The Society of Women Environmental Professionals was started in 1995.


The National Society of Women Environmental Professionals (SWEP) incorporated and held its first Board meeting on January 6, 2003 and elected a Board of Directors and officers.
National SWEP is a national non-profit professional association of persons involved or interested in environmental law, science, business, and policy. Members include attorneys, consulting scientists and engineers, non-profit organizations, students, educators, government employees, and the regulated community.
The purpose of National SWEP is to support the goals of the existing SWEP chapters and encourage the establishment of new SWEP chapters in other communities. SWEP's goals include encouragement of education and professional development, exchange of substantive information and work experiences, networking, and public service.
If you have any questions about National SWEP or any of the SWEP chapters, please contact Sonya Ward, National SWEP Chair at 484-354-7611. More information about the four SWEP chapters can be found at Other Chapters.

The Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia

SWEP is a national non-profit professional association of women involved or interested in environmental law, science, business, and policy. Our Philadelphia Chapter serves as a resource for members in the Philadelphia region, providing opportunities for professional development through educational programming, social events, mentoring, and public service.

Welcome to our New Website!

SWEP of Greater Philadelphia is pleased to roll out our new and improved website.  As a result of considerable issues we have had in the past with membership management, acceptance of electronic methods of payment, and content management, among others, SWEP has developed this new site to better serve our members and to help us better manage the information that is vital to our organization.  As budgets permit, we hope to be adding additional features and functionalities over time.  We hope you find the website significantly improved and we encourage you to let us know how we can make it even better.  While the site has undergone extensive testing, if you find bugs, discrepancies, errors, or things that just don’t make sense, please contact one of the Chairs of our Web Site Committee, Kathy Zvarick (kzvarick@envstd.com) or Ruth Forman (rforman@envstd.com), and thank you for your patience as we work through any last remaining issues you may come across.

Your SWEP Membership

It’s that time of year again.  All SWEP of Greater Philadelphia memberships expired January 1 (unless you have paid your dues since October, 2008).  We now accept credit card payments for memberships!

To renew your existing membership, log in with your username and password (see the log in link at the top right of this page), and select Membership Due on the left side of the page.  Also, please check your profile information at this time and make any corrections/changes necessary  It is possible that your profile information was incorrectly migrated from the old website to this new website. This is especially true for the fields of expertise, an important function of our member search engine, and phone number.

If you are applying for a new membership (you have not been a member in the past), please select the Join SWEP tab above and follow the prompts.

Upcoming Programs

SWEP of Greater Philadelphia will be hosting its annual regulatory update meeting on June 25 at the PA DEP’s Southeast Regional Office in Norristown.  Stay tuned for more information about the agenda and schedule.  In conjuction with this meeting, we will be having a networking lunch followed by our annual business meeting.  Please join us to help make SWEP a better organization!  RSVP by June 19 to phila.swep.programs@gmail.com and let us know if you will be attending the regulatory update program, the networking lunch, and/or the annual business meeeting.

Periodically check the Events tab above to learn about other upcoming SWEP and non-SWEP events.

 SWEP Grants

 SWEP of Greater Philadelphia is pleased to announce the award of its 2009 Environmental Grant to Girls Inc. of Delaware. Girls Inc. is an organization whose mission is to help girls discover their full potential and develop self confidence. The purpose of their project is to bring native wildlife back into an urban neighborhood by planting native species and bird houses. Through doing so, organizers hope to show girls the importance of being good stewards of their environment. Girls will work with their instructors to select appropriate plants with the assistance of the Delaware Nature Society, then do the planting, monitor the visitors to this urban garden, and, finally, identify and document the different species. According to Beth Hyde, Chair of SWEP’s Grant Committee, “we are excited about this project because it promotes interest in science for the young girls participating in the program. They also will be able to see that their involvement can have a direct, positive impact on the environment. “