Chapter Update from University of Colorado at Boulder
By Dola Saha, President of CUWIC and Neeti Wagle, Vice President of CUWIC
CU Women in Computing (CUWIC) is a group within the Computer Science (CS) Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) that is dedicated to supporting women and diversity in computing. The group officially became an ACM-W chapter in Fall 2010. CUWIC encourages interaction from all who are interested in women and diversity in computing issues to create a platform to share information about technical, social, networking, and academic opportunities. The objective of the group is to unite all women in the field of Computing at the University of Colorado at Boulder, irrespective of their department, to meet, discuss, collaborate and increase their professional networking. Although most of the members are from the Computer Science (CS) Department, CUWIC also has members from the departments of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering (ECEE), Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) and Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute.
The semester of fall 2010 was a very educational and formative period for CUWIC. In its course, it brought several hurdles, but in due time, it also helped us learn some valuable lessons about what makes a group like this take hold in a computing department. And, although a lot of what we know now was not apparent to us when we started, we were fortunate to have a group of women who saw the potential of building such a social community. So we started from the basics.
Becoming an ACM-W Group
The very first thing we did was spread the word and gather support for the ACM-W chapter. We used Google Forms to easily collect the names of at least 10 people (per the ACM-W rules for getting started) who were interested in participating in our ACM-W group activities and found out who would like to run for office. Then, we held open elections for our ACM-W group officers. Once we had our officers and a group of interested people, we submitted our ACM-W form online and were notified within two weeks that we were an official ACM-W chapter. Our effort became more organized through this process since we had a structure (officers, interested people, etc.), a professional affiliation, and developed a culture of involving multiple departments interested in computing.
Creating an Identity
During a brainstorming meeting with the new ACM-W chapter officers and our faculty sponsor, we continued to think of ways to spread the word about our group and mission. We created a website that contains information about all the aspects that CUWIC aims to address. This includes crucial information, the requirements and deadlines of several scholarships, conferences, and research opportunities.
For CUWIC to benefit all its members, it is important for them to identify and connect with the group. This can only be achieved by conducting events and making the meetings appealing. Due to the diversity in the member population, this task is one of our most challenging ones. We found that the solution consisted of keeping a few simple things in mind while planning our events. For example, we are able to get a greater attendance by not conducting the events at fixed or inconvenient times (like evenings) but instead by changing the time slot every month. Further interaction with undergraduate students taught us to avoid the time slots in which undergraduate classes were scheduled.
Developing an Inclusive Community
However, as a fledgling group, planning an event was not sufficient: we had to spread the word and encourage our members to actively participate. Initially, we only announced our events through the mailing list of the department and on our Facebook group. Alongside, we also posted fliers at different places throughout the Engineering Center of the university. The faculty sponsor and officers used their personal contacts in other departments to invite women working in the field of Computing to attend the event.
But we soon found out that in addition to these, we would need to do more to encourage the undergraduates, who were intimidated by the graduate student majority present at the meetings. We realized that we had to take our message to them directly and have since extended our efforts. Firstly, we enlisted help from the faculty who were teaching undergraduate courses and requested them to encourage their students to become involved in CUWIC events. Secondly, CUWIC officers themselves visited these classrooms and personally extended an invitation to the students. These simple planning notes have helped us increase the number of attendees; new faces are always showing up at the meetings, along with regular attendees.
Our incessant efforts to attract new members have resulted in a new wave of support in the department. Towards the end of the semester, we found the faculty taking initiative and even attending some of our events, which in turn encouraged more student participation. The different methods of publicity have altogether created a positive impact on the members, who now attend the events on a regular basis.
Getting Involved in the Larger Women in Computing Community
Nothing brings a group together in spirit like a collective endeavor in a common cause. With this in mind, in September we decided to unite the members in planning for the upcoming Colorado Celebration of Women in Computing (CCWIC), which is a regional meeting modeled after the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) of Women in Computing (see the article by Gloria Townsend on Regional Celebrations in this newsletter). So, the group organized a ‘Brainstorming Session for CCWIC Submissions’, where students and faculty met to discuss the possibilities of submissions. The meeting led to the generation of several great ideas and collaborations for papers, posters, Birds of Feathers (BoF) sessions, and lightning talks. The excitement of the planning inspired members to take initiative in designing their own submissions, which were accepted and presented at CCWIC. On the same lines, CUWIC officers conducted a pre-final study session for undergraduates to help them prepare for their upcoming examination.
The success of the group activities taught us that members could gain a lot from motivating social interactions with each other. So when the new ACM-W chapter required a unique logo, we decided to use the opportunity to organize a logo and T-shirt design competition among students and harness the group’s creativity. In addition, we timed the competition so that the printed T-shirts could be worn by the members while attending the upcoming CCWIC conference. We received multiple submissions, after which we asked the members to vote for their favorite. Not only did we get an overwhelming response from students and faculty, but it also generated a lively discussion on the forum with members commenting on the details of the logo and providing creative suggestions. Finally, the most voted design won the competition, and CUWIC got its logo. This process started a conversation among those members who rarely attended the meetings. This particular activity taught us the importance of including social events alongside career-related and technical meetings.
Sustaining the Group
CUWIC is mostly funded by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. However, one of the constant challenges is to plan diverse and appealing events throughout the semester within the means of our budget. One of the smart decisions the officers took with regard to the budgeting was to buy some electrical appliances, e.g., a coffee maker, a waffle iron, and a griddle and use them repeatedly to make breakfast for the attendees. So, even on a very low budget, CUWIC officers are able to serve pancakes, waffles, bagels, coffee, tea and juice multiple times within a semester. This allows the group to meet regularly for breakfast to discuss various issues.
The ACM-W chapter of CUWIC is only a semester old and has a long way to go. The officers (the authors, Madeline Leary, Undergraduate Vice Chair and Allison Brown, Secretary/Treasurer) are dedicated and sincere in keeping up the achievements so far, and are always striving to improve. The group is planning to visit local high schools to encourage students to consider Computer Science as one of their career goals. With all the activities throughout the semester, CUWIC has created a support system for women in the field of Computing, and aims to continue this effort of sharing knowledge, helping others, encouraging women to break stereotypes and celebrating women in computing.