News from ACM-W Celebrations
A Look Back at Celebrations 2014-2015
The Celebrations project wrapped up another great year with thirteen conferences held in locations around the world. Here are some of the highlights:
- Over 2000 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and industry representatives attended.
- The inaugural Cuban Celebration of Women in Computing was held in March.
- The All Canada Celebration of Women in Computing was announced in March and the first event will be held in spring of 2016.
- Scholarships to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC 2015) were awarded to the winners of poster competitions. We congratulate the following women for achieving this honor:
| Name | College/University | Celebration Attended |
| Fatmah Assiri | Colorado State University | RMCWiC |
| Lili Wang | Queen’s University, Ontario | ONCWiC |
| Christine Antonsen | Oberlin College | OCWiC |
| Xandra Best | St. Olaf College | MinneWiC |
| Wen Wang | University of Minnesota | MinneWic |
| John Butler | Kentucky Community & Technical College System | KYCC-WiC |
| Wen Geng | State University of New York at Albany | NYCWiC |
| Jaye Nias | Virginia Commenwealth University | CAPWiC |
| Amy Shick | University of Richmond | CAPWiC |
| Kristina Lister | Purdue University | INWiC |
| Milka Trajkova | Indiana University | INWiC |
| Xinyi Ou | Grand Valley State University | MICWiC |
2015-2016 promises to be a banner year. Be sure to read the August issue of Connections for details on what events will occur and some exciting developments for the Celebrations project!
Community Colleges: An ACM-W Celebration of Women in Computing for You!
Contributed by Elizabeth K. Hawthorne
On April 10-11, 2015, the second Kentucky Community College ACM-W Celebration of Women in Computing (KYCC-WiC) took place on the recently-opened Newtown campus of Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington. Melanie Williamson and Cindy Tucker, Associate Professors of Computer & Information Technologies at Bluegrass, once again served as co-chairs for this year’s KYCC-WiC. Prof. Pam Bridgman from Somerset Community College and Prof. Theresa Schmitt from Owensboro Community and Technical College also served on the organizing committee.
Attendance more than doubled from KYCC-WiC 2013. Over 100 faculty and students from both two-year and four-year colleges (University of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky University) enjoyed KYCC-WiC 2015. In addition, a faculty member with nine of her students from Bryan Station High School Academy of Information Technology in Lexington attended the ACM-W Celebration. Also new in 2015 were community college faculty and students from the neighboring state of Tennessee.
Northern Kentucky University organizes the Tri-WiC ACM-W Celebration on alternate years of KYCC-WiC. Tri-WiC includes a community college track, which helps attract both two-year and four-year students and faculty from area colleges and universities in the tri-cities of Lexington, KY, Louisville, KY, and Cincinnati, OH. The organizers of both KYCC-WiC and Tri-WiC collaborate with one another to offer ACM-W Celebrations every year for their shared region. This model of alternating years between two-year and four-year colleges is the first of its kind among ACM-W Celebrations.
The KYCC-WiC organizers came up with a fun and innovative idea. A deck of Notable Women in Computing, Keep our History playing cards was placed in each of the conference swag bags. Each attendee then had the opportunity to have her (his) picture taken during registration and have it printed on a blank playing card – the Ace of choice – with space leftover for writing a personal computing history. Another inventive feature was the showing of the Women in Computing: Voices in Video that was produced by Bluegrass Assistant Professor Stephanie Fitch and her digital cinematic arts students. Prof. Fitch’s short film captured video clips from several student and faculty attendees as well as the conference organizers. Some of the Notable Women in Computing cards were also included in the production. A link to this innovative short film is available from kycc-wic.com.
Community college faculty and students are strongly encouraged to attend an ACM-W Women in Computing Celebration. Visit women.acm.org/celebrations to find a Celebration near you, or learn how to start a new event.