Tools for Role Modeling

I love your mission: how can I get involved?
This is one of the most frequent questions asked of NCWIT by K-12 educators and IT professionals alike. A great way to get involved is to mentor a young, aspiring, female technologist who would benefit from your expertise and wisdom.
For those who are unfamiliar with mentoring in IT, or for those who are well-acquainted with this role but would like to become better-equipped, we have many resources to recommend. On our practices page you’ll find  well-researched and vetted promising practices on topics related to role modeling and mentoring. NCWIT Programs-in-a-Box such as Mentoring-in-a-Box and Outreach-in-a-Box provide all the resources you need to establish a mentoring relationship with a fellow faculty member or co-worker, or talk about your career in IT to a classroom of students. And the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes interviews offer terrific role models for those whose love of IT innovation might set them down an entrepreneurial path.
There are several initatives at our partner organization, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, that facilitate mentoring and role modeling — including the Systers™ online community, the TechLeaders symposia, and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing.The Society of Women Engineers’ Aspire website provides a great compilation of outreach and role modeling resources for women and girls, as do many of the NCWIT K-12 Alliance member websites.
The Computing Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) is accepting applications through February 15 for its Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU), formerly the Distributed Mentoring Program.  This program seeks to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities entering graduate programs in computing and related disciplines by exposing them to graduate-level research experiences, wherein they spend a summer working with qualified faculty and grad students.
Or check out the WomenTech Educators’ Free Webinar, as well as the Video Podcast Series. The WomenTech Educator’s website provides additional resources such as outreach and instructional tools for those who wish to encourage girls’ interest in IT.