NSBE Banquet
Join us for the 19th annual NSBE Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m., featuring speaker George Smith. Registration is currently open through Feb. 12.
The banquet includes a meal and will be held in the Multi-Flex Theater inside Indiana Tech’s Snyder Academic Center, 1600 E. Washington Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46803.
All proceeds will be used to support the Indiana Tech NSBE chapter, including attendance at conventions, contributions to our scholarship and endowment and support for initiatives such as study tables or community service. If you have a specific initiative for your contribution, please let us know.
Our Keynote Speaker
George Smith is a prolific engineer, consultant, mentor and author who has spent his entire career championing opportunities for Black students in engineering education. In fact, Mr. Smith is part of the Chicago Six—a group of students who founded the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at Purdue University in April 1975. Mr. Smith was pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at the time.
During his career, Mr. Smith held various engineering positions at General Motors, General Electric and the Hewlett-Packard Electronic Components Group. While at HP, Mr. Smith was a district manager and was responsible for hiring, training, coaching and managing field engineers in seven Midwestern states. His career achievements at HP were honored in 1989 when HP founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard personally presented him with the HP President’s Club Award, the highest honor offered within the organization.
Since retiring from for-profit work in 2015, Mr. Smith continues to volunteer his time to strengthen non-profit, career-focused STEM organizations that create educational opportunities in the Chicagoland area. For the past five years, he has been a member of the Minority Outreach Committee of the Chicago Engineers Foundation and the Black Inventors Hall of Fame Museum Board. He also began the NSBE History Founding Archive Collection Team (F.A.C.T), which serves to preserve the rich history of how students and their Purdue and corporate allies brought NSBE to life almost 50 years ago.