Networking dinner opens opportunity to connect students with CI2E and 100+ Women Strong

There are many things that the Auburn Center for Inclusive Engineering Excellence (CI2E) and 100+ Women Strong organizations have in common but chief among them is a passion to help underserved engineering populations prosper at Auburn and become successful engineers after graduation. That goal was front and center at a networking dinner on Tuesday, September 26, in the Brown-Kopel Center.

The event, which was attended by more than 60 students from CI2E and 100+ Women Strong, featured representatives from nine corporate sponsors of both programs, exposing students to a wide variety of engineering career paths. Corporate sponsors in attendance included Alabama Power, Brasfield & Gorrie, CGI, Honda, International Paper, Robins & Morton, Southern Company Technology Organization, Trane and Volkert Inc.

“The goal for the program was to provide students an opportunity to interact with our sponsors in a unique way before the second career fair of the fall semester,” said Celeste Waugh, CI2E academic programs administrator. “We wanted students to be able to have more natural conversations with corporate sponsors in a relaxed environment without the pressure of having to explain who they were in a short timeframe such as the career fair.”

Professional development is a main thrust of both organizations. Increased exposure to companies through events such as the networking dinner offer students opportunities to grow their networking skills and gain confidence in approaching employers for future opportunities.

“I hope students were able to continue to develop confidence in their skills to network in these different spaces, whether it is a career fair or a formal dinner,” Waugh said. “I want them to know that the person they are communicating with for future employment is someone who believes in them and wants them to be successful and accomplish their goals within engineering. For the companies who joined us, I hope that they felt that they could showcase that their company is open and supportive to all individuals no matter their background and that they are welcomed.”

Initial sponsor feedback from the event has been positive and administrators for the student support organizations plan to host more such combined events in the future.

“100+ Women Strong continues to look for ways to engage our corporate sponsors with our students. We want to them to have as much face-to-face time with students as we can get them. That is how we will help build their brand awareness on campus. This networking dinner gave our most engaged companies a chance to have a more laid-back event to interact and connect with students,” said Teresa Carden, 100+ Women Strong program coordinator. “Because CI2E and 100+ Women Strong are similar in mission and a lot of our corporate sponsors overlap, we wanted to join forces and give them an opportunity to do this together. We hope to collaborate more with CI2E in the future and this event was a great start.”