At UW-Whitewater, the number of women studying Integrated Technology is 10 percent lower than the national average.
The campus chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery-Special Committee on Women in Computing is trying to change that.
“The biggest thing we’re looking at is helping women network, helping them gear toward their careers and helping them advance their knowledge base in IT,” said ACM-W President Nicki Edwards.
ACM-W is an organization that focuses on helping women enter the IT world. The group started last May and is the first all-female IT group on campus.
The organization hosted the sixth annual Women in Computing Spring Networking Event last Wednesday.
AMC-W’s adviser Dr. Christina Outlay said the event’s purpose is to give women in IT and IT-related majors the chance to network with other women in the program.
Representatives of corporate partners, including Northwestern Mutual and GE Healthcare, attended the event. Students at the event had the opportunity to talk to these partners over dinner.
AMC-W secretary Belle Eykman said last year’s event helped her after she changed her major to IT.
At the event, she talked to a representative from Northwestern Mutual. Eykman said it was beneficial to get the representative’s opinion on what she could do to better her resume or other things she could to do get involved.
Media Coordinator Adrienne Matthews said AMC-W also hosts other events on campus and in the community.
One of the events it hosts is Cyber Girlz and Cyber High, a summer mini-camp where girls in middle school and high school spend several days at UW-Whitewater learning about technology. It is aimed at getting younger girls interested in the field, Matthews said.
Outlay said a major factor in recruiting and retaining women in IT is creating camaraderie and a base of peers.
“It’s not just about the subject matter … they also want to feel a sense of inclusion, to have friends that are like-minded and in a similar program, and that way they feel like they belong,” Outlay said.
