THE STORIES

1950-
2015
Foreword
SWE’s history is not something that merely happened; it’s what we built for ourselves.
By Elizabeth Bierman
FY15 SWE President
Leading up to the release of this book, I’ve had some time to reminisce about my time with SWE. I first
joined in 1994, and looking back, I find myself fondly recalling many wonderful experiences, the memories
of which I’ve grown to cherish because they’ve become a source of personal strength, a guiding light
for navigating my life as an engineer. Of course I’m just one person—in 65 years, the Society has seen
an incredible number of people come and go, each with just as many stories and memories as me. In
putting together this book, though, the challenge of communicating the power of so many stories became
abundantly clear.
We set out hoping to boil down the sprawling SWE archives into one scrapbook that takes you on a
journey through SWE’s history. After all, there’s something magical about reading through a scrapbook and
having so many pieces of history, full of so many memories, laid out before you. That’s the feeling we got
when we opened the archives, and it’s the feeling we wanted you to have when you open this book. Joy
and heartache, triumph, tribulations and perseverance, grace and the kind of tenacity you could only find
in the heart of a woman engineer—you’ll find it all here.
The history of our Society is more than a straightforward chronology of things that have happened.
Our history is the result of the choices we’ve made, the small moments with friends we shared, our
achievements and accomplishments. SWE’s history is not something that merely happened; it’s what
we built for ourselves.
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Visit SWE.ORG/WEBUILTTHIS to get a closer look at the images.
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