1. Overview of NCWIT and Aspirations in Computing1

2. Computing Foundational

3. COMPUTING IS: Ubiquitous, pervasive
Driving the U.S. and global economies
A Backbone for transportation, communication, commerce
Spurring innovation in science and technology
Changing human relationships and infrastructures

4. COMPUTING WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS
14% metric from gartner on CTOs ….
Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity 2015; Department of Labor Bureau of Labor, Employment by Detailed Occupation 2014 (Occupational Category: ); CRA Taulbee Survey

5. Who Is Inventing
Computing?

6. WE HAVE A PIPELIINE PROBLEM …..
GIRLS COMPRISE
22% of AP CS exam-takers
WOMEN EARN
17% of CIS degrees
Bachelor’s Degrees
2014: About 14% male and female students completed CIS degrees who were a race other than White (including Asians)
2014: About 3% male and female students completed CIS degrees who were a race other than White (EXcluding Asians)
In 1985, WOMEN EARNED
37% of CIS degrees
Source IPEDS (included all not-for-profit, degree-granting institutions in the US)

7. THAT CONTINUES INTO THE
WORKFORCE
WOMEN COMPRISE 57%
of U.S. Professional Occupations
WOMEN HOLD 25%
of U.S. Technology Jobs
WOMEN MAKE UP 18%
of U.S. Software Developers
56% leave their private sector corporate jobs by mid – career, twice the quit rate of technical men
Only 5% of TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP Jobs Are Held by Women
SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Labor Current Population Survey, 2014

8. IMPACT OF GENDER ON TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION: PATENTING
NCWIT – Who Invents IT? –

9. Why Does This Matter?

10. DIVERSITY BENEFITS CREATIVITY
Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups.
Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2009.

11. WOMEN IMPROVE INNOVATION
A group’s collective intelligence is not predicted by the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.
“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.

12. NCWIT Can Help

13. NCWIT: A TRUSTED SOURCE

14. ASPIRATIONS IN COMPUTING

15. ASPIRATIONS COMMUNITY GROWING RAPIDLY
In 2007 – 15 members
By 2012 – 1,505 members
Today, there are over 7,000 members from every state and 70 regional affiliates
77% of those who enter in high school who have moved on to college reported having a Computing or Engineering major or minor
This has to be the best program I have seen
to recognize students... NCWIT goes very far in helping [young women]
see the benefits of a
tech career.
~ Educator “ ”
“This has to be the best program I have seen to recognize students... NCWIT goes very far in helping [young women] see the benefits of a tech career.”
~ educator

16. Keep them IN the computing pipeline!
How do we tap into this potential?
Find the young women active and interested in computing before college (the low-hanging fruit)
Recognize them for their aspirations and achievements
Inform them about future education and job prospects
Support them along the educational path with:
Information, Scholarships, Internships, Jobs, Mentors, After-school/summer Programs, a Peer Network
Keep them IN the computing pipeline!

17. NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing
Identify, recognize and encourage young women for their aspirations and achievements in computing
Build and support the IT workforce talent pool
A national award with local affiliate system
Provides peer networking through Facebook group – mitigating the isolation girls experience
Builds direct relationships between girls interested in computing and universities and employers
Leslie – NCWIT is brilliant at dealing with scalability and replicability, this is a great example of extending reach without increasing resource loads
Excited about the potential of this award and the pipeline we can build from it – nothing else like it out there; can extend to middle school and even post-secondary grad school one day …. 17

18. How can you get involved?
Affiliate Awards Program
Become an active Committee Member
Recruiting girls to apply
review applications
help plan the event
Making phone calls and contacts
Recruiting girls to apply,
work toward getting applications completed,
review applications,
help plan the event,
encourage awardees and families to attend,
encourage current and potential sponsors to attend

19. How can you get involved ?
Sponsors
Become a sponsor
Find sponsors
swag for girls
donations for awardee prizes
donations for expenses
Scholarships
Provide scholarships to Aspirations Award Winners & Honorable Mentions – for college or for a summer program
Distribute press releases and publicize the award
Recruit application reviewers
Offer internships, tours, class visits for applicants
Host/underwrite/sponsor the award event at your facility
Provide a speaker and prizes for the awards event
Underwrite/sponsor travel for winners outside of our immediate area
Provide scholarships or stipend to Aspirations Award winners and honorable mentions

20. How can you get involved?
Sponsors
Jump Start Program
Offer special tours, job shadowing, internships to high school girls
Offer internships to Aspirations graduates
Become a sponsor
Recruiting girls to apply,
work toward getting applications completed,
review applications,
help plan the event,
encourage awardees and families to attend,
encourage current and potential sponsors to attend

21. So what can you and your company do?
Dig into your Swag closet and make available 10 of any item you would give away at conferences (we’ll put your company logo on our website for any of these)
Donate gift cards that would be of interest to high school girls (for example, Amazon)
Make a financial contribution for the event
Provide scholarships (college or a summer program)
Consider an additional event or reception at your company for the girls – make the girls feel special
Become involved with our committee now and into the future

22. What’s in it for you?
Recruit from a large pool of talented young women
Goodwill/publicity among community
Volunteer opportunities for your students/faculty/employees
Build relationships with girls interested in CS
It makes a difference!
Nearly 5000 girls interested in technology registered for the Aspirations Award last year. We expect that # to continue to grow. This is a great opportunity to get your school in front of not only the Award recipients, but the applicants, the teachers (4700) and the parents.
If you want an insider view, talk to your peers here in the room that have participated in this program:
Lewis & Clark College
UC Santa Cruz
CU Boulder
Colorado School of Mines
UT El Paso
UT Austin
Rice
Univ of Houston Downtown
Univ of Arkansas (ITRI)
DePaul Univ
Univ of Indiana Bloomington
Muskingum Univ
GA Tech
UNC Charlotte
UMass Lowell
Umass Boston
Umass Amherst

23. Most importantly…
Recognize these exceptional young women for their achievements in computing & technology
Seek publicity for the award winners, partners
Connect the girls with each other, opportunities

24. The End Game

25. END GAME: DIVERSE & INCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION & INNOVATION

26. National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT)
THANK YOU
National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT)