Chapter History

The University of Colorado at Boulder established a student chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) in 1983.  The chapter had its humble beginnings with 10 members and has since grown to over double in size. 

The CU-Boulder SHPE chapter has faced many challenges along the way.  There have been periods when recruiting and retaining members becomes the most difficult task.  In spite of all of this, the chapter has continued with its goals of expanding the membership and providing its members with professional and academic development in a friendly environment.

Active membership has fluctuated throughout the years and has relied highly on the number of Hispanic students attending CU-Boulder. Currently, there are a total of 29,000 students attending the University of Colorado at Boulder of which 14% are minorities, and from which 6-7% is of Hispanic/Latino decent.  Considering the size of the student body this is a small percentage and posed a large challenge to the growth of our membership.

Major sources of inspiration for the CU-Boulder SHPE chapter have been the strong support from advisor Bob Maciel and the CU-Boulder Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP).  These sources have provided encouragement and continuous support for the chapter.  The students recognized the strong bond that MEP and Bob Maciel have with the chapter and have become increasingly motivated to participate and achieve chapter goals.

Most of the membership is composed of students who belong to the local MEP.  At the beginning of every fall semester, strong advertising and recruiting efforts are made to publicize SHPE in engineering as well as on campus.

Chapter Bylaws

Please see the following section: Chapter Bylaws.

Conference Information

Conferences are held throughout the year to provide professional, academic, and chapter development opportunities for our members.  Conferences offered through SHPE include the following:  the National Institute for Leadership Advancement (NILA), the SHPE Conference, and the Regional Leadership Development Conference (RLDC). 

NILA
NILA is designed to provide chapter leaders, both student and professional, with advanced training in leadership and communication.  Workshops include topics such as strategic planning, networking, and managing your chapter.  This experience will allow you to walk away with tools you can utilize to enhance the value of yourself, your chapter, your community, and the organization as a whole.

For more information about this year's NILA Conference, please visit: http://oneshpe.shpe.org/wps/portal/nila.

SHPE Conference

The SHPE Conference is the major event for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Inc. and the largest technical and career conference for Hispanics in the country.

Each year, the SHPE Conference attracts nearly 5,000 engineering professionals, students and corporate representatives. The conference is an opportunity for engineering companies and corporations to recruit top talent from SHPE membership. It also provides educational, technical and career opportunities for professional and student engineers.

For more information about this year's SHPE Conference, please visit:

http://oneshpe.shpe.org/wps/portal/shpe2007.

RLDC

RLDC is designed to provide individual regions an opportunity to organize and host a conference of their own.  Leadership development is emphasized throughout the conference agenda. 

For more information about this year's RLDC Conference, please visit:

RLDC Conference Info.