SHPE San Diego
In the fall of 1981, a group of young engineers inspired by Jesse Macias gathered to form the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Engineers. The group, led by Juan Garcia included Jesus Armendariz, Marcia Ledezma, and Imelda Soto. For six months they operated without a formal organizational structure until the Spring of 1982 when other people heard the good news. Mike Cruz, Luis Gallegos, and Jose Valdez joined the group.
By this time, Juan Garcia had also planted the seed at San Diego State University and the student chapter at SDSU was already actively recruiting members. Robert Espinosa was the first student chapter President. Gil Montez, Jess Sandoval, Jorge Rosales, Ricardo Reyes, Paz Gomez, Ramon Ruelas, Marcelo Cabello, and Danny Delgadillo were the original student chapter members.
On May 20, 1982 the San Diego Chapter honored its first two graduating seniors at the now defunct Soledad Franco Restaurant located at 1st and B streets, SHPE San Diego began a tradition when it honored these graduating seniors. Since then, SHPE has honored more than 600 young men and women who have achieved a long held dream of becoming engineers or scientists.
SHPE National
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1974 by a group of engineers employed by the city of Los Angeles. Their objective was to form a national organization of professional engineers to serve as role models in the Hispanic community.
The concept of Networking was the key basis for the organization. SHPE quickly established two student chapters to begin the network that would grow to encompass the nation as well as reach countries outside the United States. Today, SHPE enjoys a strong but independent network of professional and student chapters throughout the nation.