Around 20 Engineering Vols attended “Women of Purpose: Cultivating Your Personal Brand” on February 12. Participants ranged from freshman to graduate students and represented student organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, Women in Nuclear, and Systers: Women in EECS at UTK.

The main goal of the event was to inspire the women to think intentionally about things that set them apart from the crowd: their unique skills, recurring themes in their lives, and contributions to student organizations.

Attendees enjoyed creating vision boards, using supplied materials to creatively highlight what they could offer to a potential employer or graduate school.

“As a graduate student, I believe the event was really informative,” said attendee Dawn Sepehr, vice president of Systers. “Even if you think you already know your purpose and you’ve been in this field for a while now, it’s always a good idea to just pause for a moment and re-evaluate your values and make sure that you’re still on the right track.”

Other activities helped them self-assess decisions toward particular majors, areas of research, and potential career paths. This casual event included great discussions among attendees, and a comfortable environment for fellowship among engineering students.

The office of Engineering Diversity Programs and the Society of Women Engineers will host the next Women in Engineering event 6–7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. All women in engineering are invited to a relaxing night of Korean face masks, while learning how to care for themselves as women. Jalonda Thompson, assistant director of engineering diversity, will share a brief interactive talk about her journey of managing stress and anxiety as a woman in STEM.

For more details about the event, students may email Abigail Cooper at utkswe.presidentelect@gmail.com.