Winter 2022

Volunteer Spirit at the Heart of NSPE

Members find meaning in contributing their time and talents to NSPE and the profession.

BY JANE BORNHORST

NSPE members who volunteer within the Society say they find many rewards. Serving as a volunteer gives them a voice within the profession. They value the opportunity to help ensure the strength of the PE license. And new and seasoned PEs alike enjoy personal benefits, career growth, and new relationships from their volunteer leadership roles.

In an online panel discussion in early November, several NSPE leaders talked about the importance of volunteering in leadership roles within the organization. While it is true that volunteers enjoy professional and personal benefits from lending their time and energy, there is another vital reason to get involved.

TRICIA HATLEY

“Volunteer service is essential at all three levels [national, state, and local chapter] of our organization,” said NSPE President Rick Guerra, P.E., F.NSPE, who moderated the virtual panel discussion. “Advancing our mission would be very difficult, if not impossible, without our members.”

Members who volunteer for an NSPE committee, board, interest group, or task force drive the pursuit to realize the Society’s vision: ensuring a world where the public can be confident that engineering decisions that affect their lives are made by qualified, ethical professionals.

MEGAN SCHULTZ

Volunteerism is necessary for not only the success of NSPE, but also the profession. Beyond serving on the NSPE committees and task forces that work to fulfill the organization’s mission, volunteers are crucial to ensuring a thriving engineering profession. They contribute their time and talent to the operations of state licensing boards, the creation of PE and FE exams, and the accreditation of college engineering programs, not to mention assisting organizations like Engineers Week, MATHCOUNTS, and many others. Lending one’s time to causes like these allows professional engineers to have a tangible and rewarding impact on the profession.

CRAIG SISCO

During the online discussion, panelists from the local, state, and national leadership levels of NSPE shared their insight. They were Tricia Hatley, P.E., F.NSPE, immediate past president of NSPE; Megan Schultz, P.E., current board member; and Craig Sisco, P.E., F.NSPE, past state president of the Nevada Society and trustee for the NSPE-NV Foundation. Like these three, hundreds of other volunteers have found opportunities to contribute to the profession through NSPE leadership roles in 2021–22.

Getting Involved

The easiest way to get involved in NSPE at the national level is by volunteering to serve on a committee or task force. Each May, the Society announces a call for volunteers, and appointments are made by the NSPE president. Members will find many different roles with varying levels of engagement and time commitment.

Serving on a committee or task force gives volunteers insight into the Society’s governance and leadership as well as opportunities for collaboration with national leaders from across the country. This volunteer service makes a lasting impact on the profession and ensures NSPE’s success in protecting the PE license.

Qualities NSPE looks for in its leaders are the ability to motivate and inspire others, knowledge and understanding of various engineering disciplines, passion for the profession and NSPE, emotional intelligence, active-listening skills, and a creative, innovative, inclusive, and collaborative mentality.

Some of the areas in which members can serve are:

Committees, Boards, Interest/Advisory Groups, and Task Forces

Each year, the NSPE president creates committees and task forces to help fulfill the Society’s mission and strategic plan. After responses from the call for volunteers are collected, the president appoints volunteer members to fill the positions on around 25 committees, task forces, and groups, each with varying time commitments. Issue areas include budget, continuing education, ethics, policy and advocacy, awards, diversity, membership, and others.

NSPE House of Delegates

The governing body of NSPE approves the Code of Ethics and the strategic plan and has the sole authority to amend the bylaws. It comprises representatives from each state, each NSPE interest group, and the board of directors. Serving in the House of Delegates allows PEs to help shape the future of the organization, network with leaders from across the country, and participate in NSPE’s governance.

NSPE Board of Directors

The board governs the organization by setting the Society’s direction, ensuring necessary resources, and providing financial, legal, and operational oversight. Board members engage in organizational governance, committee work, and networking with leaders from across the country. Positions include:

• Six regional directors (two-year term);
• Two interest group directors (two-year term);
• One director representing new professionals;
• One member-at-large director; and
• Five officers: treasurer (two-year term), vice president, president-elect, president, and immediate past president, altogether a four-year commitment

Board officers typically progress from chapter volunteer positions to the state level, and then to national service. To qualify for election as the national vice president, who later serves as president-elect and president, candidates must have served as a state president.

A Voice for the PE

Sisco, a member of NSPE’s Committee on Policy and Advocacy, says volunteers who serve the profession build leadership skills and make connections that can provide myriad benefits throughout one’s career. The friendships he has made are important, he said, but he most appreciates having a voice in national conversations about the profession’s future.

“I appreciate the focus on safety. And being the voice for the PE license and holding the line, so to speak, when sometimes others won’t, gives it a noble purpose,” Sisco added. “When it comes down to it, we’re all here to be professional engineers for the public.”

Hatley finds similar benefits in volunteering. “I’ve learned a lot from NSPE, but I’ve also been able to share a lot of my ideas with NSPE and the profession at large,” she said during the discussion.

Shortly after she joined NSPE, Hatley started volunteering, and especially enjoyed helping with MATHCOUNTS. She had participated in the competition as a student, and it had a major influence on her. Hatley said she now loves encouraging young people to become engineers.

Later, Hatley became chapter coordinator for the Dallas chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. She eventually worked her way up through the leadership levels and became state president, served on national committees and as the Southwest Region director on the NSPE board, and finally ran for NSPE vice president. She served as NSPE president in 2020–21.

Advocating for the profession is a major driver for her. “At the state level, I learned more about threats to our license and the advocacy component of NSPE, and that really interested me—how our license is impacted by legislation.” Hatley added that she is fulfilled by giving back to the profession and engaging others in NSPE.

Sisco, too, finds advocacy rewarding. “Personally, I am excited about advocacy, protecting the license. Being able to be that engineering voice in the public and the political venues,” he said. “We make sure people are aware of why licensure is important, that it provides safety.”

In addition, Sisco said, volunteering with NSPE allows a PE to be the bridge between industry and the regular membership. “You get insight about the rest of the world and issues to prepare for,” he said. This has allowed him to help the utility where he works adjust to changes in the profession. “Volunteering is time well invested.”

Hatley said her employer is happy to allow her to dedicate some of her time to NSPE. “They look at it as a donation back to the profession that we as a company use to make our living,” she said. “They even asked me to keep an eye out for potential people to hire in our company. We have hired a few friends from NSPE that I met along the way.”

Opportunities for Young Professionals

Volunteering can also lead to rewarding experiences for members who are in their early career stages. Megan Schultz, P.E., a 32-year-old civil designer from Charlotte, North Carolina, found growth opportunities and learned about NSPE’s mission by taking part in the Society’s Emerging Leaders Program, a seven-month training program for young professionals with 5–8 years of experience.

Through her involvement in the program and NSPE, she made connections who could help her during the “very heavy” times when she first applied her PE stamp and signature to projects. “Having mentors and experts I can ask about things means a lot to me,” she said. “Serving the public health, safety, and welfare is so important and sometimes gets lost when you get into the nitty-gritty details. Having resources for the work in front of me is very comforting.”

Schultz’s involvement as a national-level volunteer includes positions in the Southeast Region leadership; the Professional Engineers in Construction; the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee; and the Board of Directors. She advises other young members seeking a national-level volunteer role to have confidence in what they can bring to the table. “Have an open mind,” she said, “pick something that gets your fire going, and that will lead you in the right direction.”

For resources and information about how to volunteer, visit the Leadership Toolbox section of the NSPE website.

The Health Benefits of Volunteering

Volunteering for NSPE, Engineers Week, MATHCOUNTS, or your favorite STEM program provides immeasurable benefits to the organization you’re supporting, and it just may provide health benefits to the volunteer.

Angela Thoreson, a licensed independent clinical social worker in psychiatry and psychology, points to three research-based benefits in a recent article for Mayo Clinic Health Systems.

1. Improves physical and mental health.
   “By spending time in service to others, volunteers report feeling a sense of meaning and appreciation, both given and received, which can have a stress-reducing effect.”
2. Provides a sense of purpose and teaches valuable skills.
   Contributing “gives volunteers a sense of purpose, especially when volunteering in the areas they find meaningful.”
3. Nurture new and existing relationships.
   “Volunteering increases social interaction and helps build a support system based on common interests.”

A Professional Obligation

“Engineers shall at all times strive to serve the public interest,” according to the NSPE Code of Ethics. Although the Code doesn’t specifically mention volunteering as a professional obligation, it does encourage engineers to give their time to the profession.

The Code states:

• Engineers are encouraged to participate in civic affairs; career guidance for youths; and work for the advancement of the safety, health, and well-being of their community.
• Engineers are encouraged to extend public knowledge and appreciation of engineering and its achievements.