ABI is pleased to announce that there are several new community spaces for technical women of color. The Women of Color in Computing Facebook and LinkedIn groups were initiated as a result of a survey conducted during the Women of Color Luncheon at the 2009 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference. The women of color community is one of several diverse affinity groups that meet at Grace Hopper and have a thriving online community including the Latinas in Computing (LiC), the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender Forum (LGBT) and Systers.
The technical women of color community at GHC has grown steadily since the first Women of Color Birds of a Feather session that was held at the 1997 GHC Conference in San Diego. The first women of color Luncheon was held in 2004 at GHC in Chicago. Women of color attend the luncheon at GHC to network with each other and discuss the unique issues that they encounter as double minorities in the tech sector.
Dr. Valerie Taylor, Department Head and Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor of Engineering, has been a long time member and organizer of the GHC women of color community. Dr. Taylor, Kim McLeod, Program Manager for Leadership Development and Academic Initiatives and the 2009 Women of Color Luncheon facilitator, Sabrina Coleman, Women’s Personal Empowerment Coach and Owner of Mahogany Coaching & Development, created the 2009 survey to help take the women of color community to the next level. Dr. Taylor is very excited to see the women of color community develop beyond GHC. “These new online communities will allow us to remain in contact with each other and not only create but also maintain a community that occurs between conferences” states Dr. Taylor, “Networking with each other is needed because it helps us to combat our issues of isolation.”
Nadine Shillingford, PhD candidate, University of Norte Dame worked with the ABI to create and set up the groups; she is also serving as the Facebook and Linkedin administrator. We are looking for a few additional volunteers to serve as admins and moderators for the groups. Please contact Kim McLeod if you are interested.
Join the Women of Color in Computing Facebook Group and LinkedIn Group today!