2015 NCWIT Summit on Women and IT

The 2015 NCWIT Summit on Women and IT: practices and ideas to revolutionize computing took place on May 19-21, 2015 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Hundreds of change leaders from our community of educators, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and social scientists received research, ideas, and action items for increasing girls’ and women’s participation in computing.

2015 Summit Highlights

  • Learning from experts. Notable guests and inspirational plenary speakers included Mayim Bialik, PhD, Actress and Activist; Karen Ashcraft, Professor of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder; Benjamin Todd Jealous, Partner, Kapor Capital; Maggie Johnson, Director of Education and University Relations, Google; and Joan C. Williams, Center for WorkLife Law, Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings Foundation Chair and Director.
  • Taking action. NCWIT Empower Hours are interactive sessions that prepare members to take action at the individual, organizational, and community levels. Attendees learned about research and evidence-based practices from experts in the field, as well as from the experiences of their peers and colleagues, and walked away with strategies they can use.
  • Celebrating. Distinguished honorees included the 2015 NCWIT Pioneer Award Winners Katherine Johnson and Dr. Christine Darden. We also honored recipients of several academic awards that recognize remarkable mentoring, research, recruiting, and retaining efforts in academia. Additionally, we recognized the inaugural winner for the first-ever SET Award for Portrayal of a Female in Technology!

"I am often frustrated by the lack of innovative thinking and new insights from many conferences. This was not my experience at NCWIT. I left Hilton Head inspired and invigorated."

2015 NCWIT Summit Attendee

Speakers

Daniela Marghitu

Daniela Marghitu

Dr. Daniela Marghitu is a professor in the Computer Science...

Lucy Sanders

Lucy Sanders

Lucy Sanders is CEO and Co-founder of the National Center...

Ruthe Farmer

Ruthe Farmer

Ruthe Farmer has focused her efforts on diversity and inclusion...

Cathy Hawley

Cathy Hawley

Cathy Hawley is a Sr. Director of People Development at...

Dalene King

Dalene King

Dalene King is a Global Diversity & Inclusion Manager at...

Amy Gurley

Amy Gurley

Amy Gurley is the global program lead for Bank of...

Lee Wills-Irvine

Lee Wills-Irvine

Lee Wills-Irvine leads Global Diversity & Inclusion at Qualcomm. Her...

Sylvia Martinez

Sylvia Martinez

Sylvia Martinez is a maker, mom, engineer, and co-author of...

Jane Margolis

Jane Margolis

Jane Margolis is a Senior Researcher at UCLA Graduate School...

Emmanuel Schanzer

Emmanuel Schanzer

Emmanuel Schanzer is a CS-expat, having spent several years as a...

Linda Ott

Linda Ott, PhD

Dr. Linda M. Ott received her PhD in computer science...

Telle Whitney

Telle Whitney

Dr. Telle Whitney served as President and CEO of ABI...

Scott McCrickard

Scott McCrickard

Scott McCrickard is an Associate Professor in the Department of...

Renee Fall

Renee Fall

Renee Fall is project manager of the Commonwealth Alliance for...

Eric Bradford

Eric Bradford

Eric T. Bradford is the Managing Director of the Information...

Tracy Camp

Tracy Camp

Tracy Camp is the Department Head and Professor of Computer...

Sharon Simmons

Sharon Simmons

Sharon Simmons is the Computer Science Department Head at James...

Bobby Schnabel

Bobby Schnabel

Bobby Schnabel is a Professor of Computer Science at University...

Martha Kosa

Martha Kosa

Martha Kosa has been a faculty member in the Department...

Shalini Kesar

Shalini Kesar

Shalini Kesar is Associate Professor in Information Systems, department of...

Elsa Macias

Elsa Macias

Education: Ph.D. Policy Analysis, Arizona State University Areas of Expertise:...

Sapna Cheryan

Sapna Cheryan

Dr. Sapna Cheryan is an associate professor of social psychology...

Deborah Keyek-Franssen

Deborah Keyek-Franssen

Watch Deborah Keyek-Franssen’s Summit interview here Deborah Keyek-Franssen, Ph.D. is...

Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly Bryant is the Founder and Executive Director of Black...

Terry Hogan

Terry Hogan

Terry Hogan is the President and CTO at NCWIT. Her...

Cameron Wilson

Cameron Wilson

As Director of Public Policy for ACM, Cameron Wilson develops...

Jeffrey Forbes

Jeffrey Forbes

Jeff Forbes is a Program Director for the Education and...

Stephanie Weber

Stephanie Weber

Stephanie Weber is the NCWIT Director for Regional Initiatives where...

Wendy Hawkins

Wendy Hawkins

Wendy Hawkins is Executive Director of the Intel Foundation.  The...

Stacy Smith

Stacy Smith

Stacy L. Smith’s research focuses on children’s responses to mass...

Michael Lach

Michael Lach

Michael Lach is the Director of STEM policy and Strategic...

Maggie Johnson

Maggie Johnson

Maggie Johnson is Director of Education and University Relations for...

Lynette Kvasny

Lynette Kvasny

Lynette Kvasny received her Ph.D. in Computer Information Systems from...

David Evans

David Evans

David Evans has taught two large open courses for Udacity, including...

Carol Dweck

Carol Dweck

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is a leading researcher in the...

Jan Cuny

Jan Cuny

Since 2004, Jan Cuny has been the Program Officer for...

Mike Younkers

Mike Younkers

Mike Younkers, Senior Director of Systems Engineering for Cisco’s US...

Eileen Sweeney

Eileen Sweeney

Eileen, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led the Motorola...

Ben Eater

Ben Eater

Ben Eater is the Lead Exercise Developer at Khan Academy,...

Jean Sammet

Jean Sammet

Jean E. Sammet is a retired computer scientist and programmer...

Carleen Beste

Carleen Beste

As manager of Corporate Citizenship, Carleen Beste is responsible for...

Cassidy Williams

Cassidy Williams

Cassidy Williams is a computer science undergraduate at Iowa State University....

Matthew Blakely

Matthew Blakely

Born and raised in and around Chicago, Matt Blakely has...

Hadi Partovi

Hadi Partovi

Hadi Partovi is the co-founder and president of Code.org. A Harvard...

Tony Hey

Tony Hey

As Vice President in Microsoft Research, Tony Hey is responsible...

Paula Golden

Paula Golden

As Executive Director of the Broadcom Foundation and Director of...

Alvaro Monge

Dr. Alvaro Monge has earned BS (UC Riverside, 1991), MS,...

Rebecca Dohrman

Rebecca Dohrman

Education: Ph.D. Organizational Communication, Purdue University Areas of Expertise: Qualitative...

Sheryl Sorby

Sheryl Sorby

Sheryl Sorby is Visiting Professor in the Engineering Education and...

David Neal

David Neal

David is a social and behavioral psychologist specializing in behavior...

Colleen Lewis

Colleen Lewis is the McGregor-Girand Associate Professor of Computer Science...

Tim Faiella

Tim Faiella is the Content Director for the National Center...

Kyla McMullen

Watch Dr. Kyla McMullen’s Summit interview here Dr. Kyla McMullen...

Richard Ladner

Richard E. Ladner is a Professor in the Department of...

John Paxton

John Paxton received a B.S. degree in computer science from The...

Mo Fong

Mo Fong

Mo has been at Google for over 10 years and...

Ann Lorbes

Ann Lorbes

Ann Lorbes serves as the lead for Diversity and Inclusion...

Janice Zdankus

Janice Zdankus

Janice Zdankus is Vice President of Quality in Hewlett Packard...

Cameron Fadjo

Cameron Fadjo

Cameron Fadjo, PhD is the Founder and CEO of the...

Ruha Devanesan

Ruha Devanesan

Ruha Devanesan specializes in creating access for the disenfranchised through...

Heather Pon-Barry

Heather Pon-Barry

Heather Pon-Barry is a Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of...

Chris Stephenson

Chris Stephenson

Dr. Chris Stephenson is the Head of Computer Science Education...

Matt Wallaert

Matt Wallaert

Matt Wallaert is a Behavioral Scientist working at the intersection...

Mizuko Ito

Mizuko Ito

Mizuko Ito is a Cultural Anthropologist of Technology Use, examining...

Moritz Hardt

Moritz Hardt

Moritz Hardt is a senior research scientist at Google Research....

Kortney Ziegler

Kortney Ziegler

Kortney Ziegler, PhD, is the Founder of Trans*H4CK, an organization...

Cynthia Solomon

Cynthia Solomon

Cynthia Solomon’s focus has been on creating fun-filled, thoughtful, personally...

Gregory M. Walton

Gregory M. Walton

Greg Walton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford...

Patricia Russo

Patricia Russo

Pat Russo is a technology-industry veteran who has spent her...

Dr. Chris Wood

Dr. Chris Wood

Dr. Chris Wood is an Associate Professor in the Educational...

Sarah Provencal

Sarah Provencal

Sarah Provencal is a director, teacher, and actor. She earned...

Luz M. Gonzalez

Luz M. Gonzalez

Luz M. Gonzalez is Senior Vice President of Solutions Delivery...

Slides

Videos

We greatly appreciate our Media Partners JupiterReturn, Microsoft, and FabLab for production and making the livestream possible.

2015 NCWIT Summit Program

Download the printed program, containing detailed information about speakers, 2015 Community Award recipients, featured new resources, and more.

Download PDF

Extension Services Client Showcase Posters

During the Extension Services Client Showcase at the 2015 NCWIT Summit on Women and IT, selected clients presented posters with high-impact strategies for recruiting and retaining more women students in their undergraduate computing programs. Peruse the posters for the following clients to learn what they did or are doing that may help you achieve your goals.
  • College of St. Scholastica
  • Indiana University-Bloomington
  • Michigan State University
  • Purdue University
  • University of Central Florida
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Texas-El Paso
  • University of Washington
  • Virginia Tech
Download Posters

2015 Book Club

It’s NCWIT FlashTalks … in the Shark Tank.

For over ten years, NCWIT has depended on members’ ideas in order to create the most useful research, tools, and platforms to support their efforts to increase the meaningful participation of girls and women in computing. Here’s a fun way to tell us about your idea — something NCWIT should prioritize in the areas of diversity, education, image, innovation, social movements, and more.

We gave five members of the NCWIT community five minutes each to give a FlashTalk on new ways that NCWIT can continue to empower you as a change leader for women in technology. This was their opportunity to tell us about that item on their wish list — “I really wish NCWIT had research on this,” or “It’d be awesome if NCWIT ran a campaign focused on this.”

Congratulations to Dr. Linda Ott, the winning Flash Tank presenter who received a Surface Pro 3, courtesy of Microsoft, and whose idea will be considered for ideation and possible implementation by NCWIT. View the entire FlashTank in our archive. 

The 2015 NCWIT FlashTank is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada and the NCWIT Board of Directors.

What is a FlashTalk?

If you’ve heard of Ignite® or Pecha Kucha or lightning talks, then you know what we’re talking about. An NCWIT FlashTalk is a short, thought-provoking PowerPoint presentation, delivered in a fixed format:

20 slides that automatically advance every

15 seconds for a total talk time of

5 minutes.

Check out FlashTalk videos from previous NCWIT Summits.

Two Twists: FlashTalks in the Shark Tank

  • A panel of experts will moderate a brief discussion after each FlashTalk to help expand upon your idea. Convince them that they cannot afford to miss out on capitalizing on your idea.
  • At least one innovative idea will be considered for ideation and possible implementation by NCWIT.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship Opportunities for the 2021 NCWIT Summit Are Available

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