Chair’s Message
Welcome to the July, 2015, issue of ACM-W Connections. We took a break in June while many of us were off having the annual ACM-W Council meeting, but we are back now with lots of news. And in the August issue we’ll have a report on some of the changes and initiatives that we discussed at the Council meeting. Stay tuned!
Many ACM-W participants have been very busy lately. This month’s issue of ACM-W Connections features a lot of news from ACM-W Europe, including many announcements regarding the upcoming womENcourage event, the ACM-W Europe Celebration of Women in Computing. Make sure that you check on the registration deadline as well as information about scholarships, the hackathon being presented jointly with Codess, and the career fair.
Meanwhile, our ACM-W India colleagues are involved in the 3rd International Symposium on Women in Computing and Informatics.
Rounding out our international news, ACM-W is a sponsor for TechKobwa ’15. This project provides a residential technology/engineering camp for Rwandan girls and their teachers. The project is also supported by the U.S. Peace Corps, IBM, Michigan State University, the Rwanda Ministry of Youth and ICT, and IEEE. The project leaders expect that the evaluation results from this summer will make it possible for them to get funding for a 5-year project that will help transform the status of women in Rwanda and build ICT capacity. ACM-W is delighted to be helping with this effort!
Back in the U.S., at ACM headquarters, the big news is that Bobby Schnabel will be the next CEO of ACM. Bobby brings to the table his rich experience with ACM, as a faculty member and administrator, and a deep commitment to diversity in computing. We look forward to working with Bobby as ACM-W continues to expand and strengthen our programs.
Still in the U.S., this month we have a report from KYCC-WiC, the Kentucky Community College Celebration of Women in Computing. We support many Celebration events each year, but this is the only one so far that has a primary focus on community college students. It serves as an important model for that kind of event, and for building a strong relationship between 2-year and 4-year schools.
Finally, I know that people change email addresses over time, set up forwarding, etc. If you are receiving the newsletter at multiple accounts, or would like to receive it at a different address, please let me know.
~Valerie Barr, ACM-W Chair