Structural Engineering
Engagement and Equity
2020 Symposium
The SE3 National Symposium: Engagement and Equity in the Structural Engineering Profession
As part of the 2020 NCSEA Summit program, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in three sessions developed by the SE3 Committee. They will learn about the findings from the 2020 SE3 survey as well as engage with industry panelists. The conversations will focus on topics currently in the national spotlight and how their effects translate into the structural engineering profession. Attendees will gain insight from engineers around the country, acquire practical strategies and best practices for improving retention within their organizations.
For an overview of the 2019 SE3 Symposium, continue reading! Also, check out our Testimonials page to hear what attendees thought of past SE3 events.
Who Should Attend
Photo courtesy of SEAONC SE3.
The event is for engineers of all levels, business owners, human resource managers, and anyone within the AEC industry who is interested in promoting dialogue on engagement and equity in the structural engineering profession.
SE3 Program Schedule
Thursday, November 5th, 2020
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How Do We Progress Towards Racial Equity in the Structural Engineering Community? | 10:15am - 11:15am
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Network with the SE3 Committee | 11:15am - 12:15pm
Friday, November 6th, 2020
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2020 SE3 Survey Results | 9:45-10:45am
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The Evolution of Work Flexibility: Before & After COVID-19 | 11:30am - 12:30pm
For more info:
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Check out the SE3 Events page for full session descriptions.
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Read about our Speakers and Moderators.
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The full program schedule can be found at the NCSEA Summit website.
Registration
Attendees are welcome to register through the NCSEA website or through the SE3 Events page. Registration is available for purchase now and through November 3rd, 2020.
2019 Symposium Overview
The NCSEA SE3 committee held their first national symposium in conjunction with the 2019 NCSEA Summit in Anaheim, CA on November 12th, 2019. The title and theme of the program was A Reimagined Workplace: How to Navigate and Elevate the Future of our Profession. The attendance list included over 150 people in various stages of their career from across the AEC industry.
The half-day event featured key-note speaker Jamie Claire Kiser, Managing Principal at Zweig Group and founder of ElevateHer, who spoke on her experience as a business consultant to AEC firms. She shared ideas for establishing practices that improve recruitment and retention of women and minorities in the industry, stressing the importance of engaging management in these discussions by framing inclusive workplace practices as good business decisions.
Photo courtesy of Natalie Tse
Photo courtesy of Natalie Tse
Three focused sessions followed the key-note speech. The first session provided snapshots of key findings from the 2018 SE3 survey, presented by NCSEA SE3 committee members. These short presentations included key takeaways and recommended practices related to retention and burnout, mentorship, work-life balance, career pathways, and performance review.
In the second session, titled “Navigating Common Experiences in the Life of a Structural Engineer,” four industry leaders shared their varied pathways to career success, discussing self-advocacy, career transitions, and how they dealt with different challenges along the way. The last session featured engineers sharing their experiences with implementing diversity and inclusion programs at their firms.
Rose McClure, current chair of the NCSEA SE3 Committee, and co-founder of SE3, shared her reflections of where and how the SE3 committee started, highlighting the committee’s accomplishments, and where we’ve come since the committee’s inception five years ago.
Check out the 2019 Symposium Recap to learn more about the event and download slides from some of the presentations.
Looking Ahead
At the heart of SE3, we have always been interested in understanding the reasons why people are leaving structural engineering. When the first survey was launched in 2016, the committee consisted of a group of 10 people who were part of the SEAONC membership. In 2017, we started sharing a lot of those findings with the broader structural engineering community. NCSEA approached us with the opportunity to take this conversation nationally. Since then we've been expanding, growing, and engaging more structural engineers around the country.
It has been a long journey for our committee: having conducted two national surveys, sharing findings with over 70 audiences across the country, and establishing strategic partnerships with several collaborating organizations within the broader AEC industry.
Moving forward into 2020, in addition to the 2020 NCSEA SE3 survey (development, beta testing, and distribution), we are excited to be transitioning to what we are calling a “CALL TO ACTION”. At the end of the day, we would like all individuals in this profession to move beyond the data by starting conversations and effecting change in their respective organizations.
What is your “reimagined workplace” and what do you plan to do to enhance your career, and influence positive changes in your immediate work environment.
Photo courtesy of Rose McClure
We are all here working toward a common goal: Creating better places to work! Better feedback, clearer communication, clear expectations, and employees who feel that they are part of where the firm is going.
Acknowledgments
We’d like to express our gratitude and appreciation to all our sponsors for their generous support! Without their contributions, the 2019 National SE3 Symposium would not have been possible! We also want to sincerely thank the NCSEA Board & Staff for allowing us the opportunity to showcase the hard work of our committee members. We appreciate all your support and efforts!
