Women In Science & Engineering

A Call For Involvement in WiSE Leadership:

Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) was founded in Spring 2001 to promote equal opportunity for women and girls in science and engineering and improve their scientific and career advancement. WiSE encourages the participation of all science/engineering undergraduates, graduates, researchers, faculty, and professionals in the Santa Barbara area.

The current leadership team consists of 7 women from various departments on campus. Over half of us are graduating within the next few quarters. We would like to see WiSE flourish and evolve under new influences and passions while continuing to serve the UCSB community on many levels. For the past few years, WiSE has promoted women in science and engineering at all levels through a broad range of events and activities, including:

events for scientific and career advancement:
	getting published workshop
	renaissance techie workshop as a "mini-mba"
	coffee hours in which faculty are invited to speak with students on an informal basis about their career choices, advice they have to students, their experiences as females in their fields...
events to promote science, address needs of undergraduate UCSB students:
	applying to graduate school workshop
	Manzanita village outreach events
	finding summer internship workshop
	mentor finder website
networking, support, social events:
	on-going coffee hour as support network for students
	social functions like cooking nights to bring people together and across disciplines
	collaboration with similar groups at UCSB to cross-promote events and cross-pollinate ideas
	participation in UC-wide conferences to engage in promoting diversity
	non-UCSB faculty guest speakers from UCSB Reads, non-profit, local organizations, visiting faculty and more! (Elizabeth Kolbert, Jane Daniels, Pietra Rivoli, Jane Honikman, Susan Worster, Carolann Wolfgang, Linda Babcock)
	WiSE Reads discussion groups
events with the broader santa barbara community:
	outreach to high school and middle school to promote sciences and esp. females in sciences
	on-going coffee hour facilitate mentorship, information gathering, discussion, social networking, recruitment efforts

If you are interested in finding out more about WiSE and becoming more involved, email wise@lsmail.ucsb.edu or come to our weekly Coffee Hour to meet with some of our Team! Coffee Hour this quarter is on Wednesdays from 2-3pm in the GSA Lounge.

WiSE Leadership Roles:

Team Captain	Keeps overall track of WiSE activities, does follow-up when necessary, and schedules the planning meeting at the start of each quarter.

External Liaison	This officer interacts with external entities that are important to our funding and activities, primarily SIOP (Student Initiated Outreach Program) and the UCSB Office of Development. Makes connections with other people or organizations for co-sponsored activities or fundraising opportunities. Also coordinates the annual reporting required by our funding sources. Responsible for setting up a time for the Planning Meeting at the beginning of each quarter.

Treasurer	The treasurer is in charge of managing the various WiSE accounts distributed among several departments on campus. Duties include keeping track of expenses and new sources of funding, submitting budgets and proposals for funding purposes, and coordinating the payment of receipts, bills and reimbursements. The treasurer is also in charge of arranging payment of the quarterly WiSE leadership stipend. Time commitment varies depending on the number of events occurring per quarter, but is usually limited to 1-2 hours per week.

Communications Officer	The WiSE Communications Officer compiles and sends out the weekly newsletter, maintains the listserv of members, and receives the emails sent to wise [at] lsmail.ucsb.edu. Duties are weekly, but amount to about 2 hours per week, primarily in compiling the newsletter and responding to email inquiries (which are infrequent, ~1/month).

Coffee Hour Coordinator	Conduct a quarterly online vote for CH time and reserve the CH room each quarter once a time is set. Schedule speakers, discussion themes, and other events to occur on a weekly basis throughout a quarter during the coffee hour. Collect and respond to feedbakc from WiSE members & coffee hour participants relating to potential guests, points for discussion, etc. Provide refreshments & clean up power on a weekly basis. Conduct a coffee hour online survey at the end of the quarter and compile results for funding purposes. Maintain a list of past speakers for reference, example email invitations, and a supply of 'Thank You' cards to send to guests.

Webmaster	Update the events website weekly. Create new pages for various outreach, mentoring, social, and career development events. Keep an archive of past events and workshops for reference. Keep WiSE references & resources up to date. Be in touch with other organizations for advertising/linking purposes.

Logistics Coordinator	Reserve rooms on campus and arrange for refreshments at all events other than Coffee Hour. Advertise events through flyers, emails or sending an announcement to the webmaster to post on the website. This person works with the treasurer to make sure that funds are requested in advance of the event and to estimate the budget for each event. This is a great opportunity to learn how to plan events, a skill that will serve you immensely in any future job you have. We have assembled a useful list of phone numbers, websites and email addresses of important contact people, as well as tips to reducing costs for events without sacrificing quality. It's a great way to get involved in an exciting and active organization on campus! The time commitment varies depending upon the number of events WiSE is co-sponsoring as well as the relative business of the campus, but is generally a few hours per week.

Photographer & Bookclub manager	The photographer attends as many WiSE events as possible, takes photographs, and shares the photos with the WiSE website (variable time involved). The book/article club manager meets approximately once a quarter during coffee hour. This involves selecting readings and getting an online vote to what is most interesting. Leading a 1-1.5 hour discussion on the topics found to be interesting from the readings.

Something Else?	Do you see yourself in a less traditional leadership role? Or do you think you have ideas and skills that might be under-utilized in some of our current leadership positions? Then this is the “role” for you!
	There are a variety of little niches within WiSE. Recently filled ones include, coordinator and moderator of a UCSB-wide science based mentor finding website. SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and native Americans in Science) liaison. Developing a WiSE club in SB Junior high that would feature women scientist speakers from UCSB. If successful this club would be implemented into other junior highs and high schools in Santa Barbara and Goleta.

Thank you,
WiSE