Awards and Scholarships

The University of North Dakota Society of Women Engineers is pleased to offer several awards to outstanding students.

The UND-SWE Freshman Scholarship is awarded to a freshman engineering student achieving high academic standing.
The UND-SWE Joyce Medalen Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the UND-SWE Student Section.
The A. Irene Fletcher Award recognizes outstanding outreach contributions.

The deadline for application is Friday, March 13, 2009. Applications may be dropped off in the Dean’s Office with Kay or placed in the SWE mailbox. The recipients of the scholarships will be notified in February and honored at the Spring Banquet.

All SWE members are encouraged to apply. If you have any questions, please email Brianna. We look forward to receiving your application!
Scholarship Application (rich text format)

Irene Fletcher Award

The A. Irene Fletcher Award was established by Dr. Alan G. Fletcher, Dean of the School of Engineering and Mines (1969-1989) in honor of his wife. This award recognizes engineering students for outstanding outreach contributions to the School of Engineering and Mines. Dr. and Mrs. Fletcher have been strong advocates of women in engineering, and it was through his vision and support that UND became one of the earliest universities to implement programs to increase the number of women engineering students. Mrs. Fletcher provided encouragement and support of these efforts through her continual interest and participation in events surrounding these programs.

The award recognizes engineering students who have worked with dedication and commitment to encourage elementary and secondary students to make sound academic and career decisions. This encouragement includes providing information on the challenges and opportunities of the engineering profession. The award recognizes individual student accomplishments in outreach activities on both an organizational and a personal basis. First awarded in 1991.

Anna Peterson Walsh Memorial Engineering Scholarship

The Anna Peterson Walsh Memorial Engineering Scholarship is a tribute to the courage and determination of the only woman engineering graduate of the class of 1941. The scholarship is a living extension of her dedication to the pursuit of individual excellence, her belief in education as a solid foundation for all of life's experiences, and a continuation of her personal policy of encouraging and assisting others in the achievement of their highest goals.

Anna Peterson Walsh (1920-1986), the second woman to hold a degree from the School of Engineering and Mines, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of North Dakota in 1941. Mrs. Walsh considered herself a lucky person to have been born into a family devoted to accomplishment and responsibility; her father a civil engineer, her mother a business woman and civic leader. Overcoming polio as a child prepared her to accept and welcome the physical and intellectual challenges of engineering. Her career included positions in the Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware, and the General Electric Company, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Albany, New York. Her good fortune of having professional, aware parents, was earned and renewed through her own determination to live intelligently, with humor, and to pass the favor onto a new generation. Mrs. Walsh and her husband, Frederic W. Walsh, were parents to eight children, all of whom are college graduates.

The scholarship, established in 1986 by her children as a tribute to her encouragement and fine example, shall be awarded to a woman engineering student entering her junior year at the University of North Dakota, who has demonstrated through her academic capabilities and personal attributes the will to grow and succeed regardless of personal and professional obstacles. The scholarship shall extend into the senior year if an appraisal of her record indicates a continued level of achievement. When additional resources are available, an award is presented for one year. The announcement of the first recipient was made in April 1987.

Dr. Donald. P. Naismith Award

The University of North Dakota Student Section of the Society of Women Engineers (UND-SWE) was chartered in 1974, with Dr. Donald P. Naismith as its first faculty advisor. The Dr. Donald P. Naismith Scholarship was established to honor him for his continual support of UND-SWE, women in engineering, and his dedication to all engineering students at the University of North Dakota. On the 20th Anniversary of the University of North Dakota Student Section of the Society of Women Engineers, past and future, UND-SWE alumnae and friends endowed this scholarship in his name.

Income from this endowment will be used to provide engineering scholarships to women students enrolled in the University of North Dakota School of Engineering and Mines. The recipient must be a junior or senior engineering student in good academic standing and must actively participate in engineering extracurricular activities with preference given to members of the University of North Dakota Student Section of the Society of Women Engineers. Selection of the scholarship will be made by the School of Engineering and Mines Scholarship Committee with written recommendation by the UND-SWE advisors without regard to financial aid. This first recipient was announced on April 27, 1996.

Joyce I. Medalen Award

The University of North Dakota Society of Women Engineers Student Section was formally chartered in 1974. Joyce I. (Gienger) Medalen was its first counselor and was responsible for leading the students through the procedures to accomplish that chartering. As Director of Women in Engineering for the School of Engineering and Mines, she and the student members of UND-SWE forged ahead to encourage young women to consider engineering as a career choice and to help those who had made the choice, cope with the academic and professional rigors they faced.

In appreciation of her unselfish contributions of time and effort, her insistence on excellence, and her conscientious professional and personal counseling, the past and future alumnae of UND-SWE and her friends endow this award in her name.

The Joyce Medalen UND Society of Women Engineers Award will be presented annually during the Spring Semester. The award shall be given to a student member, in good standing, based upon that member's participation and personal contribution to the objectives of the University of North Dakota Student Section of the Society of Women Engineers.

Beginning in the Spring of 1983, three awards will be given. Two member awards (this award shall not be given to the same student in consecutive years) and one new member award specifically designated for a new member. The new member recipient may apply for the member award in the following year.

Freshman Scholarship

One of the goals of the Society of Women Engineers is to encourage young women to pursue careers in engineering. In support of these goals, the University of North Dakota Student Section of the Society of Women Engineers established the UND SWE Freshman Scholarship. The scholarship is open to a female freshman, attending the University of North Dakota and enrolled in engineering. Recipient of the scholarship will be selected based on academic excellence, participation in activities, and interest and dedication to pursuing an engineering degree. The announcement of the first recipient was made in April 1988.