The Society of Women Engineers recognizes Cummins Inc. for the company’s impact on the society as well as the engineering community

Cummins Inc. has been recognized by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) for their impact on the Society as well as the engineering community with the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial award. Cummins accepted this award at SWE’s annual conference, WE19, in Anaheim, Calif. Nov. 9, 2019 during the formal awards banquet.

The Rodney D. Chipp Memorial award recognizes Cummins for its efforts in the advancement and acceptance of women in the engineering field. Cummins has a variety of programs, policies and trainings designed to create the right environment for women to advance in the workplace. Some of these programs include a paid parental leave policy, high-quality childcare at Cummins sites, programs that help women re-integrate into STEM positions after leaving the workforce for a period of two or more years, and multiple training and development programs to prepare women for opportunities in their careers.

Since I joined the company 20 years ago, the representation of women has grown significantly at all levels of the company. This improvement was the result of our core value of ‘diversity and inclusion’, which is a part of the fabric of Cummins, leadership commitment and engagement from the top of the company, and a well-developed and thoughtful plan—work which started in earnest many years ago,” said Jennifer Rumsey, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer.

This is only the third time in the history of the Award that it has gone to an organization and not an individual man. The first time was in 1990 when Hewlett Packard received the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award. Last year (2018) the Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division received the Award “for outstanding commitment to recruiting and advancing women engineers; for ensuring the upward mobility of women across its ranks; and for consistent outreach and recruitment aimed at building a vibrant STEM workforce.”

The Rodney D. Chipp Memorial award also recognized Cummins’ continuing dedication to SWE’s mission - striving to highlight the impact and importance of women in engineering across the globe, leading by example, and demonstrating that a career in engineering can be a fulfilling, rewarding pursuit for women of any background.

“Cummins will continue to further advance women in the engineering field and bring equality to the workplace. Despite our success thus far, we know we have more work to do. But because of the efforts of many, there are now many more talented women, and male allies, to help,” said Rumsey.