Conversations for Change

This first-ever, online thought leadership series of events focused on creating inclusion and diversity in computing is free and open to the public. Zoom registrations for each event are available at ncwit.org/ConversationsAgenda, and all webinars will cross-stream at ncwit.org/ConversationsLive.

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is holding “Conversations for Change: an online thought leadership series” throughout May 4-22, 2020. During this series of events (ncwit.org/conversations), nearly 1,000 change leaders—representing educators, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, social scientists, and others—will fully immerse themselves in research-based recommendations and peer-to-peer discussions to further individual and organizational efforts to increase girls’ and women’s meaningful and influential participation in computing.

The speaker lineup of renowned experts and special guests includes:

• Ruzena Bajcsy, NEC Chair and Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
• Ruha Benjamin, Professor, African American Studies, Princeton University
• Temple Grandin, Philosophical Leader
• Tommy Orange, Author
• Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-founder, NCWIT

“The computing discipline has widely been viewed as central to improving our lives. However, today, we are facing a health crisis that is severely affecting all of our friends and families, our communities, our places of work, and our way of life. And, computing is even more essential than it was before,” said NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders. “Computing is connecting us socially, educating us, allowing us to buy online, and progressing breakthroughs on medical solutions. Clearly, it’s even more critical that computing products and services are created by a diverse group of people. The Conversations for Change series allows our change-leader network to come together and persist in adopting effective, research-based strategies that facilitate reform in computing classes and technical organizations.”

Additional headlining presenters include:

• Brenda J. Allen, Professor Emerita, University of Colorado
• Jannie Fernandez, Director K-12 Alliance and TECHNOLOchicas, NCWIT
• Colleen Lewis, McGregor-Girand Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College
• Paul L. Marciano, Author
• Kyla McMullen, Assistant Professor, Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Department, University of Florida
• Eshika Saxena, Student, 2020 NCWIT Collegiate Award Winner, Harvard University
• Cheryl Swanier, PhD, Associate Professor, Computer Science, Claflin University
• Janine Vanderburg, Co-founder, Colorado Encore Network
• JeffriAnne Wilder, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, NCWIT
• Darryl Yong, Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College

View the full 2020 NCWIT Conversations for Change agenda (ncwit.org/ConversationsAgenda) for details. All events are free and open to the public. Those interested should join live, as many of these one-time sessions will not be recorded or available for viewing later.

NCWIT is incredibly grateful for 2020-21 NCWIT Summit Sponsors Anchor Point Foundation, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Bloomberg, Facebook, PNC, and Walmart.

About NCWIT

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 1,240 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase the influential and meaningful participation of girls and women—at the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, and disability status—in the field of computing, particularly in terms of innovation and development. 

NCWIT equips change leaders with resources for taking action in recruiting, retaining, and advancing women from K-12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers. Find out more at ncwit.org.

NCWIT receives significant financial support from Lifetime Partner Apple; Strategic Partners NSF, Microsoft, Bank of America, Google, Intel, Merck, AT&T, and Cognizant U.S. Foundation; as well as from Investment Partners Avaya, Pfizer, Bloomberg, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Qualcomm, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Amazon, and Johnson & Johnson. 

View all of NCWIT’s supporters at ncwit.org/about/supporters.