Why Should You Start an ACM-W Chapter at Your School?

A message from ACM-W Student Chapter Program Project Leader Paula Gabbert

Key findings from a recent initiative titled the New Image for Computing a project of WGBH and ACM, revealed a significant gender gap: “College-bound females are significantly less interested than boys are in computing; girls associate computing with typing, math, and boredom.” There have been many articles and reports describing the situation of women in computing (such as The Incredible Shrinking Pipeline) and how the number of women going into computer science is decreasing.

To help retain and recruit women in computing, ACM-W developed its ACM-W Student Chapter Program to empower women to get involved in activities that promote the participation of women in computing.

If your school or computing department cares about increasing the numbers of women who study computing and choose computing (or computing-related) careers, you should consider starting an ACM-W Student Chapter. Forming an ACM-W Student Chapter will help members focus on:

•    Activities to educate women about the opportunities in the computing field;
•    Engaging women students in exciting computing activities;
•    Connecting students with women leaders in the field;
•    Encouraging students to promote the field of computing to young girls;
•    Promoting the activities of ACM;
•    Networking with other ACM-W Chapter leaders and members;
•    Mentoring programs for Chapter members and pre-college girls;
•    Broadening the computing community; and
•    Extending the “conversation” about why it’s important to increase the number of women in computing.  

The ACM-W Student Chapter Program is part of the larger ACM Student Chapter Program.  Therefore, in addition to receiving guidance from ACM-W about activities and the day-to-day running of a Chapter, ACM-W Student Chapter leaders and members can draw on the resources and experiences of the larger ACM Student Chapter network – about 500 Student Chapters worldwide.

To start an ACM-W chapter:  http://www.acm.org/chapters/students/form-acmw. 
Local Activities Contact (for questions about starting or running an ACM-W Student Chapter): Local_Activities@hq.acm.org

Current ACM-W Chapters

If you have any concerns, please let me know how I can help you. I think you will find that the rewards of forming an ACM-W Student Chapter go far beyond the honing of your leadership and project management skills; you will be making a contribution to the future of the computing field. 

Paula Gabbert
Associate Professor, Computer Science
Furman University
Project Leader, ACM-W Student Chapter Program
ACM-W Council Member
Paula.Gabbert at furman.edu