Members At Large (MAL)

What is a MAL?
A Member at Large (MAL) is a member who is not a member of a section.

SWE has more than 100 professional sections (which cover geographic areas) and 300 collegiate sections (which are located on campuses). Sections may be formed only in the United States and Puerto Rico.

In general, members are assigned as follows: (1) a collegiate member enrolled at an institution with a collegiate section is assigned to it; if the institution does not have a collegiate section, the collegiate member is assigned to a professional section or the Members at Large (MAL’s) based upon the member’s preferred mailing address; (2) a professional member is assigned to either a professional section or the MAL’s based upon the member’s preferred mailing address.

How are the MALs organized?
The MAL organization provides a framework for communications, support, and representation. To understand how the MALs are organized, it is helpful to understand how SWE is organized.

SWE has divided the United States and Puerto Rico into 10 regions, coded with the letters A through J. Each professional and collegiate section is assigned to one of the 10 regions. Each MAL in the United States and Puerto Rico is also assigned to a region. Each SWE region is led by a governor and has a region council.  Any member who is not a member of a region is an international member.

Each region council consists of representatives from each section in the region.  For MAL representation, one representative is allowed per 100 voting MAL’s or fraction thereof in the region. These representatives are charged with facilitating communications among their constituents and transacting business for the MALs.

The senate is responsibe for charting the strategic direction of SWE.  The senate consists of two professional senators and one collegiate senator from each region plus two international member senators.   MALs can be senators.

MAL representatives elect MAL officers (president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer) for overall administration and coordination.

How many MALs are there?
More than 700 members are MAL’s, and approximately 8% of SWE’s professional members are MAL’s. MAL’s span the globe, as they are located in almost every state as well as in more than 25 foreign countries and U.S. military locations overseas.

More information on MAL

• How Do MALs Support SWE
• How to become a MAL
• Starting a MAL Section