Alumni Spotlight

Diane (Belcher) Phillips ’84 ALUMNI spotlight

The power of networking

Diane, the newest member of the Dean of Engineering Advisory Board, talks about establishing scholarships for Women in Defense at UMassD.

Diane (Belcher) Phillips, Vice President of Boston Operations for Joint Research and Development (JRAD), has devoted her entire career to the development of protective clothing and equipment for National Security programs and managing organizations that include this mission. She earned her BS degree in Textile Technology with a minor in Mechanical Engineering Technology at UMass Dartmouth and her Masters of Textile Science from North Carolina State University.

Diane currently serves as events chair for the UMassD Alumni Association, is the VP of STEM for the Women in Defense-Greater Boston Chapter (WID-GBC), and is the newest member of the Dean of Engineering Advisory Board where she works closely with Dr. Jean VanderGheynst, dean of the College of Engineering.

Diane and Jean along with Charlene Mello, chief scientist at the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Soldier Center (CCDC-SC) in Natick and scholarship committee chair of WID-GBC, created a scholarship for women in engineering at UMass Dartmouth. “Jean told me she wanted to put on a student event during fall 2019,” Diane said. “I am a member of the board of WID-GBC, which readily develops meaningful events. So we started working together to create the first UMass Dartmouth/WID-GBC event. We were so pleased with the results. We had a great panel of women working in the defense industry, and a speed networking session.”

The National Director of Women in Defense, Rachel McCaffrey keynoted. “She subsequently invited me to At the end of the first event, we had a $1,000 profit and this enabled the establishment of the WID-GBC UMassD Scholarship.”

Diane (Belcher) Phillips ‘84

the National Defense Industrial Association and WID Conference in DC to present the event as a model for other chapters to emulate. At the end of the first event, we had a $1,000 profit and this enabled the establishment of the WID-GBC UMassD Scholarship.” The goal is to raise $5,000 over each of the next five years to create an endowed scholarship.

WID Women in Negotiation Workshop

On December 2, 2020 the UMass Dartmouth College of Engineering and Alumni Relations partnered with the greater Boston Chapter of Women in Defense to offer a workshop Women and Negotiation. Nearly 70 students and working professionals attended to learn and practice negotiation skills.

The event raised $5,000 for a scholarship for a participant in the UMass Dartmouth Women in Engineering program. Future events will connect students with working professional mentors to build career planning and job negotiation skills.