LEADERSHIP

Leadership Overview | Community Within Residential Life | Designing Informed Tools for Accessibility | Outreach Opportunities for People with Disabilities | Women’s Advancement in STEM Careers

 Building Opportunities for Women Advancement in STEM Careers

After feeling unfulfilled by the connections I made in my freshman year, I sought out a community of people who shared my same passion for STEM and interest in women’s professionalism. Phi Sigma Rho, the STEM sorority at UW, became my sought-after community my Sophomore year. During my time as a member, I have pushed myself to take on more leadership roles within the group. As the Alumnae and Networking Committee chair, I am responsible for creating opportunities for career development for our members through connecting with past members and other professional organizations. During my time in the role this year, I have managed to greatly improve the impact of the committee and I look forward to continuing to bring change.

Phi Sigma Rho emphasizes friendship, scholarship, and encouragement. These three core values speak directly to how I define myself as a leader in this position and in other areas as well. As I leader, I stress the importance of encouragement and empowerment to make a positive change in each individual’s life. I have been recognized by my fellow members for my acts of encouragement and was peer-nominated and won the Rho (Encouragement) Award. I use friendship as a method of empowerment and encouragement by providing a safe and comfortable environment where people can grow. Lastly, in my role as the Alumnae and Networking committee chair, I work towards the advancement of women in STEM by providing opportunities to learn, be that in a career workshop or through stories told by alumnae.

| Accomplishments

I have exponentially improved the Alumnae and Networking committee from where it was a year ago. Before the committee did not put on many events and was not well known within the chapter. Now the committee has grown in recognition through my efforts such as:

●      Expanded my committee from 2 members to 8

●      Ran a resume workshop for Phi Rho members

●      Worked with a start-up company FindMino to build a platform for active member and alumnae communication and engagement

●      Hosted alumnae guest speakers at our chapter meetings to talk about their company

●      Executed a networking event with 8 alumnae and over 15 active members on zoom

●      Created a quarterly newsletter to keep alumnae members updated on Phi Rho activities

| Competencies Gained

Empowerment

Empowerment is at the very core of my work as the Alumnae and Networking Committee chair. I work to provide experiences to members to help them build a sense of ownership over their professional preparation, like the resume workshop I hosted. Additionally, I created a networking event where alumnae shared their professional experiences and gave advice to our members. This event provided members with resources to be successful in their careers. Even within my committee, I empower others; I do this by giving my committee members autonomy over which activities they want to work on by splitting into subcommittees to accomplish tasks. These subcommittees have led to high-quality outputs because of the increased feeling of accountability.

Personal contributions

When I was first elected to the position of Alumnae and Networking Committee chair, I took the time to evaluate what the past committee looked like, and came up with ways to improve it. I was able to use my strength of ideating based on work in my school assignments. I also used my knowledge of event planning from my experience in Hall Council and my communication abilities from Special Olympics to create an improved committee. I outlined an improvement plan which consisted of expectations for the committee each month. This included goals such as one alumnae or career development event each month, designing a new newsletter template, and creating a career show-and-tell segment during the chapter at least twice per quarter. All of these goals have been accomplished in the two quarters I have been the committee head, and I have even taken on other projects such as working with a start-up company to create a communication platform for alumnae. I was able to accomplish this drastic improvement in the committee using the skills and strengths I’ve developed to the enhance committee’s development efforts.

Functioning independently

During my first quarter as Alumnae and Networking Committee Head, I had a very small committee, consisting of one other member and myself. Because the committee was small, I learned how to successfully function independently. I took on the responsibility of being my own supervisor as well as a committee member by setting expectations and deadlines for myself and holding myself accountable. I became very skilled in those areas and I use them now even as my committee has grown from 2 people to 8. I have learned the importance of independence and as a leader, and I model autonomous work for others. By doing this I have helped others increase their confidence in their abilities and knowledge which has increased the motivation of my committee members.

Writing

One of my responsibilities as the Alumnae and Networking Committee Head is to create a quarterly newsletter. In this newsletter, I inform our alumnae about the events that have taken place during that quarter with the intention to increase a sense of community between active members and alumnae. It is through this newsletter that I have learned to become an effective communicator and writer. I organize our newsletter chronologically to create a clear organization of information. I also keep our newsletter concise to make it entertaining to read, and I utilize images and formatting to further convey messages. These skills I have honed in authoring our newsletter have helped me in other areas of communication such as emails. I now make sure to keep my emails concise as well as use formatting such as bolding or spacing to convey a clear message, this has helped me reduce additional explanations and has saved me time.

Facilitation

A fantastic opportunity I get to work on as the Alumnae and Networking Committee Head is working with FindMino, a startup company based in Washington designed to provide networking opportunities to students. I have partnered with this group to create a customized space for Phi Sigma Rho members to schedule career chats and informational interviews with Phi Rho alumnae. Through this process of working with FindMino, I have become very skilled at facilitating. I take the time to gain information and feedback from my sorority to better inform meetings to help with decisions and questions. I also write out talking points before our meetings to help keep the conversation on track and to direct the flow of discussion. By utilizing these skills, I am able to keep these meetings productive while having Phi Sigma Rho’s best interest in mind. These facilitation skills have helped me gain respect among older professionals as well as create an environment where healthy discussions can be had. We have had great success working with this company and it is thanks to my facilitation skills.

Listening

During one of the first committee meetings I ran, one of the committee members stated she would not be able to commit to doing much work this quarter. While at first, I was apprehensive about the member’s lack of commitment to the position, I decided to ask for clarification and listen to her reasoning to understand her side of things. By actively listening I was able to learn that it was not because she lacked the motivation to work but because she was a busy senior and additional work would be overwhelming. By asking for clarification and working to fully understand her message I was able to work with that individual to redefine expectations that fit in the scope of her competence. I am grateful I was able to hear her story because, in the end, she was able to accomplish the new tasks delegated to her while staying stress-free.

| What I Have Learned

Through my experience as the Alumnae and Networking Committee head, I have learned the importance of communication. Working with many different entities inside and outside my organization has taught me how to be flexible in my communication style to better relay information and opinions. Taking the risk to partner with a start-up company has been a challenging but rewarding experience. The skills I have learned in facilitation, goal setting, and negotiating through advocating for Phi Sigma Rho will help me, as a future leader, to successfully advocate for my team.

Leadership Overview | Community Within Residential Life | Designing Informed Tools for Accessibility | Outreach Opportunities for People with Disabilities | Women’s Advancement in STEM Careers