Dr. Brian Kirkmeyer elected Program Chair Elect of WIED
May 22, 2020
Dr. Brian Kirkmeyer, CEC’s Karen Buchwald Wright Senior Assistant Dean for Student Success and Instructor, has been elected as the Program Chair Elect for the Women in Engineering Division (WIED) of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
ASEE is an organization that aims to grow and improve engineering and engineering technology education. Specifically, the WIED is a way for students, staff and faculty alike to promote females and inclusion in these fields.
Dr. Kirkmeyer is no stranger to WIED, and his involvement goes back several years with numerous positions, including secretary, director at large, the director of positions and treasurer.
As Program Chair Elect, Dr. Kirkmeyer will learn from and help the current Program Chair to coordinate papers and presentations relative to the annual summer conference, as well as solicit individuals to submit and review papers, help arrange them, and recruit guest speakers.
His motivation to help empower women in the field began early on, with strong female role models at home, in academia and throughout his career. Later on, he noticed that this wasn’t the case everywhere.
“I had all these very obviously well-qualified, obviously competent leader females, and so for me that was the norm,” Dr. Kirkmeyer said.
Dr. Kirkmeyer now recognizes the microaggressions that can occur toward women in the traditionally male-dominated engineering setting, and strives to be an advocate and ally for them.
“We can’t solve the problems of the world if we don’t have the input of the people in the world, more than half of which are female,” he said.
Additionally, Dr. Kirkmeyer is the campus representative for ASEE at Miami, and is also the LGBTQ Inclusion delegate on the ASEE Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“I don’t need to help all the majorities. I don’t need to be their voice,” he said. “I think I can have an impact in these other areas, and they’re all important to me.”
By Jenna Calderón, CEC Reporter
ASEE is an organization that aims to grow and improve engineering and engineering technology education. Specifically, the WIED is a way for students, staff and faculty alike to promote females and inclusion in these fields.
Dr. Kirkmeyer is no stranger to WIED, and his involvement goes back several years with numerous positions, including secretary, director at large, the director of positions and treasurer.
As Program Chair Elect, Dr. Kirkmeyer will learn from and help the current Program Chair to coordinate papers and presentations relative to the annual summer conference, as well as solicit individuals to submit and review papers, help arrange them, and recruit guest speakers.
His motivation to help empower women in the field began early on, with strong female role models at home, in academia and throughout his career. Later on, he noticed that this wasn’t the case everywhere.
“I had all these very obviously well-qualified, obviously competent leader females, and so for me that was the norm,” Dr. Kirkmeyer said.
Dr. Kirkmeyer now recognizes the microaggressions that can occur toward women in the traditionally male-dominated engineering setting, and strives to be an advocate and ally for them.
“We can’t solve the problems of the world if we don’t have the input of the people in the world, more than half of which are female,” he said.
Additionally, Dr. Kirkmeyer is the campus representative for ASEE at Miami, and is also the LGBTQ Inclusion delegate on the ASEE Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“I don’t need to help all the majorities. I don’t need to be their voice,” he said. “I think I can have an impact in these other areas, and they’re all important to me.”
By Jenna Calderón, CEC Reporter