Doris McNulty #30

Doris M. McNulty, SWE Founding Member and Charter Member of the Philadelphia Section, was very active in the section from its earliest days through 1977 when her work took her out of the United States for about a decade. She is one of the women engineering students at the Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) who met during 1948 to socialize with other women engineers and students, many of whom were evening school students. She served in most section offices, including several terms as Chairman, Treasurer, Section Representative, and head of various committees during the 1950s until she left the area in the 1970s. She was also active at the national level on the Board of Directors (1952-1954) and as an editor of the national newsletter, Journal of SWE, - the first few issues were published from her home in Philadelphia. Since her retirement in 1992, she rejoined the Philadelphia Section and has served as a valued source of information on the beginnings of SWE and early local customs such as the SWE bracelet and fines for not wearing your SWE pin to meetings. Doris became a registered Professional Engineer in 1961. She was named to the Philadelphia Section Hall of Fame in 2009.

Doris McNulty began her electrical engineering studies at Drexel as a day student shortly after the end of World War II. After two years she dropped out of college for financial reasons and went to work for General Electric as a draftsman. Several years later she returned to Drexel, graduated with a technical diploma in 1957, and received her degree in 1958. The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a seven-column spread about her in the Sunday Edition of the paper when the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia honored her during Engineers’ Week in 1972.

During her working career Doris was a designer for a sub-contractor for Westinghouse Steam Turbines, an engineer for Electric Boat in Groton, CT, and both a designer and engineer during her 35-year tenure at United Engineers & Constructors, now part of the Washington Group. From 1977 to 1979 she was Site Engineer during the construction of the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in Canada. From then through June 1987 she worked in Italy as a consultant to an engineering effort to develop a standard power plant that could be built on any site. In 1992 she retired as a consulting instrumentation and controls engineer for the company’s Power Division.

Sources:
"Drexel Women in Engineering Celebrate 50 Years of Accomplishment." DREXEL MAGAZINE. Summer 1999: 4-5.
McNulty, Doris "SWE’s 50th Anniversary: Reflections on the Early Days." THE OUTLOOK. March 2000.
Journal of SWE, Spring 1951, Sept 1951, Jan 1952, March 1952, June 1952, June 1952, Sept 1952, Mar 1953
Personal memories and interviews – Doris M. McNulty, Alma K. Forman, Barbara C. Faust

Mission: Stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, demonstrate the value of diversity.