#BackToSchool: Inspire and Engage Undergraduate Women in Computing

Back To School

The 2015-16 school season is in full swing, and it’s a perfect time to inspire and engage students to choose computing pathways that will lead them to create technological innovations that infuse our daily lives and propel societies.

As change leaders for women in tech, encouraging women to persist in computing is one of the most important assignments to tackle. This newsletter features NCWIT resources and programs focused on retaining undergraduate women in computing by using strategies such as creating a sense of belonging, designing inclusive environments, and providing effective feedback using a growth mindset.

In the spirit of #BackToSchool, we look forward to equipping you with more NCWIT programs and resources to help you achieve your goals as a change leader.

In this email:

NCWIT Resources for Retaining Undergraduate Women with Student Support

NCWIT offers hundreds of free resources to help change leaders reach their various goals. Here is a sampling of key resources for retaining undergraduate women with student support:

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NCWIT Student Seed Fund

Student Seed Fund Logo This fall, the NCWIT Student Seed Fund, sponsored by Google.org in partnership with ACM-W, is expanding to offer up to $15,000 in awards to support the needs of Women in Computing (WIC) groups at different stages of development and varied institutional sizes.

Applications are open for all three awards through October 30, 2015:

Eligible student groups are an existing ACM-W student chapter, or interested in affiliating their WIC group as an ACM-W student chapter, on the campus of a non-profit NCWIT Academic Alliance (AA) institution within the United States:

  • Not an ACM-W student chapter? Click here to get started.
  • All current AA members can be found here. Not on an AA member’s campus? Non-profit institutions within the U.S. can apply for free membership here. Visit www.ncwit.org/aa for more information about the NCWIT Academic Alliance.

NCWIT would like to acknowledge past sponsors of the Student Seed Fund: Symantec and ReturnPath. View the Spring 2015 (Round 10) Winners here.

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NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Community

Thanks to generous support from HP and Qualcomm, a college entry point into the Aspirations Community is available for technical women in college who weren’t previously exposed during high school.

Benefits to women who become part of this vast network include visibility for technical achievements; private invitations to virtual and in-person meetups; exclusive access to scholarships, internships, and job opportunities; and more.

Applications for the Aspirations Community are always open. Visit www.aspirations.org/college for details.

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NCWIT Collegiate Award

Collegiate Award Logo The NCWIT Collegiate Award, sponsored by HP and Qualcomm, honors the outstanding technical accomplishments of undergraduate women at the junior level and above. The award recognizes a specific technical project that demonstrates a high level of creativity and potential societal impact.

Each Collegiate Award winner receives a $7,500 cash award, an engraved award, and a trip to the award ceremony annual NCWIT Summit on Women and IT.

Applications for the 2016 NCWIT Collegiate Award open soon! Visit www.aspirations.org/collegiate for details.

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NCWIT Partners
Copyright ©2015 National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), All rights reserved.
University of Colorado, Campus Box 322 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0322
www.ncwit.org | [email protected] | 303.735.6671


ACM-W Organization Wins Start-up Grant


Computer Science Major Seeks to Create a New ‘Chapter’ for Women in Computing at Stevens


Distinguished Technology Companies Join NCWIT in Inspiring Women in Computing

Apple, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Google, Microsoft, Microsoft Research, Palantir, Qualcomm Incorporated, Symantec, and Venmo support NCWIT’s outreach efforts at the 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing.
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) today announced that Apple, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Google, Microsoft, Microsoft Research, Palantir, Qualcomm, Symantec, and Venmo are supporting NCWIT’s outreach efforts (hosting events and networking opportunities) at the 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing in Phoenix, Arizona from October 8-10, 2014. Sponsored events include:

NCWIT Academic Alliance Reception (sponsored by Microsoft Research): Representatives from current and prospective members of NCWIT’s Academic Alliance, comprised of hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide, will gather to network and compare approaches for implementing institutional change for their post-secondary computing programs. Microsoft Research sponsors the NCWIT Academic Alliance Seed Fund, which provides up to $10,000 for implementation of initiatives focused on recruiting or retaining women in computing degree programs. NCWIT is currently accepting proposals through November 2, 2014. (www.ncwit.org/seedfund)
NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing Networking Meet-ups (separate meet-ups sponsored by Apple, Bank of America, Palantir, and Qualcomm): Executives will meet with Aspirations Award recipients to discuss career opportunities and offer tips for successful technology job searches. The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing is a multi-tiered award competition (with recognition at national and local levels) open to any U.S. high school woman with computing aspirations. NCWIT is currently accepting applications through November 2, 2014. (www.bit.ly/AiCHSAward)
NCWIT Affiliate Award for Aspirations in Computing Breakfast (sponsored by Microsoft): Microsoft, sponsor of the Aspirations Award at the local level, will recognize Aspirations Affiliate Award Coordinators for their extraordinary voluntary contributions, making it possible to serve all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands with the Aspirations Award program.  
NCWIT Student Seed Fund Lunch (sponsored by Symantec): Executives will hear from several student winners of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund, sponsored by Symantec. The Student Seed Fund provides $1,000 to student-run programs and initiatives that promote increased participation of women in higher education computing programs. NCWIT is currently accepting proposals through October 26, 2014. (www.ncwit.org/studentseedfund)
NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Reunion Dinner (sponsored by Bloomberg): Aspirations in Computing Community members will reunite and catch up on educational and work experiences since their recognitions. Bloomberg sponsors the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Community, a peer network of technical young women connected to hundreds of NCWIT corporate, academic, and non-profit organizations nationwide.
EngageCSEdu Demo Sessions (sponsored by Google): Representatives will provide interactive demos of EngageCSEdu, a website containing a dynamic collection of high-quality, open course materials for introductory computer science courses contributed by faculty from across the country. (www.ncwit.org/engagecsedu)
Sit With Me Photo Booth (sponsored by Venmo): Attendees are invited to take a stand for women in technology by getting their photo taken in the iconic Red Chair of Sit With Me – a national advocacy campaign that provides a gathering place for all people to acknowledge the valuable contributions of women in computing. (www.sitwithme.org)

Additional events include: meet-ups and receptions for current and prospective members of NCWIT’s Affinity Group, Entrepreneurial, and Workforce Alliances, as well as NCWIT Pacesetters. Visit www.ncwit.org/NCWITatGHC for more information about NCWIT’s participation at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing.
“Organizations acting together make a far better impact on expanding diversity in computing than a person or an organization acting alone,” said NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders. “It’s motivating to see representatives from multiple disciplines and industries come together in support of these promising technical young women.”
NCWIT is also pleased to announce that Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Ruthe Farmer will be honored at the conference with the 2014 Social Impact ABIE Award during the opening plenary session on Wednesday, October 8, 2014. (http://bit.ly/ghcRuthe)
“It is such an honor to be recognized by the Grace Hopper community with this award,” said Farmer.  “The Aspirations in Computing program has built an incredible, national network for technical young women, and we are excited to see the impact this incredibly connected group will have on the tech industry.”
The Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing is produced by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and is presented in partnership with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Find out more at www.gracehopper.org.
About NCWIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 575 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT equips change leaders with resources for taking action in recruiting, retaining, and advancing women from K–12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers. Find out more at www.ncwit.org.
NCWIT receives significant financial support from Strategic Partners NSF (National Science Foundation), Microsoft, Bank of America, Google, and Intel, as well as from Investment Partners Avaya, Pfizer, Merck, Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc., AT&T, Bloomberg, and Hewlett-Packard. View all of NCWIT’s supporters at www.ncwit.org/about/supporters.
www.twitter.com/ncwit | www.facebook.com/ncwit | www.ncwit.org/linkedin 
 
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Energized by Grant, U of M Chapter of ACM-W Plans to Grow


GGC’s Women in Information Technology Group Receives Gift


In the News: 2016 NCWIT Summit, Latinas in Tech Raise Awareness, Up to 15K in Seed Funds Available, and More

NCWIT
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This newsletter provides a monthly recap of the biggest headlines about women and computing, news about NCWIT, and links to resources to equip you as change leaders for increasing women’s participation in technology. Practices or content of the news presented are not vetted or endorsed by NCWIT.


NCWIT News and Opportunities

Summit Icon2016 NCWIT Summit on Women in IT: It’s a Wrap!

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) recently held its annual “NCWIT Summit on Women and IT: practices and ideas to revolutionize computing” just outside Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. The three-day event took place on Monday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 18, and hosted over 700 change leaders from the NCWIT community.

Agenda highlights are as follows:

  • The speaker lineup of renowned experts and special guests included Madeline Di Nonno, CEO, Geena Davis Institute; Dave Filoni, Executive Producer / Supervising Director, Star Wars Rebels; Moritz Hardt, Senior Research Scientist, Google Research; Melissa Harris-Perry, Presidential Endowed Chair in Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University; Ben Jones, Professor of Strategy and the Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship, Kellogg School of Management; and Patricia Russo, Chairman, Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

    A full lineup of featured speakers can be found in our press release.

  • NCWIT and program sponsors honored more than 40 members from the NCWIT community for their change leadership, mentorship, and technological accomplishments in academia. Award ceremonies took place for the NCWIT Collegiate Award and the NCWIT Harrold and Notkin Research and Graduate Mentoring Award, among many others.

    “Celebrating the progress and accomplishments of our heroes elevates them as exemplary role models for women in tech,” said NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders. “By putting these individuals in the spotlight, we hope others can see themselves as part of an innovative movement where they too can shine.”

    A summary of all the award recipients can be found here.

  • One of the most anticipated awards ceremonies of the 2016 NCWIT Summit was the inaugural Reel Women in Technology (Reel WiT) Award. Presented by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Google, and NCWIT, the award recognizes the best portrayal of a leading woman in technology from a program (e.g. documentary, tv show, film, Youtube, etc.) who serves as a role model for girls and women with computing aspirations while disrupting the stereotypes of female ingenuity in technology fields.

    Find out more about this year’s fiction and non-fiction award winners — Rey from Star Wars and CodeGirl — in our press release. And, relive the excitement of the awards presentation in this Summit Archive video.

The 2016 NCWIT Summit is sponsored by NCWIT Strategic and Investment Partners with production and live streaming support from Media Partners Johnson & Johnson, JupiterReturn, and SWIFT. Additional support is provided by Brad Feld and Amy Batchelor, Link Technologies, as well as USAA.

TECHNOLOchicas LogoLatinas in Tech Raise Awareness of Their Opportunities

TECHNOLOchicas, a campaign launched by NCWIT and Televisa Foundation, was recently featured in the Computing Research Association’s online publication Computing Research News. The national initiative is designed to raise awareness among young Latinas and their families about opportunities and careers in technology.

Latinas represent a vastly untapped talent pool, and their current representation in tech in both education and the workforce is dismal. TECHNOLOchicas’ goal is to narrow this gap between potential talent and technological opportunities. It features the powerful stories of five Latinas from diverse backgrounds and environments who share a passion for technology and its power to change the world including Janet Barrientos, Madeline Martinez, Natalia Rodriguez, Jessica Santana, and Janeth Vargas.

The campaign also provides a variety of resources, in English and Spanish, to help families encourage the daughters and young women in their lives to pursue computing. You can learn more about how TECHNOLOchicas got started, their future goals for Latinas in tech, and how you can get involved here.

Student Seed LogoApplications for Awards (up to $15,000) Are Still Open

Did you know that the deadline to apply for the Spring 2016 NCWIT Student Seed Fund has been extended through May 31, 2016? The NCWIT Student Seed Fund has invested over $178,250 in 129 student-run programs for women in computing at NCWIT Academic Alliance institutions and offers an opportunity to create or expand ACM-W chapters on college and university campuses.

Thanks to the generous support of Google.org, the Student Seed Fund awards are much higher this year — up to $15,000 each!

Applications are open:

Encourage students following a computing pathway to apply today!

We are also thrilled to congratulate the January 2016 NCWIT Student Seed Fund Winners. Check them out here.

News on the Radar

Social Good and Emotion Can Supplement the “Business Case”

Business-related reasons are often a motivation behind organizational change, and research does show that increased diversity leads to increased performance and productivity for technology businesses. However, in a recent Harvard Business Review article, Todd L. Pittinsky questions whether or not the “business case” is the right case to sell Silicon Valley on diversity and inclusion. “The Valley’s tech workers are overwhelmingly men (83%) who are white or Asian (94%). Yet Silicon Valley is also by far one of the most innovative collections of people not only in the U.S. today but perhaps anywhere, ever. This might explain why the creativity and innovation arguments for workplace diversity, while seemingly compelling at first blush, haven’t had the expected impact on business investment in diversity,” argues Todd.

As an alternative, supplemental “case,” Todd offers social good and emotion. “Put simply, the negative emotions that tend to go along with bias — fear, anger, contempt, and the like — are damaging. Replace those feelings with positive emotions and we all will benefit,” explains Todd. By encouraging positive emotions through diversity, workplaces may find improvement in its capacity for innovation.

Encouragement Can Lead to Women Exploring Next Chapters in CS Education

The Vancouver Sun recently shared Conversations that Matter’s video featuring Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College (Academic Alliance member). Maria has over 30 years of experience in working to recruit, retain, and advance women’s opportunities in computer science fields and gave great advice in the segment on how to increase a more gender balanced workforce in computer science fields. In the video, broken into three segments, she discussed the multiple causes of the currently dismal gender diversity statistics in STEM fields, stating that the problem goes all the way back to when computers first started coming into homes, but that it’s a relatively easy problem to fix. Some of her solutions included making introductory computer science courses in higher education less intimidating for everyone and to encourage the women in the courses to continue exploring the next chapters in their CS education.

Maria went on to say that engaging young women and encouraging them to continue their STEM education will increase the percentage of women majoring and pursuing careers in computer science and that there is currently tremendous opportunity for a woman at any stage in her life to pursue the computer science field. One way to create a more appealing learning experience for all students is to utilize NCWIT EngageCSEdu. It offers thousands of unique course materials to foster diversity in introductory CS courses.

NASA Increases Its Efforts to Involve More Women in the Space Apps Challenge

Fast Company recently chatted with Beth Beck, NASA’s open innovation project manager, on her efforts to get more women to participate in NASA’s Space Apps Challenge, which has consistently struggled to get women involved in past events. Her goal was to identify the key levers that would better attract women to what is known as one of the world’s largest hackathons. Among the trends that emerged, it was discovered that women care about having a safe and supportive environment, preparation time for the event, provided childcare support, and to be able to contribute to the hackathon experience. By implementing Beth’s research findings, NASA anticipates appealing to a wider range of female participants and boosting their attendance for future Space Apps Challenges.

A few simple steps can go a long way toward increasing women and girls’ participation in computing competitions. NCWIT’s Top 10 Ways to Increase Girls’ Participation in Computing Competitions offers straightforward suggestions on how to make competitions appeal to a wider range of female students. It pairs well with Revolutionize Your Computing Competitions and Tournaments to Increase Diversity, workshop slides from the 2015 NCWIT Summit that explore the best and worst practices in creating a more inclusive computing tournament. Both are ideal resources to utilize in creating a more successfully inclusive event for all students.

“The Bar” Says A Lot About Your Company

Laura Weidman Powers is tired of hearing, “If there are qualified blacks, Latinos, and/or women out there, we’d love to hire them but we’re not going to lower the bar.” In her recent article on LinkedIn, Laura, Co-Founder and CEO of CODE2040, discusses two faulty assumptions embedded in this statement. First, it presumes that companies are being asked to “lower the bar” when, in fact, no one “seriously dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace” is asking anyone to relax hiring standards. Second, it presumes that there is an “actual, objective, predefined bar with clear methods for measuring against it.” But, “hiring is not that scientific.” The “best” candidate is not always a clear cut choice, and candidates are frequently hired or turned away for vague reasons such as “cultural fit.” As Powers notes, “’the bar’ and who clears its hurdle says just as much about the company and the interviewer representing it as it does the candidate applying for the role.”

Instead of worrying about not “lowering the bar,” companies need to treat the development of a diverse workforce like any other critical business issue. The research shows that creating a more diverse workforce leads to superior productivity and financial performance, leaving a positive impact on technology businesses. NCWIT has developed multiple resources like Recruiting, Retaining, and Advancing a Diverse Technical Workforce: Data Collection and Strategic Planning Guidelines and the Manager Recruitment/Selection Program in-a-Box to help businesses get started on attaining their diversity goals.

“Techies” Showcases Diversity in Silicon Valley

In a recent Fortune article, Kia Kokalitcheva spoke with Helena Price on her latest photography project called “Techies.” The three-month-long portrait-project showcases the stories of 100 members of the tech community whose backgrounds are diverse and unique in Silicon Valley. The project’s two main goals are to show the outside world a more comprehensive picture of people who work in tech and to bring a bit of attention to people in the industry who stories have never been heard, considered, or celebrated. “I want people from outside of tech to realize that there are lots of different people here in tech,” said Helena.

Displaying the diversity in the tech industry, like it is in “Techies,” can be a great way to increase girls’ interest in computing and help close the gap between potential talent and opportunities in tech. NCWIT programs like Aspirations in Computing share real-life female role models in the tech industry that young girls interested in computing can look up to. The TECHNOLOchicas campaign also features the stories of Latinas passionate about technology and offers great resources (in English and Spanish) to help families encourage the young women in their lives to pursue opportunities and careers in technology.

For the latest news about women and IT, links to new NCWIT resources and more, follow us on Facebook and Twitter


NCWIT Partners
Copyright ©2016 National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), All rights reserved.
University of Colorado, Campus Box 322 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0322
www.ncwit.org | [email protected] | 303.735.6671


Kean U. Student Group Awarded National Funding for Women in Computing


Michigan Tech Women in Computing Sciences Wins Grant


National Center for Women & Information Technology Awards Grant to Valparaiso University’s New Computer Science Association


National Center for Women & Information Technology Supports Rensselaer Chapter of Association for Computing Machinery’s Women in Computing


NCWIT and Symantec Give Grants to Support the Recruitment of More Women to Technology

NCWIT’s Student Seed Fund Supports Student-led Recruitment Programs
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) announced today the seventh round of winners of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund, sponsored by Symantec Corporation. Each winner will receive $1,000 for projects that recruit, retain, and encourage girls and women to participate in technology and computing career fields.
The NCWIT Student Seed Fund has provided $53,250 in seed funding for 80 student-run projects at universities and colleges nationwide since 2010. NCWIT Student Seed Fund projects include programming workshops, after-school programs, student mentoring, peer support, professional training, and other opportunities serving thousands of elementary, middle-school, high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students. With Symantec’s support, NCWIT was able to increase the grant awarded to recipients of the seventh round of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund awards.
“Symantec recognizes the business advantages of a diverse technical workforce and is proud to support programs that help attract and retain diverse technical pipeline,” said Charmy Ruparel, Program Manager, Global Diversity. “We look forward to hearing the success stories of the student-led chapters and congratulate the winners for taking initiative to encourage more young women to enter the technology workforce.”
“Fifty-seven percent of undergraduate degrees are earned by women, but only 18 percent of computing degrees are earned by women,” said Lucy Sanders, CEO of NCWIT. “We are proud to support innovative student-led programs that can help to maintain female students’ interest in the computing discipline.”
Following are the recipients of the seventh round of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund awards:

California State University, Long Beach will host a Circuit Workshop that will show girls how to make a blinking LED circuit and an HTML workshop teaching girls how to build their own website.
Hodges University will host a “Bits & Bytes” lunch and learn. Their lunch will include industrial leader keynote presentations and a programming workshop to introduce programming to mothers and children.
Pellissippi State Community College will host an event and invite professionals from the community to share their experiences as IT professionals. This event will cater to young women and guidance counselors from local high schools as well as women who are enrolled or interested in CSIT.
Princeton University will host various events including a Java workshop for high school students, a workshop for disadvantaged middle school students, and a hardware workshop for minority students.
Santa Monica College will host a semester kick-off event and open house for students, which will highlight the array of career options available in the computer science field.
University of Nevada, Reno will host an introduction to computer science seminar for women to recruit students with undecided majors as well as students from various community colleges.
University of North Carolina, Charlotte will conduct weekly outreach programs for local middle schools using Lego kits to promote interest in advanced robotics.
University of North Texas will host a book club based on “Lean in: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” by Sheryl Sandberg and host a Software Testing Competition using a web app called “Bug Catcher.”
University of Texas at Austin will hold an AWIT-iSchool Showcase that will be a conference for female students.  At this conference, graduate and undergraduate students will present posters of their work from classes, internships, or volunteer experiences.
University of Texas at El Paso will organize an Engineering Mixer for Women with the objective to connect female engineering students to pre-professional opportunities.

 
About NCWIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 500 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps organizations more effectively recruit, retain, and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers. Find out more at http://www.ncwit.org.