2016 NCWIT Summit – NCWIT Extension Services Transformation (NEXT) Awards

MAGGIE JOHNSON: Now it’s time for me to share the stage with some outstanding NCWIT change leaders. Being honored today for their significant contributions to the retention and recruitment of girls and women in the fields of computer science and information technology. They are all participants in the NCWIT extension services for undergraduate programs, and we celebrate their accomplishments through the NCWIT next awards. The awards reflect and reward practices that NCWIT recognizes as having the most significant impact on the long term goal of increasing the number of women in information technology and other computing related fields. Winning departments show significant positive outcomes in women’s enrollment and graduation rates and have excellent potential for maintaining these gains. Google knows that making progress in these underrepresentation issues requires systemic and sustained effort and we’re really thrilled to honor these winners today. We’ll begin with our honorable mentions. First we have Dr. Tiffany Reardon from the University of California Berkley’s department of electrical engineering and computer science. Unfortunately Tiffany could not be here today but we wanted to mention her nonetheless. Dr. Rita Powell, if you could stand. [audience applause] She is from the University of Pennsylvania’s departments of computer and information science mechanical engineering and applied mechanics and electrical and systems engineering. Okay, in second place we have a tie. Please come to the stage as I call your name. University of Texas Austin Department of Computer Science accepting is Dr. Alison Norman, lecturer of computer science. [audience applause] The University of Texas at Austin has been selected for it’s allocation of resources towards building a department wide culture of support and community for women, through a constellation of recruitment and retention strategies that rely on goals that are shared by administrators, staff, students and faculty. UT Austin has addressed the challenge of soaring enrollments head on, and at the same time made significant progress on retention issues, which is not an easy thing to do. Congratulations Alison. [audience applause] Tied for second place is Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science. Accepting the award is Dr. Barbara Ryder, professor of computer science. [audience applause] Virginia Tech has been selected for it’s efforts in admission policies. They have an array of initiatives focusing on internal and external student recruitment and retention, such as peer mentoring, a strong CS minor, and outreach to the living learning community. The increase in women students along with the cultural changes are not only impressive, but also sustainable. Congratulations to Barbara. [audience applause] And now in first place, the University of California-Irvine School of Information and Computer Sciences. Accepting the award is Dr. Debra Richardson. [audience applause] UC Irvine has been selected for it’s extensive internal and external outreach efforts as well as the commitment to a fair and consistent evaluation of it’s students. In addition, the focus on developing interdisciplinary courses for non majors has helped increase the number of women and has supported cultural change in the department. We also acknowledge their effort to seek external funding from industry partners to further their impact and share results via conference papers so that others can learn from their success. Congratulations Debra. [audience applause] We’d also like to acknowledge the extension services consultants who worked closely with each of these universities. These winning departments are great models to emulate. They, with the support of NCWIT and the extension services consultants have implemented retention strategies that really work and that we can all learn from. Congratulations again to all the award winners. [audience applause]