Women in Computing Discussion

Friday, February 27, 2015

4:00 PM-6:00 PM

Despite the fact that many of the world's first programmers were women, with up to 37% of U.S. programmers being women in 1984, today less than 20% of computer science majors in the U.S. are female. What caused this decline, and what can we do to reverse it? These questions are important - about 1 million computing jobs will go unfilled each year due to the deficit of graduating computer science students. Were women adequately represented in computing, the number of computer scientists in the field would likely double. It's in the interest of everyone to help us figure out why this deficit exists, and how to rectify the situation. The ExCITe Center is pleased to announce an upcoming February discussion about women in computing, designed to allow women in tech to collaborate with ideas about potential changes to how computing is taught, reasons why they may not feel comfortable speaking up in the classroom, and ways to improve and innovate the situation both in the Philadelphia area and beyond. This discussion will be led by a moderator and a panel of successful women in tech. Questions and topics will likely include... How can we improve the way that computer science is currently taught? How can we make women feel more comfortable in the computing classroom? What keeps women out of tech today? What are some ways to help make women find their place in tech? This event is aimed at all women, and to male faculty of Drexel University and all surrounding colleges. For more information and to register to attend, please check out the discussion's event page at http://drexel.edu/excite/news/events/2015/February/womenInComputing/ This discussion will serve as an opener to <>FemmeHacks, a women's student hackathon that is slated to be held at the ExCITe Center on Saturday, February 28th. The discussion will be followed by a FemmeHacks ideation session, which all attendees of the discussion are welcome to be involved in. If you would like to attend this hackathon, please visit femmehacks.weebly.com.

Contact Information

Allison Frauenpreis
9083992310
excitedesk@drexel.edu