Early career leadership opportunities 'ECLIPSE' former programs

Marian Heller
Center for Leadership and Diversity

The initial meeting of ECLIPSE (Early Career Leadership Intern Program to Serve Engineering) was held during the Summer Annual Meeting in San Francisco last month. ASME's top leadership attended the event and participated in discussions with current ECLIPSE and former Leadership Development Initiative and Minority Leadership Program interns and mentors. The meeting was followed by a wine reception hosted by Mark and Catherine Lengsfeld, former interns in the LDI and MLP programs, respectively.

At the ECLIPSE meeting: (from left) Linda Riley, Center for Leadership and Diversity; Past President Harry Armen; new ECLIPSE intern Lauren Rathmann; ASME Executive Director Virgil Carter; new intern Jill Anderson; Immediate Past President Gene Feigel; and ASME President Terry Shoup.

Incoming ECLIPSE interns Jill Anderson and Lauren Rathmann were welcomed at the meeting and reception, and met their mentors, Linda Riley, Center for Leadership and Diversity, and Past President Gene Feigel of the Board of Governors, respectively. Anderson and Rathmann participated in meetings throughout SAM.

The ECLIPSE program, created by the Committee on Internship Programs, combines the most effective aspects of the former Leadership Development Initiative and Minority Leadership Intern Program to provide early career engineers an opportunity to participate in ASME units, attend leadership training opportunities and work closely with a mentor within the Society.

From left: ASME Executive Director Virgil Carter; departing LDI intern Howard Berkof; Past President Harry Armen; departing LDI intern Mark Treat; Immediate Past President Gene Feigel; and new President Terry Shoup. Berkof, Treat and Robert Camp (not pictured) were the last three interns in the Leadership Diversity Initiative program.

Response to the unified leadership development program has been enthusiastic, with funded internships established by the Board of Governors and the Centers Sector, as well as five internships sponsored by the Knowledge and Community Sector alone. The Committee on Internship Programs welcomes additional internships — any board, committee, center or sector can sponsor an intern and provide travel funding for the intern's activities with that society unit.

Please contact Larry Dickinson, dickinsonl@asme.org, Mary Legatski, legatskim@asme.org, or Karma Snyder, Karma.K.snyder@nasa.gov, to establish an internship in time for the fall promotional campaign to ASME executive leadership, unit leaders and the YEC and ECE communities. Look for application information and materials on the Volunteer Resources page under the Leadership Section of asme.org.

back to news & features