Empowering female students: SWE vs disciplinary organization participation

Participation in student chapters of professional organizations can be considered a form of self-help expected to enrich students through extra-curricular activities, social support and networking. For female students, affiliation with the disciplinary professional organizations (e.g., ASME, IEEE, AiChE, etc.) offers the benefits of networking with co-ed students and faculty on the basis of substantive interests in their major; while affiliation with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) offers the benefits of interdisciplinary networking with other female students and faculty in a "safe" environment. The current paper focuses on the differences between female undergraduate engineering students who choose one or the other type of affiliation - or no affiliation, and the effect of affiliation on engineering outcomes such as engineering self-confidence, satisfaction with the major, involvement in extra-curricular activities, and commitment to the major and the profession. Data are taken from an NSF-funded survey of engineering students at Rowan University during the 2000-1 and 2000-2 academic years.