Students Score Employment Opportunities at SHPE National Convention

Sixty members of the University of Arizona’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers chapter attended the annual SHPE National Convention in Salt Lake City, and several left with job and internship offers. In total, 13,000 SHPE members attended the five-day November 2023 event, which included workshops, resume-building classes and networking opportunities.

Some of the job and internship opportunities secured by attending UA students include positions in leading engineering firms, tech companies, and research institutions such as Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, T. Rowe Price and General Dynamics.

"I learned a lot,” said UA SHPE treasurer Celeste Cortez, a senior majoring in electrical and computer engineering. “With over 10,000 students in attendance, the career fair was a bit chaotic, but I was still able to talk to people from over a dozen companies and obtained three interviews with Honeywell, Abbott, and Lutron…. My ECE classes prepared me to answer the more technical questions asked in interviews, and resume workshops, mock interviews, and convention prep were hosted by SHPE.”

Ten of the 60 UA students who attended were ECE majors, and the department provided funding for the students’ travel and registration fees. At the end of the convention, 29% of the UA attendees left with a job or internship offer.

"The convention provided invaluable networking opportunities, enabling students to connect with professionals and peers from diverse backgrounds and fostering collaboration and future career prospects,” Cortez said. 

SHPE is the nation's largest group promoting Hispanic presence and leadership in the STEM field. The overall organization formed in 1974, and the UA chapter was founded less than a decade later in 1982. Since forming, UA SHPE students have contributed thousands of hours of community service dedicated to the retention and support of minority students.

Outside of the classroom, SHPE’s UA chapter also hosts social hiking events and meetups. SHPE UA is open to all majors and ethnicities.

The 2024 SHPE National Convention will take place from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 in Anaheim, California, and will mark the organization's 50th anniversary.