirming that they could do anything they dreamed.

Personally, I do not believe I would be writing this article today had it not been for my active involvement and commitment to service in professional organizations. I especially found that the Society for Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (since I am a civil engineer) were particularly valuable for me in developing my leadership skills and experience.

I was fortunate that my professors at Purdue encouraged my involvement during my college years, which allowed me to take on leadership positions on a student level, which in turn helped in the interview process for my first job out of school. I continued my professional involvement in both of these organizations when I graduated, which led to additional leadership positions including the president of the Wisconsin and New York sections of SWE, the international director of ASCE, and eventually the first woman national president in 2004. I also firmly believe that it was these leadership roles and experience that allowed me to rise through the ranks in my own firm, becoming president and then CEO of my own firms and vice chair of the National Science Board.

I started this paper by noting that to be a successful leader, one needs to develop confidence in oneself, learn how to effectively communicate, and recognize the importance of commitment. Does professional society activity take time? Absolutely! However, the question becomes, What is it that you want to do? Those on a tenure track certainly have research and publications to consider. Individuals in industry worry about putting in the necessary overtime to be recognized by their supervisors and demonstrate they are “committed” to their job. Thus, it is often difficult to find the time to add professional activities to one’s already-busy teaching and research schedule. Further, as I stated previously, some are not convinced that professional society service assists in their tenure track, or if it does, it doesn’t matter once tenure is obtained. I would certainly hope that a person’s goals do not stop once tenure is obtained, however. I would hope that both those who have not yet obtained tenure and those who are tenured would have their sights on even greater goals, including department chair, dean, and even university president. Similarly, for those in industry, I would hope that their sights are on becoming manager, department head, president, and even CEO.

In moving toward these higher goals, one must realize that leadership skills and experience are a requirement, not just a desire. One must also consider that those with national recognition will gain more ground in pursuing these higher goals. However, leadership experience and national recognition do not occur overnight and do not come easy—they come only with a lot of hard work and commitment to involvement in professional organizations beginning as early as possible. But it’s never too late to start.

When women engineers look back at what inspired us, we often discover that there was someone who personally inspired us. Whether it was a man or woman, we always remember their “touch” that impressed upon us why engineering was an important career. Young girls today are particularly touched by female role models, and there are still too few of us in engineering. Thus, probably the greatest reward of all in professional society membership and involvement is your ability to “give back” to the profession through service in professional organizations. The rewards will be great not only for you as an individual, but also for your institution, your profession, and the other individuals and students you may touch through your service. Acquiring knowledge through lessons learned is a continuous lifelong experience. To the extent that women who have been successful in their careers can take the time to assist and guide those who are pursuing an education, embarking on a career, or struggling to see how they can break away from the everyday tasks of their jobs, it is worth the extra time in the end, as individual contribution makes this world a better place to live for everyone.

Professional organizations offer a possible avenue to both learn and teach, to give and to give back, and to enhance not only your personal skills, but also the profession. Each and every woman, whether early in her career or moving toward the end of it, is an emerging leader in the profession and as such brings fresh ideas and a different perspective. Never be afraid to try something new. It’s time to get involved.