The HR Society at WSU Vancouver was founded in 1998 by a group of enterprising students who wanted to develop networking opportunities for students with HR interests and gain closer ties with the national organization of HR professionals, SHRM.
To that end, these students sought out a faculty advisor, Tahira Probst, and a liason to the Portland chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, Rick Howell (who was also an adjunct professor in the Business school at WSUV).
The chapter was officially chartered in a ceremony at the Heathman in Vancouver in April of 1999. Local and regional members of SHRM and PHRMA (our sponsoring chapter) were present.
Since then, membership in the HR Society has grown from just a few members in 1998 to dozens of interested students each year. Our biggest challenge is finding a time when all can meet on a weekly basis!
In 2000, HR professionals in the southwest Washington area realized that there was a need for an independent chapter of SHRM in this area. Thus, the Southwest Washington Human Resource Management Association (SWHRMA) was founded. SWHRMA immediately began developing ties with our club here on campus by appointing a permanent board member position dedicated to college relations. In addition, at this time, SWHRMA became our new sponsoring chapter with SHRM.
So, that's a little history about our club and how we were founded. For more about our activities and benefits of membership, please click on the links to the left.
We hope to see you at one of our meetings soon!