Chapter Update from Indiana University – Bloomington
by Sarah Reeder, President of WIC@IU
At Indiana University, Bloomington, Women in Informatics and Computing (WIC) has been helping women in the School of Informatics and Computing (SoIC) make their voices heard since its founding in 2002. Part of the Central Indiana Regional ACM-W chapter, this student organization reaches out to women at all levels in technical fields, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and professionals in the community. One of the things that sets WIC apart from other student organizations is the opportunities we create for technical women students, faculty, and professionals to network together. All of our events are open to anyone interested in supporting women in technical programs, and are designed to encourage open communication among the various groups within our organization. We hold monthly events during the school year to help women connect, network, and excel in academia and beyond.
2010 has hopefully been a fun and informative year for those who attended some of our WIC-sponsored events. We kicked off the year with a ladies’ movie night complete with chocolate fondue, and toured the new Data Center and Innovation Centre buildings on the east side of campus. For our “Inspiration Panel” we brought in IT professionals in our community to tell their stories, talk about what they do now, the path that brought them to this point in their careers, and what their goals are for the future. In honor of Women’s History Month, we held our second annual WIC Banquet in March. At the dinner, we recognized faculty who had been nominated by students for the WIC Faculty of the Year award, which was presented to four faculty members who showed extraordinary support to women students both in and outside of the classroom. We also highlighted events and projects WIC sponsored that year, including efforts by our undergraduate students who started an e-magazine, “CLICK,” which is published by co-editors Halsey May and Taneesha Parker. We closed the school year with a Work-Family Balance Panel, inviting faculty and doctoral students with families to share tips and tricks they have discovered for maintaining work-life balance when young children are part of the equation.
We kicked off the 2010-2011 academic year with our annual WIC Welcome Breakfast. In September, we also held the annual WIC Potluck to provide an opportunity for faculty and students to network in a relaxed setting. Students contributed ideas for events, played a networking game for prizes, heard from faculty about classes and research opportunities, and everyone enjoyed homemade dishes from around the world. In October, WIC co-sponsored a pumpkin carving and s’more toasting event along with two other SoIC student groups, and had a great turnout of first-time pumpkin carvers despite the chilly weather. In November, we co-sponsored a portfolio workshop with the Graduate Informatics Student Association to help students prepare their online portfolios for their spring job/internship hunt. We teamed up with the local TED chapter, TEDxBloomington, to bring the TEDWomen teleconference to campus, and closed the year with a holiday cookie exchange and an “Ugly Sweater Party” hosted by our undergraduate women.
In order to better address the needs of undergraduate women, we formed a subgroup called uWIC, which has its own leadership and has worked hard to build community among our undergraduate women in the Computer Science and Informatics programs. In addition to social events, uWIC has started a big/little sister program that pairs those new to these majors with students who are a year or more into their program.
In 2011, we hope to improve our community presence with a revitalised outreach program, to reach undecided undergraduate students and also young girls in local primary and secondary schools. In addition to outreach, we hope to continue building a stronger community of technical women at IUB through our monthly events. Some of our events for 2011 might include a hands-on workshop to explore the inner monthly events. Some of our events for 2011 might include a hands-on workshop to explore the inner workings of a CPU, workshops to prepare students for spring poster sessions, and outdoor adventure activities. Plans for the March banquet are already underway, and we hope the WIC faculty of the year award will become a coveted title in the years to come.